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Pastor Randy Thyberg
Senior Pastor
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Born and raised in
Married for more than 23 years, Randy and his wife Cheryl have found Grace to be a place where they can serve God, grow in their faith and form truly great friendships. As parents of a son and daughter in college they also appreciate the church’s commitment to helping children and youth come to a personal and lifelong faith in Jesus Christ
As Senior Pastor, Randy’s passions are expressed in the areas of preaching, men’s ministry and leadership. These passions were the focus of his doctoral studies (completed at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1999) and have also been a focus of his teaching ministry overseas. As a pastor committed to serving the spiritual needs of a growing community, Randy’s ambition is to see Grace Community Covenant Church become a significant influence for Christ as each member is encouraged and equipped to become fully devoted followers of Him.
Pastor Paul Hicks
Associate Pastor
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Paul hails from Concrete,
Paul married Colleen right out of college in 1978. Their oldest, Rachael, is married and lives in St. George, Utah with her husband Cody and baby daughter Lily Anne. Their son Nathanael lives with his wife Laura in Stamford, Connecticut. Paul is an avid birdwatcher and still enjoys playing on a community over-40 soccer team and on the church softball team.
Pastor Steve Pace
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Pastor to Youth and Families
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Steve is kind of old for a Youth Pastor, but his passion for student ministry has not waned-rather it has grown over the years. Fueled by a desire that students grow up in their relationship with Christ and become mature, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-16), Steve’s ministry is scripture-based and relational.
Steve has been involved in youth ministry in one way or another for the past 28 years (camp counselor, Young Life leader, volunteer youth director, youth intern, youth pastor), and since 1988 as the Youth Pastor at Grace. Prior to that, he was a Deputy Sheriff in
Steve loves to build stuff, work hard, and spend time outdoors, but the real joy of his life and who he spends the most time with is his wife of 26 years Kathy (who is a flight nurse for Airlift NW) and their two incredible daughters. Besides Youth Ministry, Steve is very involved in a thriving youth internship program at Grace, mentoring other youth pastors, and is the chaplain for Olympia Police Department and Airlift Northwest.
Howard Johnson
Pastor Emeritus
Howard was born on October 11, 1925 in
Howard married Arleen (Youngberg) in 1953. They have a daughter, Myrna Olson, who lives in
Children's Ministry
Nan Felt
Director of Children's Ministries
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Having grown up in
Youth Ministry
Kaitlyn Berger
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Senior High Youth Intern
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Kait is so excited to have joined the team at Grace in this internship experience. She recently graduated from Houghton College in western New York with a double major in Education Ministries and Psychology. Her family lives in southern California but she spent most of her growing up days in northeastern Pennsylvania. She loves to spend time outside backpacking and kayaking, but also enjoys snuggling up with a good book or movie.
Tyler Krumland
Junior High Youth Intern
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Tyler has volunteered the last two years with the high school youth group at Grace and has loved every second of it (before joining the Grace church staff July 1, 2008). Any job that allows him to goof off, play games, go on trips, and learn more about God is a perfect fit for him. So, taking on the internship at Grace was not a hard decision.
Tyler was born in Redmond and grew up here in Olympia. He accepted Christ into his heart at a young age while at Cascades Camp. Tyler spent his first year of college at Covenant Bible College in Windsor, Colorado and spent the remaining three years of college in Chicago at North Park University. In May of 2006, Tyler received a BA in Communications and a minor in Biblical Studies. During his time in college, Tyler had the opportunity to work two summers as a camp counselor, volunteer with numerous church youth groups, and traveled to Thailand and Ecuador on mission trips. Since graduation, Tyler has spent many hours at a place that is near and dear to many peoples hearts—Starbucks. Tyler loves to travel, spend time with family and friends, be outdoors, draw, and anything else that prevents him from growing up.
Support Staff
Holly Dean
Church Administrator
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Holly was born in Weisbaden, Germany. She worked for a major telecommunications company for more than 27 years. Over the years, she has been active in the community serving on the YMCA Board of Directors (Briggs Branch), Leadership Thurston County (LEAD), Lacey Rotary and Wolf Haven International.
Holly and her husband Larry have been married 25 years and have attended Grace for 14-15 years. Prior to joining the Grace church staff in January 2007, Holly served Grace as the Family Life Center Coordinator. She and Larry have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Kate Galaktianoff
Office Administrator
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Kate has worked in the church office for 13 years and considers many of the wonderful people at Grace her “extended family.”
Kate was born and raised, and attended college in California. She migrated to Washington in 1983, returned to California in 1987 and finally came back “home” to Washington in 1990. Kate and her husband Pete have five young adult children and two adorable grandchildren. What joyous gifts from God they are!!
Kate enjoys reading, being at the ocean, and spending time with her small group. Kate and Pete both like to garden, take walks, listen to music, dabble in photography, and go on “weekend getaways.”
Lynn Landis
Children's Ministry Assistant
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David Offerrall
Custodian
Debbie Smith
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Bookkeeper
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Jane Smith
Office Administrator
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Jane has been on the Grace staff as an Office Administrator since September 2007. She was born and raised in Olympia and met her husband (Ken) at Emmanuel Baptist Church when they were children. They dated through high school and married when she graduated. Ken was career Army so they lived in many different states and two countries (Italy and Germany). When Ken retired in 1990, they moved back to Olympia. They have three grown children. Jason lives in Ohio and is starting a new career in the medical equipment field. He is single, hoping for that special someone someday. The girls, Kaci and Kim, are married and live in the area with their husbands and children. Kim and her daughter Cheyenne attend Grace. Kaci and Dave attend Calvary Chapel and have three little ones; Teaghan, Duncan and Declan.
Jane and Ken love to camp in their travel trailer. Jane says some of their best times camping is with those from our congregation. They have enjoyed the friendships, fellowship and fun times when out with the more mature and older members of our church population, which includes them of course. Well…maybe not the mature part, Jane says.
Currently, there are no staff listings available. Please check back regularly.
