church leadership

Elders:

  • Ed Warner, Senior Pastor - See Profile
  • Tom Tippett, Chairperson - See profile
  • Fred Troup Fred is a masonry contractor and talented block and stone mason. Fred and his wife Karen, church secretary, have been very active at Stuts and have been blessed by God with a strong Christian family. Fred has been active in our fellowship ministries and has ministered to many through leading a small group for many years. Fred and Karen have three grown children, 2 daughters and a son.
  • Jerry Burns Jerry Burns is a retired postmaster from Oden and is currently working for The Wequetonsing Association.   He and his wife, Penny, are Children’s Ministry coordinators at Stuts and have been in charge of the Nursery since their arrival at Stuts.  Rarely are they seen in a Worship Service, but can be found caring for infants and toddlers in the Nursery, listening and/or watching the Worship Service via a remote television feed.  Since 1999, children at Stuts have grown up with and many have learned the basics of first time socialization with Mr. Jerry & Penny!  They have 4 grown children, 3 sons and 1 daughter and many grandchildren. 
  • Jerry Niswander Jerry Niswander is a Beverage Technician at Sysco Inc. locally.  Jerry has been a part of the Stutsmanville congregation since he was in youth group.  He and his wife Mary became members in 1988 and both have served in various aspects of ministry of Stuts at different times.  Jerry has led a small group for several years and is active in the Men’s Ministry.  Jerry & Mary have a grown son, grown daughter, one grand dog and two grand cats. 
  • Dick Seamon Dick Seamon may be retired, but he and his wife Donna are seldom found home alone.  It seems they are either helping with grandchildren or other individuals who might need to go somewhere or need help doing a particular task.  He and his wife Donna have been members at Stuts since 1966 and continue to be active supporters of all ministries.  Dick & Donna have 4 grown children, 2 sons and 2 daughters, and 6 grandchildren.
  • Tom Tippett
  • Tom Eaton

Ministry Board Co-Chairmen

Ben and Tom Manthei are cousins who share business partnerships in Petoskey and a passion for mission enterprises world-wide. They have served on the boards of several organizations including Campus Crusade's Military Ministry, and the ESL Institute in China. Both have traveled extensively in the world with missions. Tom and his wife Teri have five grown sons. Ben and his wife Nancy have two sons and a duaghter with the youngest son a sophomore in high school.

We were glad that Ben and Tom were willing to bring their ministry experience to work together to lead a newly organized Ministry Board at Stutsmanville Chapel. They have been working hard to lead with a consensus style of leadership, building teamwork and ownership in our various ministry departments. They are also leading a process of focusing a clear vision statement for our congregation that will lead us from 2006 through the next three to five years. Additionally, they established Pastor Support Teams for both Pastor Ed and Pastor Ron that are seeking to help each pastor achieve greater effectiveness in ministry and in working together in establishing and fulfilling a clear ministry vision.