Ben and Brooke Johnson
Children's Ministers
Dharma Amundson
Wedding Coordinator
Carol Oawster
Director of Hope House
Gabe Christiansen
Custodian
Gabe joined the staff in 2007. He is from Alexandria, MN. His family lives there and he goes to visit them every chance he gets. He enjoys music and movies of all kinds and is often seen around the church cleaning with his headphones on, singing very off key. He graduated from Northwestern College and enjoyed every minute of it!
Dharma started going to Hope Community Church in 1998 while attending the University of Minnesota and has had the opportunity to be a part of many of the ministries that Hope has to offer. She has helped with the Children’s Nursery, greets people on Sunday mornings as part of a Hospitality Team, plays Saturday morning basketball, sings on the Worship Team and most recently has become Hope’s Wedding Coordinator in 2007. She works fulltime in a Preschool in St Paul in the Toddler Program and her little tots keep her quite busy. She also loves coordinating the many weddings that hope has each year and helping couples through the wedding planning process. It’s a joy to be a part of such an amazing experience as two become one!
Ben and Brooke joined the staff in have been married since 2001. They have 2 kids, Courtney and Philip. Both of them went to the U of MN, Brooke for elementary education and Ben for civil engineering. Ben switched careers 3 years ago and is now a high school math teacher. Brooke spends most of her time being a mom, setting up the children's ministry at Hope, and running a preschool part-time. They have been working with the kids of Hope on staff since 2002 and continue to enjoy watching as the kids and families grow. In their free time, they enjoy spending family time together, playing games with friends, and doing things outdoors.
Naty grew up in Maple Grove, MN and graduated the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in Psychology. Naty met her husband, Jared, while in college. They have been married since 1999 and now have three great kids. Naty and Jared have been attending Hope Community Church since 1999. Naty has been blessed with the opportunity to serve at Hope in so many ways. In the Spring of 2007 Naty joined the staff at Hope and has really enjoyed the variety of activities her job offers. She has a particular passion for seeing people grow in their relationships with Christ through the community that small groups have to offer. Her favorite part of her job is having coffee with women at Hope. Let her know if you would like to get coffee sometime!
Carol joined the staff in 1998. Carol and her husband Stan were part of the core founding team of Hope. She graduated from Bethel with a degree Social Work (BSW). In addition to being a great listener, she cares for her three wonderful children, Matthias, Lindsey, and Erica.
Naty Severson
Ministry Associate for Women and Small Groups
Rachel Larson
Office Coordinator
Rachel grew up in the good old town of Fargo, ND. She made her way to Minneapolis in 2002 when she began attending the University of Minnesota. Four years later with a degree in…well essentially advertising…she decided she would rather do missions than go into the business world. So she spent two years with Campus Crusade for Christ in Brisbane, Australia helping to start a campus ministry. Two years later she has many new phrases in her vocabulary, friends with great accents, a passion for missions, and a new job helping behind the scenes at Hope. When Rachel isn’t working she like to do fun things like sing to herself, go on random adventures with friends and read books that are 100 years older than she is. Rachel joined our staff in 2009.
Drew grew up in Tennessee, Ohio, and Wisconsin. We attended UW-Milwaukee where we received his degree in Comparative Study of Religion. While in UWM he also studied film, photography, and graphic design. After college he worked as a youth director before meeting his wife, Kelly, and working for camps in Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa. Drew and Kelly came to Hope from Bethel Church in Fargo, ND where he was the Director of Student Ministries for 3 years. He enjoys movies, playing music, hanging out with friends, and anything with people. Drew joined Hope staff in summer of 2010 and looks forward to also being apart of LDI.
Drew Zuehlke
Senior High Minister
Rob completed the first year of LDI four years ago and is currently a Trek 2 intern. He started attending Hope six years ago, which was only four months after he was slapped around by Jesus to quit living in sin and start following him. He married up in July '08 to Mindy and instead of having a long, drawn out reception after the big day, had a short reception, then brought fifty close friends and family to a suite at the Twins game, where he and his wedding party led the audience in singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame! He and his wife bought a house in south Minneapolis last summer and are proud parents of a little dude named David.
Rob Warland
LDI Trek 1 Coordinator
