MEET OUR STAFF
Find out a little bit more about our staff team below.
DAVE RISENDAL
Bridge Pastor
Pastor Dave has served five churches in four different states (Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, and Colorado) during forty years of lay and ordained ministry. He most recently was the Pastor of Saint Peter Lutheran Church in Greenwood Village, Colorado (1998-2021).
He loves creating and presiding at worship services, leading Bible studies and faith-based conversations, encouraging and supporting those who are wrestling with and growing in their faith, reaching out to support neighbors in times of need, and exploring the role of the church in changing and turbulent times.
He served for ten years as a Pastor Developer in Phoenix, and has many fond memories from those years. He describes it as one of the most meaningful and enjoyable times he has had in ministry. He is looking forward to joining us at Well of Hope, and participating in a developing ministry again.
Pastor Dave grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota (Go Twins!). He studied at Bemidji State University, the University of Minnesota, and Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary. Before entering ministry he held a variety of jobs including deckhand on the Jubilee II paddlewheel boat (which now lies on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico), and truck driver for Mayflower Moving and Storage (eventually driving a tractor-trailer some 350,000 miles through 47 states — anyone want to guess which one of the lower 48 he missed?).
Pastor Dave and Betsy met in Arizona, when he was serving at Gloria Dei and she was in graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. They were married in 1986. Betsy is an Epidemiologist and tenured professor who teaches and conducts research at the University of Colorado’s School of Public Health on the Anschutz campus in Aurora. They have two sons. Brady (28) works remotely for Beyond View, a San Francisco-based startup, creating 3D interactive imaging for professional and industrial facilities. Landon (24) is a Paramedic, working in the emergency department at Swedish Hospital in the Denver area, with the goal of eventually becoming a Firefighter / Paramedic. An Australian Labradoodle, Mocha, is the fifth member of the Risendal family. The Risendals live in Centennial, and are members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Littleton.
Pastor Dave is a fly fisherman, and leads an annual Men’s Flyfishing Retreat at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp each September. He also enjoys golf, bluegrass music (he was the banjo player for Credibility Gap), camping, and bike riding. He and Betsy recently purchased a travel trailer, took it on a 2-week, 3,000 mile trip to the California coast in 2022, and already have a couple extended trips planned for 2023.
LEXI JONES
Director of Community Connections and Intergenerational Ministries
Lexi is originally from St. Louis, Missouri. She began serving Well of Hope as the Youth Ministry Coordinator in 2019 and is excited that her role has expanded since that time.
Lexi graduated from Wartburg College in Iowa in May 2019 with BA degrees in Music with a concentration in Church Music and Religion with a concentration in Youth and Family Ministry. She moved to Colorado in June 2019 so she could pursue seminary at Iliff School of Theology in Denver and her husband, Patrick, could attend dental school at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Lexi received her Master of Divinity degree from Iliff in June 2022. She is now in the candidacy process in the ELCA, which is the formalized process in the denomination for those who will become ordained. Lexi is pursuing Word and Service ministry, and, once she has completed the candidacy process, she will serve as a Deacon in the ELCA.
Lexi enjoys music, and you will see her occasionally singing and playing her guitar during worship. She loves to play music with Patrick, who plays the viola.
Lexi loves Colorado and the many outdoor activities it offers. Her and Patrick enjoy spending time in the mountains camping, hiking, cycling, and kayaking.
MICHAEL SCHREIER
Music Director
Michael has served as Music Director at Well of Hope since July 2015, where he is delighted to share his extensive musical experience. Michael holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a music education focus from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (the city in which he grew up) and a Master of Music degree with a jazz piano and composition focus from the University of Northern Colorado.
While at UNC and for several years thereafter, Michael had the pleasure of fulfilling many roles with the UNC / Greeley Jazz Festival, the largest educational jazz festival in the United States, featuring students representing many states across the country as well as many student groups from other countries around the world. Among these roles, Michael served as an adjudicator and worked extensively in festival logistics roles, becoming the Chief Operations Manager before his final festival on the job in 2019. Michael’s musical experience also includes many teaching roles - as affiliate faculty at UNC, at an alternative school, and for private lessons - as well as serving as the Artistic Director for Dazzle Jazz, a downtown Denver jazz venue which has consistently been named one of the world’s top 100 jazz venues by Downbeat Magazine. In that role, Michael curated some 600 concerts per year (yes, averaging roughly 2 concerts per day!) and handled financial negotiations and concert logistics for major touring artists, including many Grammy award-winning jazz artists.