I was born in the Black Forest area of South Germany and grew up in the Black Forest city of Freudenstadt . I loved being active in the community and my Methodist home church, participating and leading in ministries such as the brass band, the youth group and the young adult choir. I experienced a call into full time ministry in my late teens.
After graduating from college and a year of mandatory federal social service I entered my pastoral education. I served as pastoral intern for one year in four congregations in the Stuttgart, Germany area and then transitioned into the seminary years at the Theological school of the United Methodist Church in Reutlingen, Germany.
I was active in various congregations of the Reutlingen area and served as a seminary intern in an inner city church of Berlin, Germany. In 2001, I went to embark on an abroad adventure and enrolled at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois for one year. This is where I met my wife Carrie. I moved to the United States in 2004, when I got married. We both started serving churches in Wisconsin in 2004.
So far I have served part time at the Johnson Creek UMC and as solo pastor at the Waterloo UMC. I was ordained in 2008 and have served as a senior pastor of Community UMC in Waterford from 2010-2014. In the summer of 2014 my wife Carrie, my son Hans and I moved to Appleton and I started my time as the new senior pastor here at First UMC. Since then our second son, Owen, has been born and is enriching our family beyond measure.
I feel privileged for my family to experience the hospitable warmth of First Church and invite you to come and find it for yourself.
