2020 Board of Directors Candidates

My passion in ministry is teaching and counseling. Properly done they are the same thing. I love to get to sit and listen to someone, find out where they’re at and what is going on in their lives, and then bring them to God’s Word, showing them what God has to say about their situation and goals. The vast majority of the people I interact with don’t know how the Word of God informs our day-to-day lives. I strive to fix that.

The Prayer League’s emphasis on dependence on God through prayer and commissioned living are of vital importance to the local and global church. As a pastor in rural Minnesota, I see a great need for individual Christians to take up their cross and follow Jesus. The most historically viable method to do this is through prayerful dependence and commissioned living. In this manner we are able to participate in the work of the Kingdom globally no matter where we live. Historically WMPL has understood this, and my hope is that we might energize this emphasis all the more to the end that the gospel goes forth all the more at home and abroad through word and life.

I am passionate about seeing lives changed by Jesus. In college I majored in music and cross-cultural outreach, and it has been my honor to work as a church musician for the last two decades, being able to use music as a means of outreach. I love working at Trinity as the music director where I get to work with musicians from age 3 up to 92!

What is my vision or hope for the World Mission Prayer League? I love what God has done and is doing in his Kingdom through WMPL. I would cherish the idea of helping to make Spirit-led decisions that support the mission of God in our world.

My central passion for ministry would be to see people involved in missions hands on. I think a person can grow immensely in their relationship with Christ while experiencing ministry in an international context. It also helps people to have a more complete picture of the ministry so we have a better idea of how to be in prayer over the ministries and our global workers.

My vision and hope for the future of WMPL is increased involvement with the Lutheran bodies of believers. We have a unique place in the missions community, and I would love to see Lutheran bodies continue to embrace the work. We also bring a lot of value to other mission partners, and seeing those partnerships continue to grow and strengthen would be a blessing to our global mission.

My passion has been equipping people for cross-cultural ministry, both locally and globally. Our programs have trained over one thousand people in the Twin Cities, Houston, St. Louis and elsewhere. Having attended Lausanne Cape Town in 2010, I am struck by the vibrant expansion of Christianity in the global south. We also are in the midst of the largest human migration in history; people from everywhere are moving to everywhere else. It’s an unparalleled diaspora. I am deeply concerned with reaching the 75 million immigrants in America today. Now the world has come to us. Today, every church member has the potential to be a global worker. For thirty years I have been involved nationally and internationally in the task of sharing Good News with the amazing global diaspora.

As in previous terms when I have served on the WMPL Home Council, the Directorate and as Vice Chairman, my passion is positioning WMPL to be a vital part of global outreach in the 21st Century. I desire to see the traditions of the Prayer League continue to be molded into a strong, self-sustaining mission force in a rapidly changing world.