St. Mark's Ministry Team




  • Senior Pastor

    Bonnie Koeppen

    bonnie.koeppen@iaumc.net


    Pastor Bonnie is an Ordained Elder in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist church. She began serving at St. Mark’s as the Senior Pastor in 2014. She has been in ministry for over 15 years and is passionate about sharing Jesus with others through prayer, worship, preaching, teaching, mission work and giving.

    She is one of 11 children from a blended family and grew up in a small town in Iowa. She has been married to her husband Steve for over 42 years and has 3 grown children all married and 5 grandchildren. She loves spending time with her husband, children, and grand-children and extended family as well as walking, reading, hiking, biking, and camping.


  • Director of Children's Ministries

    Oye Lawson

    oye@stmarksumccr.com


    My name is Oye Lawson, I am a Child of God who has devoted most of my time to my family.

    I am married and I have 3 kids. I believe in Christ centered training and education.

    I believe a Child who's education is based on Christ can be a good benefit for the community and for the society. I believe the Word of God impact lives, gives hope, renews and gives life.

    I love singing.


  • Administrative and Social Media Assistant

    Nicole Karns

    adminassist@stmarksumccr.com


    Nicole recently moved to the Cedar Rapids area from Marshalltown with her fiancé Shannon and her four children Kristopher, Nicolas, Gionni, and Maleiah. She comes to us with many years of office experience and is so excited to join the St. Mark's family. In her free time Nicole likes to take her jet ski out on the lake, go to the races (dirt track), go shopping, and spend time with her kids and Shannon.   



  •            Director of African Ministries  

        Helen Armstrong

    armstronghm@hotmail.com


    Helen is a retired teacher who has found a new love of working with African immigrants and refugees. She does lots of government paperwork to help get citizenship and green cards for refugees.  She founded African Women Empowered, a non-profit business employing African refugees several years ago. Helen loves being a Mom, Grandma, and Great grandma and spends as much time as possible with her family. She also has a passion for travel and has been to all 7 continents and many countries. She is looking forward to adding more countries to that list!

     


  • Youth Leader
    Jennifer Petersen
    jennifer@stmarksumccr.com

    Jennifer is a native of Cedar Rapids, she attended Squaw Creek Elementary, McKinley Middle School and graduated from Washington Senior High School. She then attended and graduated from William Woods College in Fulton Missouri, majoring in Legal Studies and Computer Information Systems. She met her future husband Marshall in 1997 (joined the United Methodist Church) and they married in 1998. Jennifer has three children - Tate is 21 and building bridges with United Contractors, Nile is 18 and a senior at Washington High School (golfer) and Jane is 15 and a freshman at Washington High School (a golfer as well). Jennifer has taught many years of Sunday school classes, many summers of VBS and co-led Confirmation classes. She graduated from the United Methodist School of Lay Ministry and enjoys preaching and teaching. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys exercising, walking (many golf courses), Small Group Bible Study and BSF. She also enjoys spending time with family and friends and their family dog Tucker, a Cavalier King Charles.

  • yeeyee


    Pianist

    Michele Gibson


    Michele grew up in eastern Iowa and has been a church pianist/organist her whole adult life. Although her work career was in accounting, playing piano has been a huge part of her life and opened so many opportunities over the years. She has lived in IL, AL, TX and WI, and always was lucky enough to find a church to share her music. Now in retirement, she enjoys reading, jigsaw puzzles and needlework. Every day she thanks God for her mom's encouragement to keep taking those piano lessons!  


  • Pianist


    Klyde Ledamo


    Klyde holds degrees with distinctions from the University of the Philippines and the Lynn Conservatory of Music-Florida, and has attended the Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He has concertized extensively in countries such as Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and the U.S., and has collaborated with numerous artists, choral groups, chamber ensembles, and orchestras. Klyde has won a number of first prizes from national and international competitions including the Philippines’ National Music Competition, Henrietta S. Tayengco-Limjoco Piano Competition, Lynn Concerto Competition, the Tampa Bay Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the MTNA-Florida Competition. This has led him to perform as soloist with orchestras such as the Manila Symphony Orchestra, UP Orchestra, and the Lynn Philharmonia, among others. He has also toured the world from 2016-2018 as pianist of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus in which the group has won the Grand Prix at the 6th International Krakow Choir Festival in Poland. With Klyde’s excellent academic performance, he has since been receiving various recognitions: the Outstanding Student-Artist Award and the Makiling Academe and Research Institute Scholarship, The 2020 Nelson Family Scholarship in Music, the 2021 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education conferred upon completion of his Master of Music degree at Lynn, the National Society of Arts and Letters scholarship award, and he is recognized as a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Currently, he is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Iowa where he also works as a Teaching Assistant. His teachers include Mayette Cordovez, Nita Quinto, Carolyn Cheng, Lilya Zilberstein, Roberta Rust, and Uriel Tsachor.  Klyde loves travelling, enjoys fine cuisine and exotic dishes, and likes doing extreme adventures.