Staff
Mark Rhoads
Pastor
Pastor Rhoads graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis with a Master’s of Divinity degree in 2008. He has served as Associate Pastor at Christ Our Savior since his graduation. Before entering the seminary, he served as a Director of Christian Education at LCMS churches in Florida, Alabama, and Texas. Pastor Rhoads became our Senior Pastor at Christ Our Savior on June 29, 2025.
Pastor Rhoads enjoys teaching the faith and providing opportunities for people to live out their faith in daily life. “My greatest joy in ministry is helping people grow in their knowledge and appreciation of the grace of God as revealed in the Bible.” In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and hiking the many trails in our area.
Candace Sutter
Worship Director
Candace is a composer, recording and performing artist, an instrumental music teacher, an accompanist and choir director.
She operates a private piano and percussion teaching studio and manages a small publishing company for her music compositions. She has directed church and private choir concerts for nearly 30 years, and accompanied school and church choirs for 35 years.
“Sharing the love of music is such a blessing to me and using it to enhance worship in my music ministry is what I feel called to do.”
Learn more about Candace on her website at or contact her on her Church email.
Role of Staff
The role of our staff at Christ Our Savior is to plan for, conduct and support our Worship activities in line with guidance and support material from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Our Pastor ministers to our congregation. Our Worship Director prepares the liturgy and music and assembles the support needed to conduct the services. We have two Secretaries maintain the office functions and we also have a technical support person who focuses on our audio video requirements for the Church.
Judith Schmidt-Bielenberg
Sandy Stricklett
Organization
It takes many volunteers to maintain and run the affairs of the church in addition to our Staff. Our Church Council, led by the President and Vice President is a collection of individuals from key committees within the church and serves as the leadership team. Committees represented include Finance, Elders, Endowment, Facilities. The Pastor and Worship Director along with a secretary and the church treasurer also attend.
