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Pastor Carolyn Arness joined our staff in January, 2007. She brings great experience and energy to our Youth & Family Ministry, but she also works with Pastor Kurt in all aspects of pastoral ministry.

Pastor Carolyn grew up in western North Dakota in a town called Tioga, where she graduated from high school. From the age of five, she planned to become a nurse, so she went to the University of North Dakota—Grand Forks, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. She served as a nurse in Ardmore, OK, where her folks were living at the time. The next stop was San Francisco, where she worked on a medical floor of a hospital for 1½ years and learned a lot. She moved to the Sacramento valley, served at a hospital in pediatrics. There in California, as in many western states, chaplains are few and far between; there was a spiritual void in people’s lives, and as a nurse Pastor Carolyn found herself sharing more than just her nursing gifts. In dealing with so many unmet spiritual needs, she was being drawn into pastoral care. This realization led her to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, back in the Bay area. There she studied to help people spiritually, not really planning to become a pastor. Part of the requirement for serving as a chaplain is to become a pastor and to spend at least three years in a church. When she started serving as a pastor, she never looked back—this was what God wanted her to do all along. The Lakes Lutheran Church is Pastor Carolyn's fourth Call—her earlier congregations were in Montana and Idaho.

Her daughter, Joy Lin, is in middle school and has many friends at church, at school, and in their neighborhood.

Jeanette Engelhart serves as our choir director. She has lived in Las Vegas since 2006, teaching and directing choir first at Spring Valley High School, leading the Madrigals and other fine choirs. When the choral program was eliminated due to the severe budget cut-backs, she moved to an elementary school, where she is well qualified to teach Orph instruments as well as other forms of musical expression.

Carol Johnson is our organist and volunteer accompanist for the choir and other music ministries of our congregation. She began serving when we were still holding services at the Oasis Childcare Center, before our building was built. Carol teaches piano at home and has many students. She and her husband have helped with Vacation Bible School and many other ministries of the church for many years.

Dick Johnson is our custodian and building maintenance technician. At times he is also our set designer and builder and anything else we need accomplished. Dick is also our Saturday night usher. He has a fulltime job elsewhere, but he sometimes puts in enough time to be fulltime here.

Pastor Kurt Sortland was called in 2000 to serve our congregation with our founding pastor, Thomas Unmacht, until his retirement in 2004. Pastor Kurt deeply appreciates the hospitality, the heart for service, and the rich diversity of The Lakes.

He grew up in Seattle, Washington, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, majored in mathematics at St. Olaf College (BA), Northfield, MN, and studied to be a pastor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. He served parishes in Limon, CO, Blair, NE, Wichita, KS, before coming to Las Vegas. His first position in the valley was with Christ Lutheran.

He met his wife Karla at the bowling alley in the basement of the student center at St. Olaf when both were 16; they were married after graduation. She became a teacher of English and put him through seminary. They adopted Phil and Mary when they lived in Nebraska. Phil is living in Kansas City, MO, and Mary and her daughter, Ronnie Marie, are living here in Las Vegas.