Lead Pastor, Elder, Foundation Crew Leader
Rick grew up in a small farming community around Bluffton IN. Rick married his sweetheart, Deb at the ripe old age of 19. Both of them have always had a passion for the Lord and reaching out to people with the Good News about Jesus. Rick has worked in dairy farming, construction, factory work, and managing a wholesale company selling heating and AC equipment. During this time, he helped lead worship at their local church. At 31, he left the wholesale industry to go to college full-time and helped plant a church in their community. Rick and Deb have five children, and Deb has kept busy helping in ministry and schooling the kids.
In 2005, they sensed a call from the Lord to move to Saint Cloud Florida to start The Connection church. Today, Rick continues to serve as Lead Pastor at The Connection as well as serving as Global Collaboration Lead Coach for GACX (www.gacx.io) a global alliance for church multiplication; over 90 organizations committed to seeing1 church established for every 1,000 people requiring over 5 million new church plants world-wide.
Rick has a B.S. in Pastoral Ministry, M.A in Ministerial Leadership, and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies and is the author of Lasting Leadership, intended to help young pastors and church planters balance personal, family, and ministry leadership for lasting health and success.
He and Deb live in St. Cloud FL and love their church, community, and spending time with their kids and 7 grandkids.