Pastor Brad Kalajainen joined the Epworth staff as Pastor-in-Residence following 40 years of ministry including 30 years as the founding and lead pastor of Cornerstone Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
This is Brad’s fifth season at Epworth. Brad’s vision for Epworth is to connect people with God and with each other. Leading worship, caring for needs in the community, and bringing people together in creative ways is the goal.
After earning the Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary, Brad continued his education at Calvin Seminary while living in Grand Rapids, MI. He then completed the Doctor of Ministry degree from United Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He retired from full-time pastoral ministry in 2021.
Brad has taught and coached extensively on church planting, church development, multisite ministry, and revitalization.. He continues to coach pastors and lead workshops across the country in areas of vision, church growth, preaching, staffing, and church leadership.
Brad is currently employed as a Senior Strategist for Horizons Stewardship company, helping churches and nonprofits fund ministry.
Brad has been married to Colleen for 45 years. Colleen retired from teaching after 35 years in both elementary music and middle school choral programs. They now live in Madison, WI. They have two grown married children, and two grandchildren.
WEEK 2- June 1, 2025: Cindy Lambert
Cindy Lambert is an author and speaker who is known as a teller of true life-changing stories, and as a warm and authentic communicator who sparks rich spiritual insights while moving audiences ever closer to the unconditional love of God. She began her career as the owner of an award-winning Christian bookstore for two decades. She then held leadership roles in editorial and publishing with such companies as Baker Publishing Group, Ingram, Simon & Schuster, and Zondervan, where she served as vice president and associate publisher. As an editor she worked closely with such authors as Mark Batterson, Max Lucado, Craig Groeshel, Ruth Graham, Kay Warren, Kyle Idleman, Carol Kent, and more. As a writer, she has collaborated on seventeen books, including the bestsellers UnPlanned with Abby Johnson and Unstoppable with Christine Caine. She and her husband Dave have six adult children and ten grandchildren and enjoy launching their kayaks from the dock at their log home in Pentwater, Michigan.
Week 3- June 8, 2025: Kathleen Trock-Molhoek
Kathleen Trock-Molhoek, founder of Pebbles and Stones, has a passion for children and adults to know God as their Father. She is a writer, an educator, intercessor, and a believer in the Kingdom benefits of a multi-generational approach to prayer, community building, and worship. She has developed a teaching model that brings the generations together to hear God’s voice and experience His immeasurable love in profoundly tangible ways.
Her model has been taught and used in over fifty countries. During the pandemic, she developed lessons specifically to help strengthen families and small groups. Many are currently available as free downloads on the Pebbles and Stones website. For the past 15 years, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 children and adults each year have heard the gospel using her teaching model.
Kathleen’s published books include I Love To Pray, Hiding Places / Escondites, Finding God in Ordinary Things and I Heard You Whisper. Her published Curricula include God Speaks, Kids Love to Pray, Too!, Family Edition of Pebbles and Stones, Hiding Places. She has also been a speaker at many retreats, conferences and trainings speaking on the importance of inter-generational and multi-generational prayer.
Kathleen and her husband, Dan, live in West Michigan. Between them, they have four children and eight grandchildren. They worship at Cornerstone Church in Caledonia.
Week 4-June 15, 2025: Rev. David Bast
The Rev. David M. Bast is a retired minister in the Reformed Church in America. He served from 1994 until 2017 as President and Broadcast Minister of Words of Hope, a ministry that focuses on helping churches in the world’s hard places to use media in their outreach. From 2011 to 2021 Bast was the co-host of a weekly Bible teaching program and podcast called Groundwork, produced by ReFrame Media. Before coming to Words of Hope, he served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in Michigan and Illinois.
David Bast is a graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, both in Holland, Michigan. He has also studied at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
David and his wife Betty Jo live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are the parents of four children, Andrew (married to Katie), Peter (married to Sarah), Jane (married to Lars Olson), and Anne (married to Paul Davis). They have eight grandchildren.
David’s interests include reading, writing, and speaking; vegetable gardening (Betty Jo handles the flowers); following the Detroit Tigers; and together visiting their three youngest grandchildren (two in Portland, Oregon and one in Washington, DC.)
Week 5- June 22, 2025: Rev. Christopher Romig
Christopher Romig has served as Senior Pastor at Venice Presbyterian Church in Venice, Florida since 2003. Chris was born in Washington DC and raised in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.
As a young boy, Chris would prepare “church services” for his family, wearing his dad’s bathrobe and designing crayon-colored bulletins. His ministry in churches began at the age of 14, when he became the organist at his boyhood church in Adelphi, Maryland. A graduate of the University of Maryland and Princeton Theological Seminary, Chris has also ministered with churches in San Diego, California and Satellite Beach, Florida before moving to his present call on Florida’s southwest coast. In a congregation of many retirees, Chris loves to see people discover new purpose in the second half, fourth-quarter, and even “overtime” of life – and to develop deeper faith in God.
Known for his shepherd’s heart and preaching that brings the Bible to life, Chris is the author of a published book on the Beatitudes (2021), and his teaching messages are featured on the Kingdom Life podcast. In addition to delighting in pastoral ministry, Chris enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, travel, and rooting for all the Washington DC area sports teams.
Chris and his wife, Karen are both accomplished musicians who enjoy performing together. Karen is a professional flutist who has performed with symphony orchestras in California and Florida. Their two adult sons share the gift of music: William (25) plays the string bass and Nicholas (20) plays percussion. Chris and Karen often perform together – and sometimes with the entire family – and they frequently offer their musical gifts together in worship.
EPWORTH COTTAGEMEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 6-June 29, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Epworth Heights, Ludington, MI
Methodist
This Sunday is dedicated to those members of the Epworth Family who have passed away during the preceding year.
WEEK 7- July 6, 2025: Rev. Mark Westmoreland
The Rev. Mark Westmoreland is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Annual Conference. Mark has served as senior pastor of Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the Emory University campus since 2018. Before coming to Glenn Memorial, Mark’s most recent appointments were at Hamilton Mill UMC (2025-18, which he left to serve the unique appointment at Glenn), Fayetteville First UMC (2005-15), Embry Hills UMC in Dekalb County (1998-2005) and five years (1993-98) as editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the official newspaper for Georgia United Methodism. During his editorship, the publication was honored with the Robert F. Storey Award of Excellence for UM newspapers. Earlier in his ministry Mark served at Newnan Springs, Redan, and Snellville, and, as a student, the Spring Place Charge in Murray County.
A native of Ellijay, Georgia, Mark is a graduate of West Georgia College (Summa Cum Laude) and Candler School of Theology (Cum Laude). He has been married to Kathy Creasy Westmoreland since 1984, and together they have two adult sons, Stephen, a police officer, and Matthew, a teacher and assistive technology specialist. Mark and Kathy are also the proud grandparents of James, 4, and Willa, 1.
Beyond the local church, Mark has served the conference through the Committee on Finance and Administration, the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and as a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference.
LARRY SAKSA MEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 8- July 13, 2025: Dr. Richard Kannwischer
The Rev. Dr. Richard Kannwischer is the eighth Senior Pastor of the seven-thousand-member Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Richard has been a pastor for twenty-five years and has served congregations in Texas, California, and the NYC metropolitan area.
He studied business at Trinity University in San Antonio before completing his Master’s from Princeton Seminary and his Doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. Richard has been honored to serve as a board of trustees member for all three of his higher educational institutions. He serves on the Board of Directors at the historic Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Richard and Kelly met in graduate school, so they fell in love debating theology and eating ice cream as a reward after an evening in the library. Kelly is a consultant with Carter Global, a certified executive coach, and a co-founder of Wonderfully Made Community. They have two adult daughters. Danica is a student at the University of Georgia, and Ashby attends Rich’s alma mater, Trinity University. Richard loves to read, to swim and run, and if you really want a great story, ask him about his hole-in-one in golf.
This Sunday is dedicated to Larry Saksa. He was a leader and an integral part of the Epworth Activities program for over 28 years. As a West Point graduate, Young Life volunteer, a school counselor and coach, he positively impacted countless lives, especially young people at Epworth. Larry lived to the fullest, loved to the fullest, was a leader, a man of character, and a role model to many. Among his most significant contributions to the Epworth family was “Pizza With Larry”, a Sunday evening activity filled with fun, food, and fellowship for youth, during which Larry not only shared the gospel in an unassuming manner, but also demonstrated through his life, love, actions, and words that we are all valued and that each one of us has a place with our heavenly Father. His spirit was gentle, because his strength was in the Lord.
SIMMONS FAMILY MEMORIAL SUNDAY
WEEK 9- July 20, 2025: Jim Burns
Jim Burns is the Founder of HomeWord. He speaks to thousands of people around the world each year and has more than 3 million resources in print in over 20 languages. His popular HomeWord with Jim Burns podcast is on all the major podcast platforms. Jim writes and speaks primarily on the values of HomeWord which are strong marriages, confident parents, empowered kids, and healthy leaders. Some of his most popular books are Doing Life with Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut and the Welcome Mat Out,Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality, Confident Parenting and Creating an Intimate Marriage. Jim and his wife, Cathy, live in Southern California and have three grown daughters, three sons in law, and four grandchildren.
EPWORTH LEAGUE SUNDAY
Week 10- July 27, 2025: Rev. Jeff Myers
Jeff Myers grew up in Spokane, Washington before attending the University of Washington in Seattle where he received a degree in Business Administration. After interning at University Presbyterian Church, working in finance for the Boeing Company, selling wholesale coffee, producing a radio show, and serving with a hospice care provider, Jeff attended Princeton Theological Seminary.
He was awarded the Religion and Society Fellowship for his writing on Christian ethics and human rights. After graduating from PTS, Jeff served in college and young adult ministry at North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta for ten years. In 2017, Jeff came to Roswell Presbyterian Church located in Roswell, GA, a suburb of Atlanta.
Jeff is a frequent guest speaker and has preached everywhere from Harvard to homeless shelters. He is a member of Roswell Rotary, The Cloud Appreciation Society, and sits on the board of The Drake House. Jeff is married to Courtney who is an attorney at Alston and Bird LLP. They have a son, Major, and daughters, Memphis and Marigold “Goldie.”
HOOVER RUPERT MEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 11- August 3, 2025: Rev. Molly Shivers
The Reverend Molly Shivers is a third generation Epworthian. She is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ronald C. Link of Holiday House Cottage and the late R. Forrest Colwell and Dorothy Colwell Booz of Birch Cliff Cottage.
When not in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Molly and her husband, David, can be found in residence at Birch Cliff. Their adult son, Forrest, spends as much time as he can during the summer at Epworth, as well.
Molly received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Arts in the History of Art from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Divinity from the Divinity School at Duke University. She is an Elder in Full Connection (Retired) in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Molly served churches ranging in size from 80 members to 800 members. She engaged in specialized ministries of conflict transformation, leadership development, and strategic visioning at both the district level and conference level.
Adult education and spiritual formation have been two of her particular areas of passion and expertise in ministry.
Even though she graduated from Duke Divinity School, Molly is, has been, and always will be a Tar Heel.
This Sunday is dedicated to Hoover Rupert. Dr. Rupert first preached at Epworth in 1953 and preached well over one hundred sermons here during his life. He was the Senior Pastor in Jackson, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. He retired from the active ministry in 1983 and was Epworth Chaplain for 14 years. He authored 20 books (three written at Epworth) and over 2,000 magazine articles. He earned a B.A. Degree from Baker University and a M.A. and MDiv. From Boston University. In addition, he was awarded four honorary degrees. He lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland where he passed away on October 4, 2012. He was married to Hazel for 63 years and is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Wright and Susan Newbry.
Week 12-August 10, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Epworth Heights, Ludington, MI
Methodist
Week 13- August 17, 2025: Rev. Stephen D. McConnell
Stephen D. McConnell (Steve) is a fourth generation Presbyterian pastor. He attended Westminster College (PA) and Princeton Theological Seminary. He received his Doctor of Letters from the Graduate School at Drew University concentrating on the works of C.S. Lewis. Over his forty years of ministry Steve served three congregations: the Melrose Carmel Presbyterian Church outside of Philadelphia, the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church in Liberty Corner, New Jersey and the Church of the Palms in Sarasota, Florida, from which he recently retired. Steve is the author of four books, Take Me to Aslan: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Trusting, When the Wind is Against You: Encouragement for When Life Pushes Back,Safe at Home: Finding What You Never Lost and A Street Called Detour: Encouragement for When Life Changes Direction. He is married to Amanda and they have a daughter, Brittany, and two grandchildren, Brooke and Jacob.
Week 14- August 24, 2025: Pastor Jeff Nelson
Pastor Jeff Nelson grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin in a town called Rhinelander. He grew up attending the United Methodist Church at the end of his street. Jeff has his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and his Masters in Divinity from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Jeff and his wife, Bridget, came to Detroit in 1997 from Wisconsin for a one-year volunteer urban missions program. During that year, God transformed their lives and they finished the year with a sense of God’s call, hearts broken by the suffering of the world, and a desire to partner with God in a ministry of service. Prior to entering seminary, Jeff worked as a social worker with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit and as a community organizer with Groundwork, where he worked on issues of human rights and racial justice.
Jeff was appointed in 2002 to Birmingham First United Methodist, outside of Detroit, where he served in youth ministry and led the Sunday evening worship service. In 2009, he was appointed to Redford Aldersgate United Methodist Church, also in the metro Detroit area. In Redford, Jeff was a solo Pastor until a merger with Brightmoor United Methodist Church in Detroit, when Aldersgate became a two campus church. Once the merger had taken place, Jeff worked with a board to create the Redford Brightmoor Initiative, which included a Free Store, Community Garden and Food Program for the Brightmoor community in Detroit.
In 2016, Jeff was appointed to Royal Oak First United Methodist Church, where he continues to serve as Lead Pastor today. Royal Oak First is a midsize church that offers programs for children, youth, adults and families, as well as serves lunch to people experiencing homelessness 5 days a week. Jeff works with a great team of staff and volunteers to uphold the mission to make Christ’s love real.
Jeff and Bridget have two sons, Casey and Sam.
Week 15- August 31, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Ludington, MI
Methodist
Sponsored in part by the Bishop Emerson and Jane Colaw Lectures and by your generous contributions to the Worship program.
2025 Visiting Ministers
Week 1- May 25, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Ludington, MI
Methodist
Pastor Brad Kalajainen joined the Epworth staff as Pastor-in-Residence following 40 years of ministry including 30 years as the founding and lead pastor of Cornerstone Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
This is Brad’s fifth season at Epworth. Brad’s vision for Epworth is to connect people with God and with each other. Leading worship, caring for needs in the community, and bringing people together in creative ways is the goal.
After earning the Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary, Brad continued his education at Calvin Seminary while living in Grand Rapids, MI. He then completed the Doctor of Ministry degree from United Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He retired from full-time pastoral ministry in 2021.
Brad has taught and coached extensively on church planting, church development, multisite ministry, and revitalization.. He continues to coach pastors and lead workshops across the country in areas of vision, church growth, preaching, staffing, and church leadership.
Brad is currently employed as a Senior Strategist for Horizons Stewardship company, helping churches and nonprofits fund ministry.
Brad has been married to Colleen for 45 years. Colleen retired from teaching after 35 years in both elementary music and middle school choral programs. They now live in Madison, WI. They have two grown married children, and two grandchildren.
WEEK 2- June 1, 2025: Cindy Lambert
Cindy Lambert is an author and speaker who is known as a teller of true life-changing stories, and as a warm and authentic communicator who sparks rich spiritual insights while moving audiences ever closer to the unconditional love of God. She began her career as the owner of an award-winning Christian bookstore for two decades. She then held leadership roles in editorial and publishing with such companies as Baker Publishing Group, Ingram, Simon & Schuster, and Zondervan, where she served as vice president and associate publisher. As an editor she worked closely with such authors as Mark Batterson, Max Lucado, Craig Groeshel, Ruth Graham, Kay Warren, Kyle Idleman, Carol Kent, and more. As a writer, she has collaborated on seventeen books, including the bestsellers UnPlanned with Abby Johnson and Unstoppable with Christine Caine. She and her husband Dave have six adult children and ten grandchildren and enjoy launching their kayaks from the dock at their log home in Pentwater, Michigan.
Week 3- June 8, 2025: Kathleen Trock-Molhoek
Kathleen Trock-Molhoek, founder of Pebbles and Stones, has a passion for children and adults to know God as their Father. She is a writer, an educator, intercessor, and a believer in the Kingdom benefits of a multi-generational approach to prayer, community building, and worship. She has developed a teaching model that brings the generations together to hear God’s voice and experience His immeasurable love in profoundly tangible ways.
Her model has been taught and used in over fifty countries. During the pandemic, she developed lessons specifically to help strengthen families and small groups. Many are currently available as free downloads on the Pebbles and Stones website. For the past 15 years, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 children and adults each year have heard the gospel using her teaching model.
Kathleen’s published books include I Love To Pray, Hiding Places / Escondites, Finding God in Ordinary Things and I Heard You Whisper. Her published Curricula include God Speaks, Kids Love to Pray, Too!, Family Edition of Pebbles and Stones, Hiding Places. She has also been a speaker at many retreats, conferences and trainings speaking on the importance of inter-generational and multi-generational prayer.
Kathleen and her husband, Dan, live in West Michigan. Between them, they have four children and eight grandchildren. They worship at Cornerstone Church in Caledonia.
Week 4- June 15, 2025: Rev. David Bast
The Rev. David M. Bast is a retired minister in the Reformed Church in America. He served from 1994 until 2017 as President and Broadcast Minister of Words of Hope, a ministry that focuses on helping churches in the world’s hard places to use media in their outreach. From 2011 to 2021 Bast was the co-host of a weekly Bible teaching program and podcast called Groundwork, produced by ReFrame Media. Before coming to Words of Hope, he served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in Michigan and Illinois.
David Bast is a graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, both in Holland, Michigan. He has also studied at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
David and his wife Betty Jo live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are the parents of four children, Andrew (married to Katie), Peter (married to Sarah), Jane (married to Lars Olson), and Anne (married to Paul Davis). They have eight grandchildren.
David’s interests include reading, writing, and speaking; vegetable gardening (Betty Jo handles the flowers); following the Detroit Tigers; and together visiting their three youngest grandchildren (two in Portland, Oregon and one in Washington, DC.)
Week 5- June 22, 2025: Rev. Christopher Romig
Christopher Romig has served as Senior Pastor at Venice Presbyterian Church in Venice, Florida since 2003. Chris was born in Washington DC and raised in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.
As a young boy, Chris would prepare “church services” for his family, wearing his dad’s bathrobe and designing crayon-colored bulletins. His ministry in churches began at the age of 14, when he became the organist at his boyhood church in Adelphi, Maryland. A graduate of the University of Maryland and Princeton Theological Seminary, Chris has also ministered with churches in San Diego, California and Satellite Beach, Florida before moving to his present call on Florida’s southwest coast. In a congregation of many retirees, Chris loves to see people discover new purpose in the second half, fourth-quarter, and even “overtime” of life – and to develop deeper faith in God.
Known for his shepherd’s heart and preaching that brings the Bible to life, Chris is the author of a published book on the Beatitudes (2021), and his teaching messages are featured on the Kingdom Life podcast. In addition to delighting in pastoral ministry, Chris enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, travel, and rooting for all the Washington DC area sports teams.
Chris and his wife, Karen are both accomplished musicians who enjoy performing together. Karen is a professional flutist who has performed with symphony orchestras in California and Florida. Their two adult sons share the gift of music: William (25) plays the string bass and Nicholas (20) plays percussion. Chris and Karen often perform together – and sometimes with the entire family – and they frequently offer their musical gifts together in worship.
EPWORTH COTTAGE MEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 6- June 29, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Epworth Heights, Ludington, MI
Methodist
This Sunday is dedicated to those members of the Epworth Family who have passed away during the preceding year.
WEEK 7- July 6, 2025: Rev. Mark Westmoreland
The Rev. Mark Westmoreland is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Annual Conference. Mark has served as senior pastor of Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the Emory University campus since 2018. Before coming to Glenn Memorial, Mark’s most recent appointments were at Hamilton Mill UMC (2025-18, which he left to serve the unique appointment at Glenn), Fayetteville First UMC (2005-15), Embry Hills UMC in Dekalb County (1998-2005) and five years (1993-98) as editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the official newspaper for Georgia United Methodism. During his editorship, the publication was honored with the Robert F. Storey Award of Excellence for UM newspapers. Earlier in his ministry Mark served at Newnan Springs, Redan, and Snellville, and, as a student, the Spring Place Charge in Murray County.
A native of Ellijay, Georgia, Mark is a graduate of West Georgia College (Summa Cum Laude) and Candler School of Theology (Cum Laude). He has been married to Kathy Creasy Westmoreland since 1984, and together they have two adult sons, Stephen, a police officer, and Matthew, a teacher and assistive technology specialist. Mark and Kathy are also the proud grandparents of James, 4, and Willa, 1.
Beyond the local church, Mark has served the conference through the Committee on Finance and Administration, the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and as a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference.
LARRY SAKSA MEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 8- July 13, 2025: Dr. Richard Kannwischer
The Rev. Dr. Richard Kannwischer is the eighth Senior Pastor of the seven-thousand-member Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Richard has been a pastor for twenty-five years and has served congregations in Texas, California, and the NYC metropolitan area.
He studied business at Trinity University in San Antonio before completing his Master’s from Princeton Seminary and his Doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. Richard has been honored to serve as a board of trustees member for all three of his higher educational institutions. He serves on the Board of Directors at the historic Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Richard and Kelly met in graduate school, so they fell in love debating theology and eating ice cream as a reward after an evening in the library. Kelly is a consultant with Carter Global, a certified executive coach, and a co-founder of Wonderfully Made Community. They have two adult daughters. Danica is a student at the University of Georgia, and Ashby attends Rich’s alma mater, Trinity University. Richard loves to read, to swim and run, and if you really want a great story, ask him about his hole-in-one in golf.
This Sunday is dedicated to Larry Saksa. He was a leader and an integral part of the Epworth Activities
program for over 28 years. As a West Point graduate, Young Life volunteer, a school counselor and coach, he positively impacted countless lives, especially young people at Epworth. Larry lived to the fullest, loved to the fullest, was a leader, a man of character, and a role model to many. Among his most significant contributions to the Epworth family was “Pizza With Larry”, a Sunday evening activity filled with fun, food, and fellowship for youth, during which Larry not only shared the gospel in an unassuming manner, but also demonstrated through his life, love, actions, and words that we are all valued and that each one of us has a place with our heavenly Father. His spirit was gentle, because his strength was in the Lord.
SIMMONS FAMILY MEMORIAL SUNDAY
WEEK 9- July 20, 2025: Jim Burns
Jim Burns is the Founder of HomeWord. He speaks to thousands of people around the world each year and has more than 3 million resources in print in over 20 languages. His popular HomeWord with Jim Burns podcast is on all the major podcast platforms. Jim writes and speaks primarily on the values of HomeWord which are strong marriages, confident parents, empowered kids, and healthy leaders. Some of his most popular books are Doing Life with Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut and the Welcome Mat Out, Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality, Confident Parenting and Creating an Intimate Marriage. Jim and his wife, Cathy, live in Southern California and have three grown daughters, three sons in law, and four grandchildren.
EPWORTH LEAGUE SUNDAY
Week 10- July 27, 2025: Rev. Jeff Myers
Jeff Myers grew up in Spokane, Washington before attending the University of Washington in Seattle where he received a degree in Business Administration. After interning at University Presbyterian Church, working in finance for the Boeing Company, selling wholesale coffee, producing a radio show, and serving with a hospice care provider, Jeff attended Princeton Theological Seminary.
He was awarded the Religion and Society Fellowship for his writing on Christian ethics and human rights. After graduating from PTS, Jeff served in college and young adult ministry at North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta for ten years. In 2017, Jeff came to Roswell Presbyterian Church located in Roswell, GA, a suburb of Atlanta.
Jeff is a frequent guest speaker and has preached everywhere from Harvard to homeless shelters. He is a member of Roswell Rotary, The Cloud Appreciation Society, and sits on the board of The Drake House. Jeff is married to Courtney who is an attorney at Alston and Bird LLP. They have a son, Major, and daughters, Memphis and Marigold “Goldie.”
HOOVER RUPERT MEMORIAL SUNDAY
Week 11- August 3, 2025: Rev. Molly Shivers
The Reverend Molly Shivers is a third generation Epworthian. She is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ronald C. Link of Holiday House Cottage and the late R. Forrest Colwell and Dorothy Colwell Booz of Birch Cliff Cottage.
When not in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Molly and her husband, David, can be found in residence at Birch Cliff. Their adult son, Forrest, spends as much time as he can during the summer at Epworth, as well.
Molly received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Arts in the History of Art from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Divinity from the Divinity School at Duke University. She is an Elder in Full Connection (Retired) in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Molly served churches ranging in size from 80 members to 800 members. She engaged in specialized ministries of conflict transformation, leadership development, and strategic visioning at both the district level and conference level.
Adult education and spiritual formation have been two of her particular areas of passion and expertise in ministry.
Even though she graduated from Duke Divinity School, Molly is, has been, and always will be a Tar Heel.
This Sunday is dedicated to Hoover Rupert. Dr. Rupert first preached at Epworth in 1953 and preached well over one hundred sermons here during his life. He was the Senior Pastor in Jackson, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. He retired from the active ministry in 1983 and was Epworth Chaplain for 14 years. He authored 20 books (three written at Epworth) and over 2,000 magazine articles. He earned a B.A. Degree from Baker University and a M.A. and MDiv. From Boston University. In addition, he was awarded four honorary degrees. He lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland where he passed away on October 4, 2012. He was married to Hazel for 63 years and is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Wright and Susan Newbry.
Week 12- August 10, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Epworth Heights, Ludington, MI
Methodist
Week 13- August 17, 2025: Rev. Stephen D. McConnell
Stephen D. McConnell (Steve) is a fourth generation Presbyterian pastor. He attended Westminster College (PA) and Princeton Theological Seminary. He received his Doctor of Letters from the Graduate School at Drew University concentrating on the works of C.S. Lewis. Over his forty years of ministry Steve served three congregations: the Melrose Carmel Presbyterian Church outside of Philadelphia, the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church in Liberty Corner, New Jersey and the Church of the Palms in Sarasota, Florida, from which he recently retired. Steve is the author of four books, Take Me to Aslan: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Trusting, When the Wind is Against You: Encouragement for When Life Pushes Back, Safe at Home: Finding What You Never Lost and A Street Called Detour: Encouragement for When Life Changes Direction. He is married to Amanda and they have a daughter, Brittany, and two grandchildren, Brooke and Jacob.
Week 14- August 24, 2025: Pastor Jeff Nelson
Pastor Jeff Nelson grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin in a town called Rhinelander. He grew up attending the United Methodist Church at the end of his street. Jeff has his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and his Masters in Divinity from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Jeff and his wife, Bridget, came to Detroit in 1997 from Wisconsin for a one-year volunteer urban missions program. During that year, God transformed their lives and they finished the year with a sense of God’s call, hearts broken by the suffering of the world, and a desire to partner with God in a ministry of service. Prior to entering seminary, Jeff worked as a social worker with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit and as a community organizer with Groundwork, where he worked on issues of human rights and racial justice.
Jeff was appointed in 2002 to Birmingham First United Methodist, outside of Detroit, where he served in youth ministry and led the Sunday evening worship service. In 2009, he was appointed to Redford Aldersgate United Methodist Church, also in the metro Detroit area. In Redford, Jeff was a solo Pastor until a merger with Brightmoor United Methodist Church in Detroit, when Aldersgate became a two campus church. Once the merger had taken place, Jeff worked with a board to create the Redford Brightmoor Initiative, which included a Free Store, Community Garden and Food Program for the Brightmoor community in Detroit.
In 2016, Jeff was appointed to Royal Oak First United Methodist Church, where he continues to serve as Lead Pastor today. Royal Oak First is a midsize church that offers programs for children, youth, adults and families, as well as serves lunch to people experiencing homelessness 5 days a week. Jeff works with a great team of staff and volunteers to uphold the mission to make Christ’s love real.
Jeff and Bridget have two sons, Casey and Sam.
Week 15- August 31, 2025: Rev. Brad Kalajainen
Director of Spiritual Life
Epworth Church Association, Ludington, MI
Methodist
Sponsored in part by the Bishop Emerson and Jane Colaw Lectures and by your generous contributions to the Worship program.