Our Ebenezer Staff...here to serve you.

Pastor: The Rev. Michael D. Fick
Music Director: Dr. John Elmquist
Parish Nurse: Michelle Knapp, RN
Parish Administrator: Andy Halvorson
Office Clerk: Nathan Tolzmann
Youth Ministry: Emily Heitzman

Please read the following for more information on our staff
and how they can assist you at Ebenezer

The Rev. Michael D. Fick, Pastor

On the left, pictured with Bishop Wayne Miller, Metropolitan Chicago Synod

The Rev. Michael D. Fick was installed as pastor of Ebenezer Lutheran Church on June 12th, 2011. Previously, Pastor Michael served for six and a half years as pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Denver, Colorado. A Michigan native, he earned his BA at Valparaiso University and his M.Div degree at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He has published in Currents in Mission and Theology (preaching helps), and on topics ranging from seminary formation to contributing to a book about progressive responses to mainstream Christian media. He enjoys performing choral music (baritone) and has performed in Bach cantatas, light opera, and sacred chamber music ensembles in both Denver and Chicago.

Pastor Michael is passionate about urban, neighborhood churches and the communities they serve. Special ministry interests include preaching, liturgical life including music and art, and creative interpretation of ancient traditions. In his spare time, Pastor Michael enjoys reading, live music, cooking, gardening, and hunting for second-hand treasures.

Dr. John Elmquist, Music Director

John Elmquist has been the music director at Ebenezer since 1994 and he brings diverse musical experiences and ambitions to his work in the church. The worship is regularly enhanced by guest musicians who represent a variety of styles. This includes an excellent jazz group that plays on each 2nd Sunday. The choir, the cornerstone of Ebenezer's music ministry, is a group that welcomes anyone who is interested and that does a balanced mixture of old and new material including many things that are composed and arranged by John.

John received his DMA in music composition from the University of Memphis where he studied with Don Freund, and his MM in piano from Virginia Commonwealth University where he studied with Landon Bilyeu. In addition to being Ebenezer's music director, John serves on the faculties of the Chicago High School for the Arts, the Merit School of Music and the People's Music School. He also works in and around Chicago as a bass player.

In 1999 John formed the ensemble HardArt groop as a vehicle for performing his music. This ad hoc ensemble, ranging in size from 3-20 players, has produced 14 recordings and currently performs periodically at various venues in Chicago that have included the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, the Green Mill and Northeastern Illinois University. Much of the music of the group can be heard at hardartgroop.com .

In January, 2011, he won first prize in the Rapido! composition competition held by the Atlanta Chamber players, receiving a commission to be performed in the 2011-12 seasons of the Atlanta Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva and Chicago's Fifth House Ensemble. Also in 2011 he will hold a fellowship at Georgia's Hambidge Creative Residency Program. In 2007 he received an Individual Artist Grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

Andy Halvorson, Parish Administrator

Andy serves Ebenezer Lutheran Church in all things administration, including scheduling and building supervision, communications, and office management.

Michelle Knapp, RN, Parish Nurse
I am a registered nurse and during the past 30+ years have worked in the hospital, a doctor's office and in the community. For over 20 years I have been on the staff of Ebenezer as a parish nurse. I work part-time at Ebenezer and part-time also at a sister Lutheran church in the area. Parish nursing is a relatively new nursing specialty, only in existence for 30 years. It began at Lutheran General Hospital, and now there are thousands of us around the country. For many of us whose journeys have led us to this unique ministry, we have come to feel that this is the type of nursing we were trained to do: caring for others as whole people.

The roles of the parish nurse have been identified as: health educator, personal health counselor, referral source, facilitator of small groups and integrator of faith and health. Working in these roles, I also visit our members at church, at home, in the hospital and at other health care facilities. I also attend worship on the first and third Sundays of each month, and on one Sunday a month I check blood pressures during the coffee hour. I work with a committee called "the Health Cabinet" which consists of members of the congregation. The mission of the Ebenezer Parish Nurse Program is to: encourage and promote the development of wellness and the healing ministry within the congregation and to bring wellness concerns and needs to the attention of the church leadership and the congregation membership.

I am married and we live in the neighborhood. My husband and I have two young adult sons. My outside interest include reading, writing and watercolor painting.

Nathan Tolzmann, Clerk and Publications

Nathan serves part-time as front desk clerk in the office, as well as designing our weekly parish news, E-benezer, and designing our weekly worship bulletins.

Emily Heitzman, Youth Director for Edgewater Congregations Together (Ebenezer, Immanual, and Unity Lutheran Churches)
Emily grew up in Waterloo, IA and first felt called into youth ministry when she was a junior in high school. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2004 where she majored in vocal music performance and became an avid Cornhusker fan. GO BIG RED! After graduation, she moved to L.A. for the summer and taught junior high summer school in Watts and then moved to St. Louis for four years, where she worked as a college Admissions Counselor. In the fall of 2008, she made Chicago her home and began pursuing a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Music Ministry at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. This fall will be her fourth and final year at Garrett Evangelical. Emily has worked with youth in numerous capacities. Most recently, she interned at Y.O.U. (Youth Organizations Umbrella), an after-school program in Evanston. The preceding year, she was the Intern Pastor at Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant Church, where she built and led the junior and senior high youth group and started and ran “5th Quarter,” the church's after-school program.

For fun, Emily enjoys performing in musicals and operas, cheering on the Huskers and Cardinals, biking, dancing old dance moves to 80s and 90s music, doing anything outdoors, and reading. She is proud to say that this year she will run her third half-marathon, she has performed in musical roles such as Milky White, the Cow in “Into the Woods” and Lucy in “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and was the dancing and singing Alli the Alligator in the Water Animal Show at Noah's Ark Water Park in Wisconsin Dells. Emily is really looking forward to working as the ECT Youth Director!