Meet Our Pastors

Pastor Mark T. Wendland

Pastor Mark T. Wendland was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1946 while his father, E.H. Wendland, was serving there as the pastor of St. Matthew's Ev. Lutheran Church. Mark grew up in Benton Harbor, Michigan while his father served another congregation named St. Matthew's in Benton Harbor. Mark was one of six children, four boys and two girls. The entire family moved to Zambia, Africa in 1962 when E. H. Wendland accepted the call to start the Bible College and Seminary in Lusaka, Zarnbia.

Mark graduated from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1972 and served a mission congregation in Pittsburgh, PA, for one year. He was then called to return to Africa to serve as a missionary at Mwombezhi, Zambia for three years, before moving to Ndola, Zambia on Zambia's Copperbelt for another four years. In 1980, Mark was called to Winnebago Lutheran Academy to teach religion and Latin in Fond du Lac, WI. By 1982 Mark was living in Milwaukee and working at Wisconsin Lutheran Child and Family Service. He continued to work there until called back into parish ministry to serve St. John Ev. Lutheran Church of Clare, MI, and Faith Ev. Lutheran Church of Harrison, MI, a dual parish.

In June of 1987, Mark married Louise A. Malchow at Atonement Ev. Lutheran Church in
Milwaukee, WI, where Louise had been the second grade teacher in the Christian Day School. In 1988 their first son, David, was born in Clare. David was followed by twins, Joseph and Rachel, born in 1989. In 1991, Mark and his young family moved to Africa so Mark could resume work as a missionary in Mzuzu, Malawi. By 1993 the farnily moved to southern Malawi to Blantyre, where their last daughter, Ruth, was born in June of 1993. They lived and worked in Malawi until the end of 2003 when the farnily returned to the USA because of the educational needs of the children.

Pastor Wendland was installed at St. Stephen's on September 3, 2006.

To contact Pastor Mark Wendland or St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church call or write:

St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church
300 West Street, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin 53916
Home: (920) 887-0124 • Church Office: (920) 885-3309 • Fax: (920) 887-6872

E-mail: PastorWendland@saintstephen.org