staff
Staff Information:
Brian Wiele - Lead Pastor
Brian@RiverRidgeCovenantChurch.org
Pastor Brian Wiele began his ministry as the Lead Pastor at River Ridge in August of 2006. After receiving degrees from UC Berkeley and Fuller Seminary, Brian has been a pastor for twenty-six years, including twenty years at one congregation in Northern California. He and Linda have been married for twenty-five years, and have two grown children-Sara and Ben. Brian is passionate about being a messenger of God’s Word, the unity of God’s family, and helping churches serve their communities. Playing golf, drinking coffee, reading and writing are some of the ways he fills up his leisure time.
Lisa Eastman - Minister of Worship Arts
Lisa@RiverRidgeCovenantChurch.org
Lisa has her local minister’s license in the Evangelical Covenant Church and has started the credentialing process with the goal of becoming commissioned or ordained in Christian Formation with a specialty in worship. Lisa has a passion for worshiping Jesus Christ and for helping others do the same. Lisa and her husband Scott share the same passion and often partner in ministry to lead worship at River Ridge, retreats, or to produce national worship gatherings and concerts together such as Triennial, (a once-every-three year international gathering of women in the Evangelical Covenant Church). Please go to the Women Ministries page for more information. Scott and Lisa produced Triennial XI in Portland, OR in 2004 and are producing Triennial XII in Chicago Illinois August 9-12, 2007.
Brad Hostak - Youth Director
Brad@RiverRidgeCovenantChurch.org
Brad Hostak began his ministry as the youth director here at River Ridge in September of 2005. Before coming to River Ridge Brad had interned at two different churches and brings 3 years of volunteer experience. Brad graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 2005 with a degree in Educational Ministry. He is currently going for his masters in youth and family ministry by attending part time at Western Seminary. Brad loves Youth Ministry because he gets to participate with what God is doing in the lives of teens.He loves seeing the "light-bulb" moments where students discover what God is trying to do in their lives. His favorite youth ministry moment was seeing the excitement in students after a recent high school mission trip. He is an avid sports fan especially the Huskies, Mariners and Seahawks. Brad and his wife Sarah were married October 13th, 2007. Yahoo!
Kirsten Kronberg - Seminary Intern
Kirsten@RiverRidge
CovenantChurch.org
Having just completed two years of seminary, Kirsten Kronberg recently joined the River Ridge Covenant Church staff as a pastoral intern. She is an alumna of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA and is currently pursuing her Master of Divinity from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Her internship is a part of her seminary education and in the Fall of 2008 she will return to Chicago to complete the last year of her Master's degree. She has led high school and college small groups, discipled young women, served as a camp counselor in the Yosemite area, traveled to Mexico, Ecuador and Thailand for mission trips and planned weekly worship services for a Westmont group while studying abroad. At River Ridge she will be serving in small group ministry, mission/outreach and teaching confirmation. Some of Kirsten's interests include hiking, writing, singing and pottery.
Jill Shanda - Childrens Ministry Co-Coordinator
Jill is a member of River Ridge Covenant Church, and she co-coordinates children ministries with Peg Melhaff. Jill also works with the middle school group on Wednesday nights, and has accompanied the high school group to CHIC High School Retreat this summer. Jill likes being involved with kids, because she feels compelled to share Jesus Christ with them. She has felt this strongly since she first came to River Ridge Covenant Church ten years ago. It is her calling to share the love of Christ, and give kids hope in this world. Jill benefits from her involvement with kids, not only from what it does for them, but what Jill has gleaned from her experience with them. It has been a great blessing to Jill to work with not only younger kids, but with the youth – middle schoolers and high schoolers as well.
Peg Melhaff - Children's Ministry Co-Coordinator
Peg & her husband Gary joined Grace Community Covenant Church in Olympia in 1989 and came to River Ridge Covenant with the church plant in 1993. Peg has worked in Children’s ministry for 16 years starting in the nursery, then as a teacher and then co-director of the Children’s Ministry team for the last five years. She feels called to this position and is passionate about providing a quality program for our kids, both in evangelism and in discipleship. Kids are not just the future of our church, they are a vital part of our church today. Investing in the children and youth programs honors God and brings huge rewards for them and us. Peg and her husband Gary and their two daughters, Katie and Stephanie live on Long Lake. She homeschools her daughters and is also involved in their programs at the church and at the ballet studios where both daughters dance. Gary serves in various ministries including worship.
staff meetings
On Wednesdays during staff meetings, a pool of wonderful volunteers staff the church office. These include Betse Boughal, Annie Kendall, and Lili Stead.