He was elected to five terms and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 until his death from brain cancer in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1993.

[1] His father Carl F. H. Henry, noted theologian, was one of the founders of Fuller Theological Seminary and the founding editor of Christianity Today.

Upon returning to the United States, he attended graduate school at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, earning a M.A.

[2] From 1965 to 1970, while he was a graduate student at Duke, Henry served two stints as a staffer for Congressman John B. Anderson (R-IL).

During 1968 and 1969, while Anderson was the third-ranking Republican in Congress, Henry's job involved promoting good communication within the party caucus.

[3] In 1974, after Henry had been at Calvin College for several years, Democrat Richard Vander Veen won the congressional seat centered on Grand Rapids, long held by Gerald Ford, in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

Sawyer had defeated Ford's predecessor, Richard Vander Veen in 1976, but had faced some of the closest races the district had seen in memory.