Rev. Mark Wayne Haas, Pastor

Born on June 7, 1949 in Upland, CA, and raised in Los Angeles County, Pastor Mark”is a “49er,” who with his beloved wife, Dee, always loved visiting and camping in the Mother Lode/49er Gold Rush corridor.  They even honey-mooned in Calaveras Big Trees!
 
A product of Southern California Lutheran elementary schools in Covina and Whittier, Mark graduated from California Concordia High School, in Oakland, in 1967.  Just a few months later, as a college freshman at Concordia, Oakland, he started dating Miss Dee Anne Shumard, who also had grown up in California, born in Whittier and raised in Modesto.  Mark and Dee were married in Modesto on June 14, 1969 and remained so until Dee’s death, December 31, 2008!  After a brief stint at Modesto JC, Mark transferred to Concordia Teachers College, Seward, Nebraska, earning a BSed degree in Secondary Education.  Having served for a year as a Director of Christian Education in Marshall, MO, Mark accepted a call to be Principal at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Berkeley, CA where he served for six years.  While there, Mark earned a MAed at Holy Names College in Oakland. For another five years, Mark served as Principal at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hayward, CA.  At the conclusion of these twelve years as a Commissioned Minister, Mark enrolled at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was awarded an MA in Religion degree in 1985, and in 1986, following a year as a vicar, was colloquized into the pastoral ministry of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, ordained and installed on March 16, 1986. From March 1985 until January 2006, Pastor Mark served Peace Lutheran Church of Sacramento. He has also served the California-Nevada-Hawaii District in various roles including District Secretary, LCMS Dispute Reconciler, Life Light Bible Study Director, Northern Regional Vice-President and Circuit 19 Counselor.
 
Pastor Mark has three adult children: Melanie Joy (b. 11/02/1977); Gregory Phillip (b. 03/18/1981); and Matthew Richard (b. 02/09/1983).
 
Pastor and Dee were participants in the Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI) 2002-2006.  They learned to love traveling.  They celebrated wedding anniversaries while touring Hawaii and Alaska (twice). Additionally, they co-hosted a Passion Play tour to Germany and Austria, Greece and Turkey in 2000. Mark has also toured Rome and Israel, and took a second trip to Germany-Austria.  PLI took them to 14 different locations across the county, and they participated in an International Mission trips to Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong Province, China in June 2006. Pastor will be co-hosting a trip to Luther Land in Germany and the Passion Play in 2010.

Pastor Mark was installed as Senior Pastor of First Lutheran Church on January 29, 2006.

  SOLI DEO GLORIA!