Staff

Jeff is grateful to have come from a family with gifts and experiences in both music and Christian worship, which provided roots for his own faith renewal, rekindled some 20 years ago when he began attending Messiah church. The son of a Lutheran Pastor, Jeff began singing at a very young age and continued with church and school choirs throughout his growing up years as well as studying piano, voice and guitar. He's always enjoyed musical variety and has performed in many different groups as an adult, including large and small choirs, folk, rock, variety and jazz bands, musical theater, and as a solo guitarist and vocalist. He began undergrad studies at Augsburg College in the late 70's (where he sang in their acclaimed choir) and after a long hiatus, completed his degree at Metro Sate University in 2006 with a focus in Music and Community Development. Jeff married his wife Kristen in 1989 at Messiah (she's the one who brought him here!) and is the proud father of two sons, Ryan (24) and Jackson (15). In June of 1990, after a profound experience of Christian community in Haiti as part of a short-term mission trip, Jeff, Kristen and others from Messiah moved to the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul to establish an intentional Christian community (now called Crossroads Community with members from three different churches), which seeks to be a prayerful Christian presence within the community, reaching out in loving service to and with our neighbors. Outside of his work at Messiah, Jeff teaches private guitar students, enjoys performing with a number of different individuals and groups (including son, Jackson), enjoys bicycling, ultimate (Frisbee) and other outdoor recreation. He also spends a significant amount of time each week with his parents, enjoying the gift and grace of relationship with them, which is often marked by helping them cope with his Dad's late-stage Parkinson's disease. Jeff's work at Messiah revolves around co-ordinating music and worship activities. His main weekly task is to plan and prepare music for our Sunday worship (and other special) services. This main task breaks down into two areas of work: 1) creating song files for the bulletin and 2) arranging music for the Worship Band and directing/rehearsing with them. Jeff works closely with Paul Johnson (our part-time Music Assistant, who handles organ and keyboard playing), especially in the worship band as well as in general through prayerful planning and leading of the music ministry. Jeff also leads the Sunday Music Planning Group and the Worship Committee (various groups comprised of staff and lay people), and is blessed to have such gifted and committed folks with whom to do worship and music planning. Jeff also sees his role at Messiah as supporting and encouraging music and worship in a variety of contexts (youth worship band, Adult and Children's education, small groups, etc.), and is pleased to offer resources and support as he is able.

Bobbie started attending Messiah in January of 2002 by volunteering with the Youth Group. Throughout her ministry at Messiah, she has been a Youth Intern (more than once) and Youth Coordinator. She graduated from North Central University with a degree in Youth Ministry and is originally from Hopkins, Minnesota. After college she spent a year as a missionary teacher on Saipan, an island in the north Pacific. She recently became engaged to Dan whom she met while both were living and working in Northern Wisconsin. They'll be getting married in the spring of 2012. Bobbie knows her way around a kitchen and enjoys sharing a kitchen with Dan who also loves to cook. Bobbie like curling up with a good book and likes to travel.