Staff

Scott Christiansen

Senior Pastor
scott@westwoodchurch.net

5 things you need to know about Scott:

  1. Born in Iowa but lived in Nebraska most of my life
  2. HUGE Husker fan. It is ridiculous, really.
  3. Worked with teenagers for almost 20 years as a high school teacher and a youth pastor.
  4. Love leading Westwood and working with a great staff and a great congregation who love Jesus and love serving His Kingdom.
  5. The biggest passion of my life is my family. My wife Cathy and I have been married for over 30 years. We have 3 sons: Jacob, Benjamin and Zachary.

Michelle Goodrich

Director of Children's Ministry
michelleg@westwoodchurch.net

5 things you need to know about Michelle:

  1. I’m married to a great guy (Bob), and we have 2 kids (Shelby and Grant) who keep us busy, entertained, and humble.
  2. I love watching the fantastic volunteers at Westwood loving kids in the name of Jesus.
  3. I look forward to meeting you, plugging your kids into great programming, and serving alongside you.
  4. Before working in Children’s Ministry, I taught middle school special education, and later 5th grade.
  5. I’m a Creighton basketball fan – not quite to the extent Pastor Scott is a husker fan…but still a fan!

Todd Laird

Director of Worship Arts
todd@westwoodchurch.net

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT Todd:

 

1. I’m married to my wife of 10 years, Lynda. Together, we have 2 boys…Holden and Harrison.

2. When I’m not playing music you’ll probably find me outside with the boys playing ball or playing in the sandbox. That kind of fun certainly isn’t reserved to 3 year olds. I get in there as well.
3. I grew up with a carpenter for a father. He taught me well. I can be found around the home doing all kinds of projects…my wife wishes I’d finish one every once in a while!
4. I play guitar and sing for local artist Rachel Scott when she plays out with a band. I do that every chance I get.
5. I eat french fries with Ranch dressing (no ketchup for me thank you!) . I find that you can rank a restaurant by the quality of it’s Ranch dressing. My top 4 are…Runza, Amigos, Red Robin, and Don & Millies.

 

Quinn Tirrel

Associate Pastor for High School and Adult Ministry
quinn@westwoodchurch.net

5 Things you need to know about Quinn

1.  I absolutely love being with my family.  My wife, Lydia, and I have been married for almost eight years, and our son Elijah turned one this past March.

2.  I’ve been doing youth ministry for about 13 years and I still love it!

3.   I am currently a seminary student in Western Theological Seminary’s Distance Learning program. I still have about two years before I graduate in May of 2015, although I am done with the Biblical languages part of my studies, so that has to count for something!

4.  The diversity of my hobbies simply defies logic; even I can’t connect the dots on some of them.  Things I love include: reading, hunting, making bread and jelly, gardening, home improvement, playing the guitar, working out, and playing Settlers of Catan.

5.   For the past seven years, a big part of our life story has been serving on the White Earth Reservation in NW Minnesota with a grassroots organization called Hope for the First Nations (www.hopeforthefirstnations.org).   We are excited about what God might have in store for the future with Westwood!

Kara & Aaron Willems

Directors of Middle School Ministry
kara@westwoodchurch.net

5 things you need to know about the Willems:

  1. We know people think we’re crazy, but we are SO excited to be working with the middle school students here at Westwood and love seeing them grow in their love for the Lord!
  2. We’ve been married for 6 years and have been blessed with two beautiful children: our silly 5-year-old son, Titus and our busy 2-year old, miracle baby girl, Eden.
  3. Aaron loves learning, ultimate Frisbee, Biblical Greek and the Huskers. Kara loves to putz around with creative projects and enjoys cooking and trying new foods.
  4. We both graduated from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa: Aaron with a Humanities degree in Religion and Philosophy & Kara with a Christian Education/Youth Ministry degree and a career concentration in Mission Service. Aaron then did some graduate linguistic studies in Texas, and he just finished his second bachelor’s in secondary science.  Now he’s teaching biology and chemistry at Millard West High School while working on his Master’s.  Poor nerd!  :)
  5. We Love Missions! God has given both of us a heart for people from other cultures and countries. Up until 2 years ago, we spent our whole married life serving as missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators and the RCA in Bangladesh and, primarily, the island nation of Papua New Guinea.

Support Staff of Westwood Church




Connie Wismer, Office Administrator – connie@westwoodchurch.net

Burt Finch, Staff Administrator – burt@westwoodchurch.net

Jennifer Van Cleve, Director of Preschool – preschoolkids@westwoodchurch.net

Deb Schuiteman, Supervisor of Mom’s Day Out – mdo@westwoodchurch.net