Voters’ Meeting

Be sure to join us for this important Voters’ Meeting on Wednesday, May 6 at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary. We will be voting on the Senior Pastor and Board of Lay Leaders (BLL). Our BLL Candidates are Kent Doerffler, John Speckhard and Davis Deane. Please see a list of questions and answers about the pastor search prepared by the BLL.

Our two Senior Pastor Candidates are Rev. Lance O’Donnell and Rev. Chad Van Meter.

Rev. Lance O’Donnell has served as a pastor since 2002 – serving Emmanuel in Van Wert, OH (2002-2009), St. Philip in Chicago, IL (2009-2012) and St. Paul in Oconomowoc, WI (since 2012). St. Paul’s current weekly attendance averages 391 and they have 1,253 communicant members and 2,039 baptized members. St. Paul's school has 161 students preschool through 8th grade. There are 26 staff members for both church and school.
Pastor O’Donnell (b. 1969) and his wife Carrie have four children: Siobhan (b. 1998), Aidan (b. 2000), Faileen (b. 2003), and Brenainn (b. 2007).

Rev. Chad Van Meter has served in professional ministry since 1998 – serving Aboite in Fort Wayne, IN (1998-2007) first as Youth Director then as Administrative Director, Holy Cross in Fort Wayne, IN (2007-2024) as Director of Christian Education and Holy Cross, Fort Wayne, Indiana (since 2025) as Associate Pastor. Holy Cross’ current weekly attendance averages 588 and they have 1,379 communicant members and 1,717 baptized members. Holy Cross Lutheran School has 473 students from preschool through 8th grade. There are 99 staff members for both church and school. 
Pastor Van Meter (b. 1976) and his wife Lesa have five children: Roman (b. 2004), Chyim (b. 2006), Miela (b. 2007), Evie (b. 2010) and Julian (b. 2011).