Pastor, Roger A. Thompson - Pastor Thompson grew up in the Pacific Northwest, has been in Arizona since 1981 and has lead Grace since December 1999. He's married to Cheryl and is the father of two grown children, Alissa and Trajan. He plays guitar for the contemporary service and is quite fond of fly fishing.
email Roger Read Roger's Resume

Diaconal Minister, Ardie Senft - Ardie is a rostered leader of the ELCA called to Word and Service. Prior to attending seminary she taught elementary school for 20 years. At Grace, she's the children/youth/ family minister and visitation minister. She works in all hospitality areas at Grace; including, visitor tracking, volunteers, new members, community outreach and evangelism. email Ardie


Office Manager, Gloria Jones - Gloria has served as our bilingual office manager since Sept 2006. Her background is in child-care (day care & pre-school) and substance abuse counseling.
email Gloria or call the office: 602.258.3787


(please scroll down for more staff)

Choir Director & Organist, Virginia Harmon - Virginia has been at Grace since 2000. Prior to this, she was Bethel Lutheran where she played the organ for Pator Roger and Cheryl Thompson's wedding. She taught piano for 22 years at Scottsdale Community College and is active in the local Chapter of the America Guild of Organists. She gives organ concerts in the Phoenix area, enjoys teaching organ lessons and is always happy to welcome new choir members or ringers for the Grace Hand Chime Choir. Read Virginia's full bio

Social Worker, Jeff Jirak - Jeff is our Sunday morning social worker. He's served Grace since 2002. He works with us on Sunday's and Monday's, with the rest of his week devoted to his fulltime job as a therapist with the Maricopa County Health Services. He is a licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Independent Substance Abuse Counselor in the state of Arizona. He's of Slavic descent. His last name is pronounced "You Rock". email Jeff

Caretaker, Ray Saunders - In mid-2008, Ray became the head caretaker at Grace. Shortly after the events of 9/11, Ray left Piscatawy, NJ and headed to Phoenix to live with his brother. One event led to another and he found himself homeless. One day, he came to Grace for the Pancake Breakfast...and never left! email Ray