COLUMBIA PRESBYTERIAN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of K2 Live & Children 's Music
Anna has been in children's ministry for 17 years. She has been director of K2 Live, the mid-week program for 3rd - 5th graders, for 15 years and as children's choir director for 16 years.
Job Titles:
- Media Ministry Coordinator
As Media Ministry Coordinator, David works with the pastoral leadership and the Worship & Music Minister to provide quality production of all things technical at Columbia. New to the Pacific Northwest from Colorado, David loves spending time outdoors.
Garnet is the Organist and Choral Accompanist at CPC. She works with Jeff Haagenson and other staff members to prepare both organ and piano music for worship services, and she accompanies the Sanctuary Choir on a regular basis. She also works full-time as the choral director at Wy'east Middle School. Garnet holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Westminster Choir College of Rider University where she was a double major in Sacred Music and Music Education.
Jeff Haagenson brings a diverse musical background to his work at Columbia. He has studied choral music, opera, voice, piano, and guitar. He incorporates all of this into classical, traditional, popular, contemporary and jazz styles of worship music. Jeff enjoys working with the contemporary worship band and leading the traditional choir. He considers it a privilege to work behind the scenes to prepare Sunday morning worship services that enhance and support the messages of the day. He also enjoys preparing the annual Christmas Concerts and special worship services. Jeff is a composer and arranger of both classical and contemporary music and has served as a music director at the high school and college levels. Jeff considers it a privilege to work with High School students at the church. He incorporates them into the worship team as he teaches and mentors them to be a new generation of worship musicians. In his spare time, Jeff loves to practice and play guitar as well as biking, skiing and exercising. Jeff's wife Anna is also a musician and they frequently perform together. Jeff and Anna have three boys - James, Matthew, and Adam. Jeff has a Bachelor's degree in music from Concordia College and a Master's Degree in music from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Administrative Assistant to Youth
Katie Mrochko serves as the Administrative Assistant to Youth and Music Ministries. She was born and raised in Vancouver and was an active member of Columbia as a youth and young adult. She received a Bachelor's degree in Theology from Whitworth University, and served in full-time youth ministry for over a decade at Columbia, Central Kitsap, and First Presbyterian of Colorado Springs. After almost a decade of living in Colorado, Katie and her husband returned to the Pacific Northwest for the scenery and to be near Katie's extended family. Along with ministering to youth, Katie enjoys sewing hand bags and other accessories, and is also a health coach.
Lindsey grew up in Vancouver and is so excited to be a part of our church community as our Childcare Coordinator. After almost two years attending Circle of Friends preschool, her family already feels very at home at CPC. Lindsey is currently a stay at home mom to her two young girls and will tell anyone who asks it's the best job she's ever had. She has always loved caring for babies and young children. Lindsey is married to Samuel, her college sweetheart. They enjoy exploring the Pacific Northwest with lots of adventures as a family and traveling with their girls. They spend their free time doing local volunteer work. Lindsey and Samuel are looking forward to raising their girls in the church and enjoying every precious moment that life has to offer.
Lydia grew up in Spokane, Washington and has lived in the Pacific Northwest her whole life. She loves student ministries, the outdoors, hiking, sports, and just hanging out with youth students. Lydia attended Whitworth University where she fell in love with the study of theology and began to discern what a call to ministry would look like vocationally. During her time at school she was able to study church history, serve her community, intern within different ministries, and find her call to youth ministry. After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Theology and Speech Communications Lydia returned to Columbia Presbyterian Church after being a 2018 summer intern. Lydia is married to Liam Fitzpatrick, one of our Utmost Athletics coaches.
Mario Nieves is the church Facilities Supervisor, joining the staff in February 2015. Mario and his family joined the church in 2010. Prior to joining the staff at CPC, he was a Maintenance Technician and Assistant Manager for an apartment complex in Vancouver and Portland. Mario and his wife, Eva, parent one son.
It was at college that he met his wife Anne and began sensing God's call to youth ministry. He started working with teenagers at age 21 and still loves working with them. Once Matt finished seminary he received a call to Northern California and served there for 4 years before coming to Washington. He came to Columbia because he felt a calling to serve at a church that was not only trying to reach teens for Jesus Christ, but also doing its best to equip and teach parents how to raise their kids as followers of the Lord.
Matt has 2 children who are amazing gifts from God. In whatever spare time he has to recover from the last youth event Matt likes to run and hike in the awesome Creation that the Northwest provides!
Scott is a native of the Northwest. His father was a Methodist pastor and their family moved around Oregon and Washington before he graduated from High School in Centralia, Washington in 1976. Scott heard a call to ministry while at Seattle Pacific University, where he graduated in 1981. Scott served in the mission field in Australia and New Zealand before attending Gordon Conwell Seminary near Boston, Massachusetts.
Scott met his wife, Mary, in 1985 while doing a church internship in Cleveland, Ohio. They married and moved to Pasadena, California where Scott graduated from Fuller Seminary in 1987. Scott took his first ordained position as Associate Pastor in Escondido, California. Later, Scott was the pastor at 1st Presbyterian Church in Brawley, California.
In 1999 Scott took the position of Head of Staff Pastor in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Scott earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Seminary. In 2004 Scott's family moved to Newberg, Oregon where Scott was an adjunct professor at George Fox Seminary. From 2005 until 2016 Scott was pastor at Cooper Mountain Presbyterian in Aloha, Oregon. From 2016 until 2019, Scott was the Stated Supply Pastor at Mt. Scott Park Presbyterian in S.E. Portland.
Steve is a retired Presbyterian minister who has worked in Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington. His longest time was spent serving the church in Toledo, WA where he ministered for 25 years. Pastor Steve grew up at CPC. In fact, his family was one of the 3 or 4 families that actually helped found CPC back in the 1950's. They believed that the neighborhood areas around the heights needed a Sunday school for children in the area. Steve would say that as a child his only memories of church were at CPC. Along the way Steve felt called to pastoral ministry and he became ordained in the Presbytery of the Cascades after attending seminary at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Steve has been attending Columbia since 2015, mostly just enjoying being a part of the church, but he has also helped out with our middle school youth group as well. He loves to canoe and treasures his role a grandpa ("bapa").
Terry Hurley serves as the Administrative Assistant to future Interim Head of Staff and Pastor Scott Peterson. She moved from the Midwest to Vancouver in 1994 and calls the Pacific Northwest her home. Terry came to Columbia in August 2014, bringing many years of prior experience serving in ministry support. She is blessed with two grown children and a wonderful church family.
Tifny is a native of the Pacific Northwest. As a military spouse, her family has moved seven times in the past ten years, but is thankful to be settled back home. She received her Master's degree in Social Work from Portland State in 2006 and brings a diverse range of experience in parent-child education, therapeutic preschool, foster care and pregnancy resource ministries, working with at-risk youth, and military family and spouse support. She and her husband Aaron have two children, Max and Stella.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Communications Specialist
Viva Dennis is the Communications Specialist/Administrative Assistant. Viva has been involved with Columbia since 1992. She has been in her current position since 2007. Viva and her husband Dallas have been married since 1982 and they are the parents of two wonderful young men.