Meet the New Ministries Team

Praying fervently for your church planting project
Supporting church planters in their assigned roles
Genuinely loving and supporting the planters and other team members

REV. DR. MARK LARSON (Mission Executive) – Provides vision, direction and expertise in the field of church planting.  He works with the Chairman to move the overall project to achieve its goals.  He interacts with North American Mission staff, Rocky Mountain District leaders, and works with local pastors and churches to gain support of church planting projects; he develops and maintains relationships between the Mission Team and the District staff, BOD, and District churches and pastors.  He also serves as the mentor for the church planters.

MARK ZUBER (Chairman) – Recruits team members and manages the overall project to achieve its goals.  He oversees the team members and assists them in achieving their goals.

REV. PAUL ROGGOW (Prayer Coordinator) – Makes real prayer ministry happen through prayer partners entrusted with sometimes sensitive information, facilitate planters in recruiting their prayer partners and coordinates prayer events for missions.

Karen Schlechte (Planter Recruitment) - Helps to develop the pool of potential church planters, administers the assessment process and tracks the candidates over time. This process includes pastors in the field, seminary candidates and Specific Ministry Pastor canditase.

VALERIE STEWERT ( Planter Assessment) – Works through congregational call processes, and assesses church planters in order to discover the best possible candidates for church planting.  She consults with church planters and their wives about their personality profiles to discover insights to understand themselves better in order to strengthen their work and personal satisfaction.

BRIAN DELAET/PAMELA KING (Coaching)– Currently, they directly provide coaching for church planters.  In the future, they will train a network of mentor/coaches for both the church planters and the team members. 

(Resource Coordinator) – This team member makes available the best resources in support of church planting so that planters do not have to start from scratch.  These resources will be found throughout this website.

KEVIN GREIN/LAURA RABEN (Demographics) – Through the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF), they obtain demographic studies for the mission’s ministry area and consult with church planters to understand the studies’ implications and insights for ministry.  In consultation with the Mission Exec, they identify and prioritize the church planting needs in the various parts of the District.

MARGERY RICHTER (Administrator) – Records minutes of the meetings, maintains roster of the team, sends reminders of meetings and other information.

GAIL KIRKEGAARD (Grant Writing) – Coordinates efforts to secure funding through grants for new ministries from Lutheran entities such as LCMS World Missions, LCMS World Relief, Lutheran Church Extension Fund, Thrivent, Wheat Ridge Foundation, as well as non-Lutheran grantors.

MARCIA HOGAN (Communication) – Communicates, through various media to the District and beyond, the news and opportunities for involvement in Rocky Mountain District missions.  This includes articles in District publications, e-newsletters, and website information.

REV. CHARLES WESTBY (Theological Education and Constitutions) – Facilitates the successful completion of distance education programs for church planters, e.g. Specific Ministry Pastor (SMPP), Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT), Center for Hispanic Studies (CHS), Deaf Institute of Theology (DIT), including the admission process, recruiting of mentors, coordinating funding, etc.  He also facilitates the development and approval of church constitutions.

TOM PADIA (Covenant Congregation Liaison) – Recruits, trains and maintains contact with Covenant Congregations, and provides communication to encourage enlistment and to maintain support for the concept.

Rev. Thomas Schoech - (Fund Development) – Discovers and raises financial resources for new ministry efforts, proposes the allocation of financial resources from various sources, and trains and supports planters/Covenant Congregations in fund raising.