Chuck Weygandt

Project Coordinator

Lutheran Hour Ministry Advancement Officer, married for 30 years to the amazing Lynne, 2 adult married children, and a 1 year-old grandson. He is 50 years old, and lives in Paso Robles, CA. Last August, Chuck was part of a Global Work and Witness team that helped to restore a Lutheran Hospital in Bratislava, Slovakia that had been seized by the Communists during the Cold War. The experience changed him and has now led him to seek India.

Pastor Steve Barckholtz

Pastor Barckholtz has been pastor at St. Mark's in Elko, Nevada since 2004. Before that, he was at Mammoth Lakes Lutheran Church, in Mammoth Lakes, CA, for 12 years. (Fun note: back in the day, Chuck Weygandt was Steve's AAL guy in Mammoth Lakes for several years.)

Wendy and Steve have been married for 16 years. They have a 5 year-old, Zane, who just signed up for T-ball. The most recent addition to the family is their month-old daughter, Mallory, who will hopefully graduate from high school while Steve is still in his 50s...by a couple weeks, anyway.

Pastor Barckholtz says, "For the past couple of years I have been preaching...teaching... urging...our congregation to get more involved in our community and world. When this opportunity came across my desk out of the blue, it seemed God was saying, 'Quit talking! Get your own can in gear!' After trying to hide behind excuses of inconvenience and timing for a couple of weeks, I decided I better seize the chance to lead by doing."

Rebekah Beal

A junior majoring in the DCE program at Concordia, Seward, Rebekah hails from Milpitas, CA, where she is a well-loved member of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. Rebekah has been on several mission trips to Mexico, and has a real heart for connecting with children. I am sure Rebekah is going to run circles around all of us in fundraising for this trip, and is a great asset to our group. Her folks, Mark and Connie, are real supporters of our team and will be prayer warriors for the trip.

Pastor Herb Burch

Pastor Herb Burch, Hispanic Ministry Pastor from Circuit 9 in the CNH District, is married to Markie, and proud dad of Dorothy who is also going on this trip. He was a missionary Pastor in Guatemala, and has led mission trips to build houses near Tijuana. He is an all-around neat guy with lots of surprises in his background. He and his family live in Santa Maria, CA.

Dorothy Burch

Dorothy is Pastor Burch’s high school senior daughter. She wants to go on this trip (and a whole lot else) before starting college next year. She also has been on the mission trip to Tijuana, where she kept everyone in line. We are VERY relieved Dorothy is going with us.

Glen Butler

The Co-President of the LHM-CNH District, Glen is married to Hui-Yop from Korea. Glen has been working hard to promote this trip, and Lutheran Hour Ministries, since taking his position last year. Glen is a member of Trinity Lutheran, and lives in Paso Robles.

Pastor Ron Jetter

First Aid

From Our Savior Lutheran Church in Sunnyside, WA, Pastor Ron has been married to Sue for 28 years, and has two children in college (at the same time!). Pastor Jetter has a background in multi-cultural ministry, and works part-time as a Hospice Chaplain in the Yakima area. He will be our First Aid Tech on this trip.

Sue Jetter

Married to Ron, Sue is the owner of a Grant-Writing and Consulting business. This is her first out-of-country mission trip. Pastor Ron and Sue live in Sunnyside, Wa.

Amy Knapp

Amy Knapp's experiences with missions has brought her to many countries. Her first mission trip was to Thailand in 1999, followed by a two year stint in Novosibirsk, Russia (that's Siberia!). Last year, Amy led a group from Zion Lutheran Church in Victorville to Nicaragua for an eyeglass mission trip with MOST Ministries. At Zion she also participates in the Mexico Mission, building houses in Tijuana. Amy also serves as a ChristCare leader. Amy's profession is jack-of-all-trades at a family-owned pharmacy in town.

Karl Lipscomb

Karl Lipscomb is the part-time college youth coordinator at Zion, and full-time Cal Poly student.

Lindsey Mulliner

 Lindsey is a junior at Humboldt State University (HSU). She loves kids and her dream job and current focus in school is to be an elementary school teacher (specific grade yet to be decided.) She is a native of El Sobrante, CA and has called it home her whole life. She loves animals, and currently has a blue and red beta fish named Atlas. Lindsey has never been on a missionary trip before, but has been serving God in other ways, such as by acolyting, teaching Sunday School, teaching Vacation Bible School, and working with The Path, a Christian group on the HSU campus that is supported by the local Lutheran Church. Lindsey sees this trip as another (bigger) step in serving our Lord, and is "totally psyched and ready to go."

Pastor Dan Rowe

The Senior Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Paso Robles, Pastor Rowe is 53, married to Jean, and has 4 children and 1 grandson. Pastor Rowe first went to India with Mission India in early 2006 for 2 weeks, and returned to India again in early 2007 where he extended his trip to spend a week at the LHM Christian Media Centre. This trip was his idea!

Drew Rowe

Drew is the 6’ 2” hulking high school junior son of Pastor Rowe. Drew has been on a couple of mission trips to help build houses in Mexico. He lives with his family in Paso Robles. Drew enjoys arguing with his sister and destroying Josh in Halo 2.

Josh Weygandt

Media Coordinator

Josh works at Trinity, Paso Robles as the Youth Director and Digital Ministries Director, and is the owner of Arise Financial Group, an insurance and financial services provider. Married 3 years to the lovely Dana, they have Audrie, a beautiful yet spoiled 2 year-old blue-eyed dachshund puppy. Josh is 29 and lives in Templeton, CA. Josh was somewhat reluctant to serve in Mexico last summer, but came away convicted. Now, he is signed on for India as well as Mexico for summer, 2008. He is the Media tech and Videographer for our trip.

You can see Josh's work on the 2007 Mexico Video.

Bryan Widstrand

The most recent addition to the team, Bryan joined the team only ten days before our departure!  He was in the right place at the right time and was enlisted as a replacement.  It turns out he didn't need to replace anyone, but we created another slot for him anyway!  Bryan is 21, a pre-seminary student at Concordia Chicago, and hails from Lansing, Illinois.  He will be marrying the lovely Stacy Newkirk in Paso Robles this summer.