At this early stage of Christ Church’s development, we are still developing what will become a more long-term leadership structure. We are learning what it means to lead from influence rather than hierarchical position, and what leading as a team looks like.
We are in the process of identifying and training leaders, so this page will likely look different in the future, but so far this is what our official leadership structure looks like:
ELDERS
Officially, Christ Church is led by an elder team, which provides direction and spiritual oversight.
Ben Sternke – Church Planter/Elder
Ben planted Christ Church and serves as its lead pastor. He grew up in Minnesota, but has lived in Fort Wayne since 1998, and has been involved in Christian ministry since 1997. He is passionate about cultivating and multiplying missional communities that can partner with God in transforming communities and cultures.
Wes Gaines, Elder
Wes oversees our music teams and works as an environmental engineer in Fort Wayne.
Merv Koehlinger, Elder
Merv teaches science at Concordia High School and he and his wife Suzette serve as surrogate grandparents to the children of our community!