Pastor Mark was born and raised in California and was aware of God’s call to vocational ministry at the age of 13. He met his wife, Karen, while in Bible college and they married in 1974, raising 3 daughters – one now deceased, one in Porterville, and one in San Diego.
After planting a new church in Miami, OK, he served as an Associate Pastor in Lebanon, MO and Napa, CA, and has been a Lead Pastor in Castro Valley, CA, San Jose, CA, and now in Springville over the past 40+ years. He also served for several years as a Director with Stadia: New Church Strategies, a church planting ministry, recruiting, training, and deploying pastors in new churches across the U.S.
In 2006, Pastor Mark and Karen lost their oldest daughter suddenly at the age of 29. At this point he stepped away from ministry temporarily for a season of healing. Working for Lowe’s Home Improvement, Mark and Karen moved to the Springville area in 2009 and they began attending Springville Naz shortly thereafter. He re-entered ministry with the church in December 2010 on an “interim” basis, volunteering to help the church while they were in-between pastors as he continued to work for Lowe’s. As the church began to grow, the door of opportunity was opened for him to devote himself once again to full-time ministry in 2014.