Board of Directors

Chairperson: Mrs. Sylvia Diaz

Mrs. Diaz is a retired Federal Civil Service employee whose career extended over 32 years as a mathematician engaged in military analysis for the U.S. Army at White Sands Missile Range, NM; the SHAPE Technical Center, The Hague, Netherlands; and Headquarters of the Army, The Pentagon, Washington, DC. Prior to her Army work, Mrs. Diaz was a high school mathematics teacher and also a mathematics analysis instructor for the U.S. Army prior to her Federal service. Mrs. Diaz is a graduate of Trinity University (San Antonio, Tx) and is a member of Mission Lutheran Church, Las Cruces NM where she serves as an organist and pianist.

Vice-Chairperson: Dr. Alfonso Diaz, PhD

Dr. Diaz has been an independent Defense Systems Consultant for major defense companies and U.S. Army organizations since 1996. He retired from Federal Civil Service after a 36-year career as a mathematician and military analyst in the Office of The Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.; The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, The Hague, Netherlands; and White Sands Missile Range, NM. He has served as Research Fellow & Faculty member at the Naval War College, Newport, RI, and as lecturer at various military training installations, including West Point. Dr. Diaz holds a PhD in mathematics from New Mexico State University and is a member of Mission Lutheran Church, Las Cruces, NM and is currently serving on the Rocky Mountain District BOD, as vice-chairman.

Secretary: Rev. John Durkovic

Rev. Durkovic was born in Wyoming. He studied at Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, IL, served as a vicar in Venezuela, and was ordained as a pastor in 1969. Since then he has been a missionary in Central America (1969-1989), Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry in Metro NYC for the Atlantic District - LCMS, has served as pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, NY and Trinity Lutheran Church in Santa Ana, CA. Currently, he is the Regional Coordinator in the Pacific SW District for the Center for Hispanic Studies of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has spent most of his ministry involved in the Theological Education by Extension Program of the Center for Hispanic Studies as a tutor and coordinator. He is also active with the Fronteras Ministry in the Pacific Southwest District - LCMS, and as a member of the Board of Lutheran Border Concerns Ministry in San Diego, CA.

Financial Secretary: Mr. Ralph McCrae

Mr. McCrae is currently a lecturer in Computer Information Systems at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and an independent consultant in the areas of marketing, computerized business systems analysis and development, educational software development and vocational rehabilitation and placement. He received a B.A. in Physics and Math from the University of Minnesota and a M.S. in counseling and Personnel Services – Rehabilitation Placement Specialist from Drake University. Mr. McCrae currently serves on many boards at UTEP and also sits as the Chair of the Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care, and is a member of the El Paso Community College Computer Occupations Advisory Committee and the Computer Career Center’s Advisory Board.

Member: Ms. Janelle Krueger

Janelle Krueger was born and raised in the farming community of Amherst, Colo., located in northeastern Colorado near the Nebraska State Line.  Her interest and heart for the Hispanic culture and people stems from her childhood experience with early migrant workers when irrigation started changing crop production in the late 1960's.

She holds bachelor and masters degrees in Criminal Justice and enjoyed her early professional life as a Boulder County Sheriff's Deputy in Boulder, Colo.  In 1990 an interest in the prevention of juvenile delinquency and other high risk behaviors in youth took her to the Colorado Department of Education where she remains today.  Her consulting specialty is police-school partnerships and drug and violence prevention.

She has been a life-long member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and has served in numerous officer and committee roles within congregations. She has traveled to Slovakia, Russia, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a volunteer with Lutheran Hour Ministries "Servant to the Nations" teams.

Member: Rev. Dr. Mark Larson

Rev. Mark C. Larson serves as the District Executive Missions for the Rocky Mountain District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. He has served in this capacity since August 2000. His duties include overseeing the church planting efforts of the district as well as evangelism.

Prior to this call, he served as pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Beecher Illinois since graduating from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 1988. While there, he had the opportunity to participate in the planting of two churches in nearby communities and had also served on the Mission Board of the Northern Illinois District for many years.
Missions and evangelism have always been a special love of his since college days at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Being touched by the love of Jesus Christ brings a joy in serving God and a desire to tell others of this wondrous gift. 

He and his wife, Lisa, have two children - Rachel and Jacob. He loves being a husband and dad, as well as bicycling to work, woodworking, camping, and hiking.

Member: Rev. Randy Golter (ex-officio)

Born in Gothenburg, NE June 22nd, 1955, Rev. Golter graduated with a B.S. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska. He continued on to become a graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO in 1984. He studied for another year in St. Louis, MO and has done graduate work at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.
 
Prior to becoming the Rocky Mountain District President in June, 2003, Rev. Golter had been pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Highlands Ranch, CO, for 20 months. He served as pastor of Grace, Albuquerque, NM, from 1994 to 2001; and Trinity, Wheatland, WY, from 1985 to 1994. He has served on various church boards, the most recent being the Synod's Board for Higher Education.

Member: Mr. Steve Morfitt

Biography to be submitted.

Member: Rev. Eloy Gonzalez

Biography to be submitted.

Member: Rev. Juan Hormachea

Rev. Juan L. Hormachea,  M. Div.  Rev. Hormachea serves as the Facilitator, Hispanic Ministry  for the Rocky Mountain District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod  & Pastor at “Cordero de Dios”, Denver. He graduated from Concordia Lutheran Seminary, in St. Catherine, Ontario Canada, in 1987. Upon receiving his Master of Divinity degree from Brock University, St. Catherine, Ontario, Canada. He was ordained July 12, 1987  and received his first Call to serve as Pastor of La Santa Cruz Lutheran Church in Buffalo, New York  and Missionary-at-large in the Eastern District to develop the Hispanic Ministry . In 1997 was called to serve as Associate Pastor in Trinity Lutheran Church, Lexington, Nebraska to start a Hispanic Mission. During his 4 years there, he established “La Trinidad” Lutheran Church. Hispanic Congregation.  In 2000, he was called by the RMD to serve as the District Facilitator and the Pastor at “Cordero de Dios, Denver. He was installed on  January 21, 2001. Rev. Hormachea was born in Chile South America, and has resided in the United States since 1978.

Member: Dr. Scott Rische (advisory)

Dr. Scott Rische, Senior Pastor of First Lutheran in El Cajon, California, graduated from St. Louis seminary in 1988. Dr. Rische earned his D. Min. in Church Multiplication Movements through the Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, WA in June of 2006.

First Lutheran is currently in the process of planting a new Hispanic congregation in El Cajon, has helped to plant four other churches in El Cajon over the last five years through facility and training partnerships, has helped five churches to be planted in India, as well as one church in Korea, and hopes to directly help plant twenty more new churches over the next ten to fifteen years in San Diego County. Dr. Rische is also the Executive Director for City Transformation Ministries, Inc., a newly formed organization that exists to raise up and develop church planters for the Southwestern portion of the United States and Northwest region of Mexico.

Dr. Rische is also the Assistant to the Executive Director of an organization called the Pastoral Leadership Institute International (PLII). PLII provides advanced leadership training to pastors and church planters around the world. This leadership training is currently being offered in Korea, Hong Kong, and Ghana, and beginning in 2008, is also going to be offered in Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, India, and Latvia.

Scott is married to Lori, and has four children: David, 21, Sarah, 19, Benjamin, 17, and Hannah, 13.