Today was a special day for both my daughter and I because we were invited to help celebrate the continued life's work of a great man, Al Syvertsen. Al is a pastor at Beacon Church of Galloway, NJ, a congregation he began 30 years ago in a garage in that same town.

I have been blessed to have two men in my life who for many years have been an inspirational example of what a man of character should be, one of those men a Christian, my dad, Rudy Mannarino, and the other an orthodox Jew, my rabbi, Elli Zomick. Today I have a third, Al Syvertsen. He has many wonderful qualities, however, his consistent devotion to his family, community, church and God is, for me, the most outstanding. He manages this while being humble and delicately strong. Al sets a defined standard for all men to aspire.

This is a video of the men in the church singing in his honor. The second is of his daughters sharing memories.