Pastor Mark came to us from Anaheim, California and was installed at Epiphany on Sunday, June 18, 2006. He and his family make their home in Chandler. Pastor Mark was formerly the Senior Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church and Schools in Anaheim.

Before becoming a pastor, Pastor Mark was a landscape maintenance business owner; a bartender at Disneyland’s famous Club 33; and a waiter and in-store trainer for TGI Fridays.  He holds degrees from Concordia University Irvine, the Simon Greenleaf School of Law, and Concordia Theological Seminary.  He is also a graduate of the inaugural class of the Pastoral Leadership Institute.

An avid fan of the 1970’s TV show, Emergency!, Pastor Mark was selected to be the first chaplain to serve the City of Anaheim Fire Department.  He resigned as Senior Chaplain when he moved to Arizona.  He is presently the sole Chaplain for the Rural/Metro Fire Department – Maricopa and Pinal County Operations.  Pastor Mark’s best kept secret is his own home office decorated as an authentic fire captain’s office.  He has never met a “fire department memory” that he couldn’t make into something to hang on his wall!

A former competitive runner and cyclist, Pastor Mark ran the San Francisco Half-Marathon on July 29, 2007 with a fellow runner of our congregation.  As part of his motivation “to get out there and run in the Arizona heat,” he teamed up with the women’s group of Epiphany to raise funds for My Sister’s Place, the only domestic violence shelter in the city of Chandler.

He has an iPod filled with an eclectic collection of music – ranging from classic rock, country, rap, alternative, classical, and even a few movie soundtracks.  His favorite TV “show” is the Phoenix Fire Department Network (a restricted public safety channel on Cox cable).  His favorite movie of all time is Rudy.  He has seen this one so often that he quotes the character’s lines before they are said on screen!   Every summer, he watches two HBO mini-miniseries on DVD:  From Here to the Moon and Band of Brothers.

B.C. (that is, before children), he and his wife Alison loved to travel.  San Francisco and Tokyo are Pastor Mark’s favorite cities.  Now their lives are spent enjoying the antics of eighteen month old Caroline and helping five-year-old David with his homework in Kindergarten.  In the spring of 2007, Pastor Mark volunteered to be the head coach of the Sea Lions, a coed soccer team of a 4 and 5-year olds.

Pastor Mark works Monday through Thursday in the church office; with an occasional day spent on a ride-along with the Rural/Metro Fire Department.  He can be reached via email: pastormark@epiphanychandler.org or you can leave him a voice mail 24/7 at 480.963.6105 x218.