Ministry Staff

Senior Pastor 

 

Rev. Derek Waffel is a graduate of St. Louis Seminary and served his first congregation in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for eight years. He comes to Ascension Lutheran in Huntsville with a wife, Eve, and three children, Luke, Joseph and Anne. Pastor Waffel was installed at Ascension on Reformation Sunday, October 29, 2023, at 3:30 PM. We look forward to serving with him, doing the Lord's work in Huntsville and the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Director of Children's Ministry

Carla Jo Peebles came to Ascension in 2016 to be the Director of Children's Ministry - in charge of the children's ministry at both the Child Development Center and the church. Carla Jo got her degree from Concordia in Seward, Nebraska. Her first call was to Coffeyville, Kansas, where she was Director of Christian Education for 27 years. This is where she met and married her husband, a youth group counselor. From Kansas, she went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she was Early Childhood Director for 10 years. She has been a valued member at Ascension since 2016. She has two children and two grandsons. 

 

 

 

 

 Organist

 

 

Crissi Patterson is a key person during the regular worship services at Ascension, playing the organ and piano every Sunday and Monday and accompanying the adult choir. Crissi claims California as part of her heritage, but she was also in the Air Force for a time before settling in Huntsville, Alabama. Crissi and her husband have two children.

 

 

 

 

Church Secretary

Judy Burhans

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