How Are We Organized?

At Auburn Presbyterian Church, we have

  • Four Staff Members:
    • Pastor Ken Winter
    • Director of Congregational Development Preston Saunders
    • Office Manager Holly Krakover
    • Nursery Supervisor Elizabeth Creencia
  • Elders overseeing six areas of ministry:
  • Our Deacons:
    • Ginger Kane, Parish 1
    • Peggy Ward, Parish 2
    • Frances MacLeod, Parish 3
    • Karl Simon, Parish 4
    • Larry Bower, Parish 5
    • Pam Davis, Parish 6
    • Sue Eberle, Parish 7
    • Dottie Stevenson, Parish 8
    • Bill Garcia, Parish 9
Follow the links above to find out more about the people and ministry areas.  If you'd like to know more details about how we are run, read on.

Session

A Presbyterian church (U.S.A.) is administered by what is known as a "session." The session of a particular church consists of the pastor, associate pastors, and elders in active service.  (Once ordained as an elder, a person is always considered an elder, but may not be actively serving at the moemnt.)

Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the sessions of individual congregations make up a presbytery.  The presbytery consists of all the churches (represented by elders) and ministers of the Word and Sacrament within a certain district.  A synod consists of at least three presbyteries within a specific geographic region and is composed of commissioners elected by the presbyteries.  The General Assembly consists of equal numbers of elder and minister commissioners from each presbytery.

Church Officers

We believe that men and women are equal before the Lord and that He freely calls both to serve Him in leadership.  We make no distinction so both men and women are considered for all church offices.  All church officers are ordained by the laying on of hands and prayer for their office prior to installation. 

Pastor

Presbyterian pastors are seminary trained.  They have a degree in some field of study.  Then, they go to seminary for a three year course in Bible and church leadership which leads to a Master of Divinity (M Div) degree.   Our pastor is Ken Winter.

Elders

Once a person is elected and ordained as an elder, the person is always an elder.  Usually the first time an elder is ordained, it is to become a “Ruling Elder.”  These are those who serve on the Session.  They join experienced elders also serving in this capacity.  The term of office is 3 years.  The person may renew for 3 more years but after that a break of at least one year is required.

Our elders have particular areas of ministry they oversee.  Our current elders are:

Deacons

Deacons are elected and ordained and become members of the Board of Deacons.  They contact and tend to the needs of people who are not in a Life Group for some reason.  It may be because of being homebound or their hours of work.  The term of offices is 3 years with the opportunity of renewing for 3 more years after which a break of at least one year must be taken.

Our current deacons are:

  • Ginger Kane, Parish 1
  • Peggy Ward, Parish 2
  • Frances MacLeod, Parish 3
  • Doug Felton, Parish 4
  • Larry Bower, Parish 5
  • Pam Davis, Parish 6
  • Sue Eberle, Parish 7
  • Dottie Stevenson, Parish 8
  • Ron Markham, Parish 9

Ministry Teams

The work of the church is done through committees that we call ministry teams.  The ministry teams serve under the direction of the elders.  On all but the personnel ministry team, membership is not required.  Usually people who are on a team prior to membership do plan to join.

To see our ministry team leaders and learn more about what the team does, click on the ministry area below: