| Telephone: (519) 742-5812 | 322 East Avenue Kitchener, Ontario | Fax: (519) 742-5813 |
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On Sunday, September 6th, 2009, Reverend Nolan Astley was installed as Senior Pastor of
Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church. Pastor Nolan Astley was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta the oldest of the three children of Douglas and Marlene Astley. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Alberta, majoring in Western Canadian history. During his time at university he worked part-time as a news reporter for the university radio station and in his final year was president of the Student Union. During this time God was also leading him to consider the Holy Ministry as his vocation. Following graduation he enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completing seminary in 1985, he was placed at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Kamloops, BC. In the fall of 1990 he accepted the call to serve First Lutheran Church in Lloydminster, Alberta and also served Zion Lutheran Church in McLaughlin, Alberta. In March 2009, Pastor Astley accepted the call to serve as Senior Pastor at Holy Cross. Service to the church-at-large has played a large role in Pastor Astley’s work for many years serving as a Circuit Counsellor, Chair of the LCC Commission on Constitutional Matters and Structure, Secretary of the Synod, Chair of the Board of Regents of Concordia Lutheran Seminary and Vice-President of the Synod. Presently he serves as Chair of the Synod’s Task Force on Seminary Education and was recently appointed to the editorial board of the Concordia Pulpit Resource. In 2006 he served as an instructor at the Lutheran School of Evangelism in Tanzania, Africa and in the fall of 2009 he will be a guest instructor at the Lutheran Institute of South Asia seminary programs in Thailand and Cambodia. In April 1987 Pastor Astley married Susan (Kromm) at Connaught Hill Lutheran Church in Prince George, BC and they have been blessed by four children and two grandchildren. |
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| Pastor Syens hails from the Vancouver area and is a graduate of Trinity Western University, Regent College, both in B. C., and Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta. After serving a new church in Walnut Grove, B. C., he moved as an evangelistic missionary to Ukraine soon after the collapse of the USSR and began working with university students in Dnepropetrovsk, where his service was abundantly blessed. Pastor Syens was installed at Holy Cross in November, 2005 and gives direction to our church in the areas of evangelism, missions, youth and young adult ministry. His wife, Anita, also from Vancouver, has been a vital part of his ministry work since their marriage several years ago. |  |
| Pastor Wentzlaff, a native of Normanby Township, Ontario, came to Holy Cross in 1954 after his graduation from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He devoted his entire working career of 40 years to our church, retiring at the end of 1993. The next year he was declared "Pastor Emeritus" by our congregation and has served as communion assistant, preacher, resource person, wise spiritual counselor and friend to many. |  |
| Beth's work among us focuses strongly on Christian education and family-related programming. She was born in Kitchener and has been part of our Holy Cross family since her baptism. After attending the University of Windsor to pursue studies in the performing arts, she ultimately graduated from the University of Waterloo. Beth brought a breadth of experiences along when she joined our staff in 2003, having coordinated programming in hospitals, institutional settings and schools, as well as the many volunteer leadership posts she held in our church, notably in the annual Vacation Bible School and in our former Missionary Cadet program. Beth and her husband, Matthew, are the parents of three daughters, Grace, Claire, and Emma. You'll generally find Beth in her office here Tuesdays through Thursdays. |  |
Raised just two blocks from Holy Cross, Debbie attended our Vacation Bible School as a child and returned as a full adult member in 1983. After her high school graduation, she worked in the information systems department of Electrohome in Kitchener for 10 years before joining our church staff in 1989. She felt then that the Lord was moving her to put her gifts and talents to work to assist more directly with the ministry of the Gospel. She and her husband, Bill, are the parents of two daughters, Caitlin and Emily. Debbie oversees the day-to-day operations in our church office, provides support to our financial officers, manages our computer system, and is also the staff person responsible for privacy and copyright issues. In her own words, she sums up her work like this, "This is an exciting time to be a part of the team here at Holy Cross and I thank God for the opportunity to serve in this capacity."
Janet Cumby is our administrative assistant. She began work in our office in April, 2008. Janet assists Debbie Pritchard with the busy workload here at our church. She and here family recently joined membership here. When you stop in to the church or call, she’s likely the first face you’ll see. Janet was born and raised right here in Kitchener and was a life long member of St. Matthews Lutheran Church. She and her husband, Kevin, are the parents of two children, Nicholas and Sydney and are all becoming very active here at Holy Cross. When the children were younger it was decided that Home Daycare would allow more time to be spent with the kids. Now that they are older, Janet is excited to be using skills she learned, before they were born, to support Holy Cross.
Jennifer has assisted with choir and organ since the early 1980's. She officially became the organist in 1989, and was given the title Director of Music in 1993. She is the primary organist, director of the senior and youth choir, and coordinates all music for our Divine Services. Jennifer has an A.Mus. designation from the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music, and a B.Mus. (honours) from Wilfried Laurier University. She is a Registered music teacher (piano) with the Ontario Registered Music Teachers' Association.
Richard has lived in Kitchener since he was 13 and joined our staff in 2001. He has a long list of experiences behind him. He studied at the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute in Camrose, Alberta, and later served with the Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada (LBTC) in Sierra Leone, West Africa. After that Richard was employed as a computer specialist with various firms over a ten-year period, including a time with the Lutheran Laymen's League of Canada (LLL). He and his wife, Camilla, are the parents of two children, Jessica and Steven. In addition to his daily work maintaining our building plant, Richard has served as a Sunday School superintendent and with our Boards of Church Properties, Evangelism, and Parish Education. He's also shared his musical skills - on the accordion and cordovox! - in services and as an accompanist for our annual Men's Retreat.