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Mary Preus, Director of Worship and Music Mary Preus is first, a song leader and second, a singer, teacher, worship leader and choir director. Music director and song leader at Our Saviour's since 1994, Mary engages the community not just on Sunday mornings, but at almost every Wednesday Connections evening, too. A colleague once said of her, "Mary could teach a stone to sing." Mary has been working in neighborhood businesses, community arts endeavors, and progressive Christian peace and justice communities for twenty-five years. She sings in several different languages and has led singing around the world. She is the artistic director of Minnesota Community SINGS, the worship and music coordinator for the Community of St. Martin, and a co-founder and member of Bread for the Journey, where she co-leads the teaching and singing of songs of justice, community and faith from around the world. Mary says, “When we join our voices to the song of all creation, we not only build community, but we do what comes naturally which helps us know our place as just one part of the big, beautiful whole. Singing together is irresistible joy!” |
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Pastor Martha Schwehn Bardwell Lead Pastor Pastor Martha Bardwell was called as Associate Pastor in January 2016. She graduated from Luther Seminary in 2015. Before that, she worked as a staff member at a drop-in center for people experiencing homelessness, as a recruiter for Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC), and as a summer lead cook at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center and year-round community in the Cascade mountains. All of these experiences have instilled in Martha a passion for building Christ-centered community with others - in a way that trusts that God oftentimes shows up in strangers (Matthew 25:35). In addition to regular worship leadership and preaching, Martha’s primary focuses at Our Saviour’s include youth group, education for all ages, Living Questions (a ministry of welcome for new folks), and building community through the use of our backyard neighborhood oven. |
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Diane Palmer, Bookkeeper Diane Palmer was born and raised in Chicago, and moved to Minnesota in 1974 after graduating from Eastern Illinois University. She started her own business in 1980, providing bookkeeping and tax services to small businesses and non-profits organizations. She started working at Our Saviour’s in 2005 as a part-time bookkeeper and was the Business Manager from June 2006 until 2020. Diane provides bookkeeping services to Our Saviour's and still provides financial and tax services to small businesses, friends and family. Her interests at Our Saviour's include not only managing financial accounts and tracking contributions, but also maintaining our beautiful physical space. |
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Marcin Cienski, Office Manager Marcin Cienski is born and raised in Poland. After spending 5 years in Philadelphia, moved to Minnesota in early 2018. The lure of a better quality of life, the great arts and culture scene, the progressive and accepting environment, the parks, the nature and the seasons (including winter) made the Twin Cities the perfect new home. He is a trained painter with his own studio and a successful career exhibiting his works with multiple galleries in Europe. He is excited to to support the members of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, to advance its mission and promote the many programs that make this congregation so wonderful and blessed and bring the teachings of Jesus to the Ventura Village neighborhood and the wider community. He is is responsible for keeping the church office humming, keeping OSLC's presence visible in the community through the website and social media, producing the monthly newsletter The Sentinel and assisting with the publication of the the weekly worship folder. Marcin lives in Northeast Minneapolis with his husband Alex, his mother and their two transplanted pups...Bodie- a Lab/ Collie mix from New Jersey and Mala, a Dachsund/ Corgi mix from Poland. |
Our Staff |
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