Committee Members
Pastor Joel Jaeger - WELS Military Services Committee Chairman
Pastor Joel Jaeger serves as chairman of WELS Military Services. He served as our WELS civilian chaplain in Europe for 4 years during the 1990s and currently serves as pastor at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, South Milwaukee.
Pastor Paul Ziemer - WELS National Civilian Chaplain
A native of Coleman, Wisconsin, Chaplain Ziemer spent eight years on the former Northwestern campus in Watertown, Wisconsin before moving on to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, in Mequon, WI.
In 1970 he received his first call to the mission congregation at Norfolk, Virginia. This introduced him to the military ministry.
In addition to the many military installations around Norfolk, he was asked to serve Cherry Point Naval Air Station, Fort Bragg, and Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina. In the process of his North Carolina travels he was privileged to help begin a new civilian congregation, Gethsemane Lutheran, at Raleigh. Much of his ministry has been conducted on the East Coast. Although he also spent in the Midwest, and served as the administrator of Luther High School in Onalaska, Wisconsin.
More recently, he has helped start congregations at Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and served Living Water Lutheran in Richmond, Virginia. He presently serves as the WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military and the Armed Forces Liaison. He resides at Fayetteville, North Carolina in order to be close to Fort Bragg and Pope AFB. This also allows him to serve as pastor of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church.
Pastor Joshua Martin - WELS Civilian Chaplain to Europe
Chaplain Martin was born in Chicago Lakes, MN, the oldest of eight children Most of his childhood was spent in Kenosha and Muskego, WI. He attended Northwestern Preparatory School, Watertown, WI, and Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN. He completed his pre-ministerial training at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and graduated in 2001. The the first six years of his ministry awere spenn t Abiding Savior Lutheran church in Killeen, TX, serving both civilians and soldiers stationed around the Fort Hood area.
In 1997, Josh married his high school sweetheart, Katie (nee Braun), from Watertown, WI. Katie is also a Northwestern Prep and Martin Luther College graduate. She taught in Lutheran elementary schools in Overland Park, KS, and the Milwaukee, WI, area. Currently, Katie is a sales director with a cosmetics company and enjoys freelance writing.
Josh and Katie have 3 children. Allison, who loves to read, play soccer, and play the piano. Lucas who loves to learn facts about weather, animals and geography while being a self-professed expert at all sports. Madelyn, the youngest, who loves dogs, cats, and any time she can be the center of attention. The Martins find happiness in family vacations, enjoying camping, hiking and traveling to new places.
Mark Vance - WELS Military Services Director of Programs and Communication
A career military veteran, Mark Vance retired from active duty in 1995 shortly after a deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm. He then served as WELS South Atlantic District Coordinator of the Commission on Youth Discipleship from 1996-2002. While serving in that position he was asked to accompany a disaster relief contingent from the WELS to New York City shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centers in Sept., 2001 and to help coordinate a joint relief project between the WELS Committee on Relief and WELS Kingdom Workers. Since then, Mark has been the main disaster relief coordinator for the Committee on Relief. In the summer of 2007,(After a 2 year stint as the Director of Marketing for Wisconsin Lutheran Child & Family Service) the Committee on Relief and the WELS Military Services Committee entered into a joint agreement to share Mark’s services. He assumed his role as Director of Programs and Communication on August 1, 2007. Married to his wife Dawn for 32 years, they have been blessed with three children and six grandchildren. Mark and Dawn are members at St. John’s Oakwood in Oak Creek, Wis.
Pastor Carl Ziemer - WELS Special Ministries Administrator
Carl Ziemer has served as the Administrator of WELS Special Ministries since 2002. He and the commission concern themselves with eight areas of special ministry, offering a wide range of spiritual and other services to people with special needs. Pastor Ziemer began his ministry in 1973 as the first resident pastor at Faith Ev. Lutheran Church of River Falls, WI, and as the WELS Campus pastor at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. He then served Christ Ev. Lutheran Church and School of Zumbrota, MN until accepting his current call. Carl also served as the Minnesota District Special Ministries Coordinator from 1985-2000 and as a member of the Commission on Special Ministries from 1999-2002. God has blessed Carl and his wife with four children and six grandchildren. The couple lives in the Town of Lisbon, northwest of Milwaukee, WI. They attend Faith Lutheran Church in Sussex. As the Administrator of WELS Special Ministries, Pastor Ziemer serves as an ex officio member of the Military Services Committee.