Leadership

Our Elders

• R. W. Glenn

  Pastor of Preaching and Leadership Development

  

  Through a friend, I first heard the gospel when I was seven years old. And from first grade through my high school years, that friend and his family faithfully (and repeatedly) shared the love of Christ with me. Several times, after hearing gospel sermons at his church and at youth retreats and camps, I made professions of faith, but they were not genuine. By the time I entered my senior year of high school, I had repudiated the faith entirely—the “Jesus thing” was not for me. I wanted to pursue a career in acting and longed to experience the fame and stardom of Hollywood. The Lord, however, had different plans.

  When I was nineteen years old, in the middle of my undergraduate studies at Rutgers University, and after experiencing some personal setbacks, God’s providence reunited me with my childhood friend. And it was while we were roommates that I came to place all my hope in Jesus for salvation.

  Since that time I went on to complete graduate work at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, served for over seven years as one of the teaching pastors at Calvary Baptist Church in East Millstone, NJ, and been the Pastor of Preaching and Vision at Redeemer since 2002.

  I have also been tremendously blessed by the Lord with my wife, Gayle, and four kids: Noah, Zoë, Joy, and Isaac.

• Doug Sweet

  Pastor of Finance and Mercy Ministry

  I became a Christian rather late in life (at age 30), hearing the gospel through my wife, Ann, and through a fellowship of young believers who eventually organized to become Redeemer Bible Church. Since then, the Lord has given me the privilege of serving in the leadership of the church first among the deacons, and then since the mid-1980′s with the elders.

  Ann (deceased) and I were married for 47 years and have three sons: Greg, Mike and John, all of whom have married and gave us 10 much-adored grandchildren!

• Warren Watson

Pastor of Counseling

Growing up in a Presbyterian home and going to church regularly, Christian values were always a part of my life. When a teenager of 17, I gave my life to the Lord. But to say that I have been a strong, faithful, knowledgeable, teachable Christian since that time with a clear understanding of God’s call on my life would be a mistake.

Attending church, leading small groups, reading the Bible and being faithful to pray throughout the years still left me flat. From my teen years to young adulthood I secured undergraduate and graduate education in the field of clinical social work and over the years have advanced in secular positions relative to those degrees, all the while wondering what more I could do for God and a ministry.

In the last 9 years God’s faithful plan for me, demonstrating His amazing patience and intricate plan, has been revealed. After about 5 years in a spiritual and ecclesiastical desert, my wife and I came to Redeemer Bible Church where we heard the full gospel for the first time. While the focus on our need for God, not His need for us, our sinful, rebellious and wondering ways were at first very uncomfortable for my wife and me, the love of God shown in offering His son (Romans 5 and 8 ) for my sins, and understanding more deeply the Great Exchange provided for us by our Lord Jesus, was transformative.

I began Redeemer’s Institute for Pastoral Ministry in 2007 and was ordained in June of 2010.  I find it amazing that all the lay and spiritual/theological training over the years has been used by God to bring me into a position as an Instrument in the Redeemer’s Hands (Paul Tripp).

I am very happy to say that in addition to a wonderful and loving wife, God has blessed me with two great ‘kids’, Sarah and Andrew, and three weeks after I was ordained, a wonderful daughter-in-law Kirsten.

• Paul Burr

Pastor of Ministry Operations and Development

I was raised in a religious family, but did not understand the gospel until my late twenties. My wife Carol and I put our trust in the Lord Jesus in the fall of 1985. I immediately was enthralled with the Word of God and developed a passion for leading community groups. In the late 1990s, I left my role as an engineering supervisor for Ford Motor Co. / Visteon to attend Trinity Evangelical Seminary and earn my Masters of Divinity.

After eight years as an associate pastor in the Evangelical Free Church of America, I joined Redeemer as Pastor of Ministry Operations and Development in the fall of 2010. I serve Redeemer in the areas of administration, ministry development, and a myriad of other responsibilities. I have a passion for helping build relationships that lead to growth in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that ultimately help transform communities.

I have been blessed with a lovely wife, Carol, with whom I recently celebrated 30 years of marriage. We have six children, ages 15 to 25, Alex, Danny, Peter, James, Abby, and Jenni. I enjoy piano, racquetball, golf, and scrabble.

 

Our Elders in Training

• Boomer Peel

Director of Community Groups

• Mark Suchta

• John Sweet

Director of Children’s Ministries

• David Ward

Director of Worship Ministries

I became a Christian at age 12 through the ministry of a summer camp in North Carolina and has always loved music. My first formal training in music was a brief stint in piano lessons around age 11, but I soon moved on to the saxophone which I played in school band all the way through junior and senior high. I discovered jazz at the end of high school and began practicing for hours a day as well as trying my hand at jazz composition. In high school I picked up the guitar to play for campfires, high school Christian fellowships, and youth groups. In college I started learning to play modern worship songs on the piano.

While a student at Rutgers University, I began writing songs for private reflection and worship. I continued to study jazz, taking such classes as jazz theory, but ultimately finished my degree in Mathematics. After working in the software industry for 8 years, I followed God’s call to return to school to learn more musical skills that I could use to serve the church with, such as orchestration, composition, piano study, and arranging. While studying at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY, the Lord called me and my family to my current role at Redeemer Bible Church to serve with his long-time college friend R.W. Glenn.

My role includes planning and leading corporate worship, developing worship leaders, publishing resources for private, family, and community group worship, teaching and preaching, and pastoral care. My wife and I have been blessed with five children age 12 and under. I have been leading worship and writing songs for congregational singing since 1994. My passion for reformed doctrine, hymn texts, and contemporary worship music led me beginning to write new tunes for old hymns in 1999 and to found ReformedPraise.org the following year to share my songs with others.

Our Deacons

• Bill Poppe

  Bill Poppe was introduced to Jesus Christ through the godly influence of his high school Sunday School teacher at his childhood church. While attending the University of Minnesota, Bill was very involved with Campus Crusade for Christ, where he became firmly established in his faith. After graduation from the University, he began attending services at Redeemer.

  Having now been here for over 25 years, Bill has served in a variety of ministries. In addition to serving as a deacon, he is currently a Sunday School teacher. In the past he has served as the grade school through high school Sunday School Coordinator and an Awana Club Commander. Bill and his wife Paula have been blessed with two children, Laura and Brian.

• Mark Summers

  

  Although Mark grew up attending church, he never made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. He ultimately left the church while in college. He and his family began attending a church in Texas in 1992, and it was the pastor of that church that led Mark to faith in the Lord. After moving to Minnesota in 1998 they became members at Redeemer, where Mark eventually felt called to serve as a deacon.
  Mark and his wife Laurie live in Orono and have five children: Ben, Callie, Matt, Ian and Greg.