Instructor Biographies
The
M045 Cohort
Back Row: Brandon Heath, Stephanie Stocker, Lowell Herzberg,
Belinda Granlund**, Paul Marks
Front Row: Glen Dawursk, John Perling,
Lisa Yang
Brandon
Heath
No information
Stephanie
Stocker
1) What
do you do with your days?
A: Most of my days at church are spent on meetings, getting music
ready for the adult choir, hand bell choirs, and youth choir that I
direct. I also have just recently been
"assigned" the youth program where I am currently evaluating and
working on relationships with the kids and their parents. As for my personal life - I don't have one.
2) What
motivated you to enter this program?
A: I really wanted to become more knowledgeable and acquire
tools that would help me to be a better ministry leader for the Lord. I also would like to teach at a Concordia or have more doors
open to me in the future.
3) What
are your expectations for this course?
A: Strengthen my capacity to become a better member of a
team by understanding my role, strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. I also am interested in how a team functions
- the dynamics.
4) On
what teams do you currently serve and what is your role?
A: Board of elders, Church council, Sunday school board,
Daycare board, Christian school board, Music ministry board, Children's
Ministry board, Church staff, Youth board, Adult council
5)
Describe your family
A: Well, I'm not married.
I am the youngest of 4 - two brothers and one sister. My mom and dad live in
6) Do
your other cohort members know this information about you?
A: I think they know most of this information but probably
not the details of my family.
1) What
do you do with your days?
I am a Director of Christian Education (DCE) Intern at
2) What motivated you
to enter this program?
God has blessed me with a 30 year career in accounting and
information technology. It is time to give back now, so I am starting a second
career as a Christian educator. This masters program was the best way to “get
into the business.” My personal mission statement is to teach Christians to
live by a Biblical worldview.
3) What are your expectations
for this course?
Learn how to be an effective team member: communicate, plan,
set goals and monitor them, solve problems – all in a team environment.
4) On what teams do you
currently serve and what is your role?
·
Church staff – DCE Intern
·
Family – husband, father, grandfather
·
Thrivent – congregational coordinator
·
Church council – DCE Intern
·
Elders – DCE Intern
·
Board of Education – DCE Intern
·
Board of
·
Small Group Ministries (Bible study, prayer, and
fellowship)– DoM
·
Focused Ministries (e.g. technology, communications, music)
– DoM
·
The First Light (www.thefirstlight.org)
(we teach parents and students the importance living by a Biblical
worldview) – chairman
5) Describe your
family.
Maureen is my wife of 31 years. We have three children, two
daughters-in-law, and the most beautiful, perfect 5 month old granddaughter in
the world.
6) Do your other cohort
members know this information about you? If not, please send your
response to everyone.
I think by now they
have all heard about Gracey Irene, my granddaughter,
maybe not some of the lesser important stuff…
Paul
Marks
1) What do you do with your
days?
My days (and most of my nights) are filled with
opportunities to serve God as the Executive Director of SonRise
Lutheran Ministries. In this capacity I
have the responsibility of planning camp and retreat programs, leading Bible
Studies, hiring Summer Staff members (anyone know any good college students
looking for a job this summer?), creating development and fundraising
campaigns, visiting congregations, bookkeeping and enjoying God’s creation
along with many other tasks. When I have
any free time, I enjoy golf, canoeing, kayaking, climbing and skiing.
2) What motivated you
to enter this program?
I entered this program originally as a means to accomplish
the requirements for my DCE certification.
It has been much more beneficial to me in my current work than I could
ever have imagined. The fact that it is
offered in this format was also essential to me as I am far removed from any
type of institution of higher education where I could have pursued this, or any
other, degree.
3) What are your
expectations for this course?
I expect that we will have the opportunity to explore the
dynamics of working with others toward common goals within the Christian work
setting. I say that that way, because my
Christian work setting is rarely congregational, but rather para-church
in nature.
4) On what teams do you
currently serve and what is your role?
I serve as Director of SonRise
Lutheran Ministries – leader, Atlantic District Task Force on Parish Education
and Youth – member, SonRise Lutheran Church Council –
member, SonRise Lutheran Church Christian Education
Committee – chair, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
NENY Chapter – Board Member. Probably
some others too that just aren’t popping into my head right now.
5) Describe your family.
My family consist of my wife Laura
and I. She would also tell you that our
dog Colby is part of the family. We have
no children as of yet. My home growing
up consisted of my parents and my two brothers and we grew up in CT.
6) Do
your other cohort members know this information about you? If not, please
send your response to everyone.
They probably know more than they wanted to now.
Glen
Dawursk, Jr.
1) What
do you do with your days?
I am the full time Minister of Youth at a 3000 member
congregation in
2) What
motivated you to enter this program?
Personal desire to learn and achieve
more. I am a lifelong learner. I have been in the role of a DCE for 20+
years, but certified as a LC-MS secondary education teacher with majors in
Speech, Theatre and English (Seward-82).
I completed my certification for DCE in August 2002 and haven’t
stopped. I just completed KINDLE and
after this masters experience I intend to venture forward toward a doctorate as
well.
3) What
are your expectations for this course?
I have worked in the best and the worst team ministries in
my 20+ years. I have always worked in
congregations with 2000 or more members with multiple pastors and plenty of
staff. I feel this course will highlight
what made those experiences good or bad and hopefully will help me to seek the
positive and avoid the issue areas.
4) On
what teams do you currently serve and what is your role?
As I stated above, I am part of one of the fastest growing
churches in synod. 10 people to almost
3000 people in 30 years. We have 400
youth in our school without double grades in 7 & 8. We expect to be at 5000 members and 800 kids
in our school in 7 years. There are
almost 1000 youth under the age of 18 here.
This team ministry is currently developing and growing. My previous ministries included very
successful team ministries at
5)
Describe your family.
Married 24 years. Three children: Amy (16), Sarah
(14) and David (8).
6) Do
your other cohort members know this information about you?
Probably.
I am pretty open about myself and I have a complete bio at www.yuthguy.com.
John Perling
1) What do you do with
your days?
I serve in a LCMS congregation in
2) What motivated you
to enter this program?
I have a lot to change about my leadership abilities.
I just need to put some of these things into practice so that the people around
me can build some confidence in my dependability. My biggest weakness is understanding the flow of a project in smaller
steps. I consistently underestimate resistance. For example, I had
a community outreach idea after living in the community for about a year.
There are a number of community gardens around the area, but none in our
immediate area. We are surrounded by single family homes with little or
no yard. We have property that we are interested in building on but we
are not ready yet, so I began casting a vision for hosting a community garden
on our property. We would provide the land and members and non-members a
like would be invited to plant something in the garden. Then throughout
the summer we could through a garden party/barbeque together each month.
I thought it was a great idea, the first responses for the emotional leaders in
the congregation were that the soil was too sandy, that neighborhood kids would
trample it, and that it would be an eyesore. I was just not expecting
that kind of response. I need to get much better at how to bring about
effective change.
3) What are your
expectations for this course?
I need a greater awareness of what the needs of a team
are. What do people working together need from their leaders in order to
work together effectively?
4) On what teams do you
currently serve and what is your role?
Our Saviour's Staff-Pastor;
District Missions-Secretary; Shepherd's Rest (A place of hospitality for people
in ministry) Secretary, Board of Directors;
5) Describe your
family.
My wife Heidi is so happy to have a DPM in our
congregation. Heidi is a musician who is raising a family and is not able
to take on many leadership positions in the congregation, but with our DPM in
place she is able to work with her on several projects and is having a ball in
a support role, even returning to some composing and arranging music and
descants for voice and organ, etc. We are schooling our daughters at
home; they are Molly (6) and
6) Do your other cohort
members know this information about you?
Now they do.
Lisa
Yang
1) What do you do with
your days?
Lisa serves at Taiwan Methodist Church Taipei , Taiwan Taipei
2) What is your
education/background?
Lisa has a Bachelor’s degree in
Communication and Transportation Management Science from the National Cheng
Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan; has taken additional religious education
courses at Bread of Life Church, Taipei in the Timothy Training Program;
Lutheran theology at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Germany
(Sponsored by the Department of the World Mission, Germany); is completing her
Director of Christian Education Distance Specialist Certification Program with
a specialty in Theology and her masters in Parish Education and Administration
from Concordia University, Saint Paul, MN; and is taking additional
theology courses at the Methodist Graduate School of Theology, Taipei.
Sponsor:
Sandy Wendelin
1)
What do you do with your days?
I serve in a LCMS congregation in
2) What motivated you
to enter this program?
When I went through this program a couple of years ago, I was compelled to do so because of the course topics. They covered all my favorite things to do in ministry - Ministry Teams, Volunteer Management, Leadership, and Strategic Planning. I was not necessarily interested in an advanced degree but wanted to continue learning and to stay fresh in ministry. Just so happened that the Parish Administration Program provided all those things. Additionally I loved learning in a non-traditional fashion. I don't thing I would have done it, if it was only provided through a classroom experience.
3) What are your
expectations for this course?
I expect that you will be better able to lead and use teams in your setting to accomplish great things to fulfill with the mission of the organization with which you are affiliated.
4) On what teams do you
currently serve and what is your role?
Bethlehem Staff, District Evangelism Conference Planning - Local Arrangements Coordinator, National Youth Gathering - Personnel Service Team, Parish Planning Council - Member, Shared Ministry Team - Coach, Woman's Ministry Team - Coach, LifeLight Leadership - Coach, Ministry Support VIT - Coach, District Professional Workers Conference Planning Team - member.
5) Describe your
family.
My husband's name is Tim. He works at the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory doing solar energy research. Physics is his thing. I
avoided that like the plague in school - but someone has to do it.
We do not have any children or pets. He loves making wine, golf, and
running. My family of origin, three sisters and my folks, live in
6) Do your other cohort
members know this information about you?
Now they do.
This
website is the completed result of this combined or “team ministry” effort.