Mark is the Assistant Pastor at New Hope Community Church of North Port. He is married to the love of his life Deanne, and has two grown sons Kyle who currently lives and works in Florida, and Lucas who is currently attending Medical School in Missouri.

Mark has been involved in the church since his youth. He was involved in the church youth group, sang in the church choir, and performed both vocal and trombone solos.

He attended Bethel College in Arden Hills Minnesota 1980 thru 1981 as a music major & psychology minor, and was accepted into the Senior Concert Choir his freshman year. The Bethel Concert Choir performed an original concerto with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and also performed many concerts throughout Europe on a 4 week tour in the spring of 1981. Mark also served as the worship leader and a deacon at his church in Cumberland Wisconsin

In the summer of 2004 Mark & Deanne moved to North Port Florida. Mark was a Sales Manager of an Automobile dealership in Wisconsin prior to moving to North Port, and was offered a position at Marlow-Werner Pontiac-Buick GMC in Punta Gorda. Hurricane Charlie shortened his tenure there due to major damage to the dealership. He then found employment at Sunset Chevrolet in Sarasota where he worked until he felt the call to become more deeply involved in the ministry.

In February of 2006 as New Hope was in its 2nd year and growing Mark was offered the position of Associate Pastor in training. He began a 3 ½ year apprenticeship program and in October of 2009 was licensed as the Assistant Pastor of New Hope Community Church of North Port by the Southeastern District of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. He is continuing in the ordination process

In his years at New Hope Mark has been responsible for developing community outreach events like New Hope’s participation in North Port’s annual 4th of July and Christmas poinsettia events, where each year the New Hope family seeks to serve the North Port community by distributing over 1000 free bottles of water and devotionals at the 4th of July festival, and serving over 700 free cups of hot cocoa and devotionals at the Poinsettia festival.

Mark has also developed New Hope’s free Thanksgiving Day feeding into an annual event for the community. Several hundred people have been fed each of the past three years. Mark was also responsible for revamping the small group ministry into what we now call Neighborhood Life and is responsible for raising up, training and discipleing new leaders for Growth Groups, and Neighborhood Life Host Homes.

Mark and his wife Deanne are in the process of putting together a launch team to begin New Hope’s East Campus at Imagine Schools at North Port in the near future. His passion is to demonstrate to our current generation that has no idea what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus, that New Hope Community Church is a place where they can turn to for hope and healing and experience real authentic love that God willing draws them into a deeper relationship with Christ.