Meet the staff
Our staff team at St. Mark's is gifted in many ways. Each person brings their own God-given talent to the ministries of St. Mark's. This church believes in the power of prayer and that God has called each person here for a reason , to Glorify God, in all we do!
St. Mark's Ministry Team
Bonnie Koeppen - Senior Pastor
Pastor Bonnie is an Ordained Elder in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist church. She began serving at St. Mark’s as the Senior Pastor in 2014. She has been in ministry for over 20 years and is passionate about sharing Jesus with others through prayer, worship, preaching, teaching, mission work and giving. She is one of 11 children from a blended family and grew up in a small town in Iowa. She has been married to her husband Steve for over 45 years and has 3 grown children all married and 6 grandchildren. She loves spending time with her husband, children, and grand-children and extended family as well as walking, reading, hiking, and biking,
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Nick Ehlts - Worship Team Leader
Nick started going to youth group at a church his freshman year of high school and found himself wondering if this God he was learning about could be real. After praying about it at youth group, asking if God would reveal Himself in a way that he could understand, Nick found himself learning about Jesus at school in his history textbook the very next day. He took this as an answered prayer and devoted the rest of his life to trying to get to know God better with each and every day.
After giving his life to Christ, Nick decided to pick up a guitar and attempt to learn how to play, something he had tried before and failed miserably. However God had different plans as it came super easy to him this time and was playing on the worship team at church within a month. During his senior year of high school, Nick decided to go to Bible college to get a degree in worship ministry. He has been leading worship since his days in college where he graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree from Central Christian College of the Bible.
Nick and his wife, Nikita, met in high school at church camp and started dating in college. They got married in 2010 and have 2 girls, Josalyn and Kora. Nick enjoys music, sports, and video games. If you want him to get really excited, just mention anything about golf and he is hooked.
Helen Armstong - Director of African Ministries
Helen is a retired teacher who has found a new love of working with African immigrants and refugees. She does lots of government paperwork to help get citizenship and green cards for refugees. She founded African Women Empowered, a non-profit business employing African refugees several years ago. Helen loves being a mom, grandma, and great grandma; and she spends as much time as possible with her family. She also has a passion for travel and has been to all 7 continents and many countries. She is looking forward to adding more countries to that list! Looking to help out with African Ministries? Chat with Helen!
Connect with Helen:
