Dear Friends,

Some of our new members express an interest in the background of our Pastor. The following shares a bit about Pastor Mark.

Pastor Mark has been the pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church since August of 1982. Pastor is a 1976 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois. His vicarage (internship) was served at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas. His first Call was back to Our Redeemer in Dallas as assistant pastor where he served from 1976-1979. In 1979 he moved to Springfield, Missouri where he served two mission congregations, Faith Lutheran of Springfield and Zion Lutheran of Bolivar. In August of 1982 he accepted the Call to serve Our Savior Lutheran in Paradise.

Pastor Mark was born in Woodward, Oklahoma where his father was serving Trinity Lutheran Church. Six months later they moved to Decatur, Illinois. When he was nine, they moved to Elma, Iowa. He was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison, Nebraska where he attended 7^th and 8^th grade at Trinity Lutheran School. When he was a freshman in high school his family moved to O’Neill, Nebraska and he graduated from O’Neill High School in 1967. O’Neill is what Pastor considers to be his "hometown". In high school he lettered in three sports playing football, basketball, and running track. He was homecoming king, class president and annual editor. He entered college at Concordia Lutheran Teacher’s college in Seward, Nebraska where he studied to be a teacher and coach. His junior and senior years were spent at Southern California College (now Vanguard University) in Costa Mesa, California. He graduated in 1971 with a degree in English. As mentioned above he then entered Concordia Theological Seminary.

Pastor Mark was married to Ellie (Sanderson) Stenbeck, whom he met at Southern California College, for 39 years prior to her death in 2011. Pastor has two daughters. Mandi is married to George Steffenson and has two boys, Brady born in 2002 and Timothy born in 2003. Mandi earned her teaching credential from California State University in Chico. Her husband is a Lieutenant with the California Highway Patrol and they live in Paradise. Lauri graduated from Chico State in 2001, She earned her Masters Degree in 2004 and a Doctorate in Psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2007. Lauri moved home when her mother became ill and is currently is living with Pastor here in Paradise along with her daughter Nala Eleanor who was born in May of 2010. She is employed as a psychologist at Therapeutic Solutions in Chico.

Pastor Mark served the United States Army Reserve as a Chaplain for twenty-three years, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1997. He was awarded the St. Martin of Tours Medal for his service as an LCMS Army Chaplain. For the CNH District, pastor has served as Circuit Counselor, a member of the Board of Directors, chairman of the District Pastor’s Conference, Pastoral Counselor for District LWML, as member of the District Student Aid and Recruitment Committee, and as member of the CNH District Mission Action Council.

Pastor’s hobby is golf and he enjoys family activity, especially with his two grandsons and granddaughter.