Peacekeepers NW

John W. Cundiff has served as a law enforcement chaplain since 2000 and presently serves as Administrative Chaplain for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.  Special areas of John’s Chaplaincy are Grief & Bereavement, Traumatic Stress, C.I.S.M., and Crisis Intervention.  In December of 2001 John served at Ground Zero by invitation of the PAPD.

            Since 2002, John serves as the Chaplain for the Westside Singles Ministry and has been involved in singles ministry since 1990.  Including serving on the board for Wi-Ne-Ma Christian Camp’s Single’s Conference for 4 years and directed that event for 2 years.  John served on the board of the Mission Portland Singles Network as Chaplain for 5 years.

John graduated from Northwest College of the Bible earning a Th.B. in 1987; Warner Pacific College earning a M.Rel. in 1993; Lake Charles Bible College earning a D.Min. in 1995.   John has been serving a local church as part of its pastoral staff since 1984.  John taught in the advanced track at Northwest Bible Training Center.  His subjects included practical theology and historical theology.  He also served as a Professor of Practical Theology teaching the in Master of Ministry program for the Theological Education Center.

                                                                                                            Lou Gerst

I was born in New York City.

My father was a New York City Police Officer and my mother was a housewife.

I have 2 sons, Todd and Jay. Both sons  live in Florida. Todd is married and living in Palm Bay with his wife and our 3 grandchildren.

In 1969 I took a position with Weight Watchers International as their Franchise Operations Manager and was with them until 1983. In that position I was fortunate to travel the all over the world. I oversaw a department of 10 people that assisted franchisees with ongoing training for their staff as well as field visits to help them improve their business. I was also responsible for the day to day operation and financial success of 4 company franchise operations. I was also part of the franchise reacquisition team. In addition I held the position of meeting planner, responsible for all aspects of corporate meetings large and small.

In 1984 I moved to Portland OR. I met my wife Jan in Portland and in September 1987 we were married. We have been blessed with 2 grandsons, from her son Scott, and a granddaughter from her daughter Tracy.

I worked for an auto dealership in Portland for about 12 years. I retired at 62 1/2.

My wife Jan is an interior designer. In 1997 she was granted a license by the Oregon Board of Education to open and conduct a school teaching interior design.

My retirement thing for a time was working 2 mornings a week at the local grade school with the SMART program helping students gain an appreciation for reading. This program is mainly for students where English is a second language. I found it very rewarding working with children and sharing my love of books with them. Wanting to do more, and to be able to give more back to the community I completed the Citizens Academy with the Beaverton Police Department. I have been working as a Community Policing Volunteer for over 6 years. My volunteer work encompasses a variety of jobs including the movement of police cars in our decoy program. I was the editor of the COPPS newsletter, have worked with the stolen car and recovery program. Regularly assist in CID and the Records Departments. I work traffic control during local public events and am involved in our senior citizen home safety inspection program. In 2008 I was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award by the Beaverton Police Department.

I also do volunteer work with the Washington County Sheriffs office and work in the jail one day a week and serve as a community chaplain.

In 2009 and 2010 I was awarded from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation the President’s Volunteer Service Award for my community service.

Jan and I are enjoying our "senior years" together by spending our children’s inheritance with vacations in Europe, taking cruises and traveling throughout the United States, especially Maui.

                                                                          Fr. Peter Artega

I was born in Karlsruhe Germany September 16^th, to Sigrid Luise and Armando Arteaga (US Military).

After my basic school studies in Germany I finished my High School - College in Mexico City in 1984. I worked for one year as a handyman.

I started my religious studies in 1985 in Rome and graduated with a Diploma in Spiritual Theology; I continued my formation in Guadalajara Mexico where I graduated in Catholic Philosophy. I entered the novitiate of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit in Playa del Rey, California in 1988 and celebrated the profession of my first religious vows in 1990. My superiors sent me to Germany for my theology studies which I started in Munich and continued in Muenster. After finishing my biblical studies (Exegeticum) in 1993 I continued with a STB (Sacred Theology Baccalaureate) in Milan and Rome, Italy. I graduated in 1996 and work as a pastoral assistant in a parish in Milan. I was ordained a priest in 1997 and I was nominated Vocational Director and Spiritual Assistant to several ecclesiastical movements. I worked temporarily as translator for the European Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2004 I was sent to Kinshasa/ Congo for a one year mission assignment. After the mission closed in 2005 I was sent to Monterrey, Mexico, but I had to withdraw from active service due to health problems. Once my health was fully reestablished I moved to the US – Oregon and started working as a Formation Director and teacher for the Under Graduate and Graduate Program at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon. During my time in Mount Angel I was able to get a MA in Catholic Theology. In August 2008 I was transferred to work as an associate pastor at St. Matthew Parish in Hillsboro, OR. In July 2010 I became the Pastor of this Parish.

                                                                               Tay Errecalde-Doze’

I am a California transplant since 1992, and have hence grown webbed feet while enjoying the great NW and all it’s opportunities to be amazed by God’s glorious outdoors!  I have become a fan of beavers, the color orange, and personally root for my daughter who is a soon to be OSU Beaver graduate!  Also, with a loud voice of gratitude I am proud to be a mother of a firefighter, and the wife of 27 years to the most amazing man God could have ever given me!

My spiritual journey was catapulted in 1998, and I have never stopped running the race to reach the goals for which I am called heavenward.  The paths I have lingered have included areas of personal service at my Evergreen Christian Center home in Hillsboro, ‘Women with a Mission’ trips abroad, Washington Co Sheriff’s Office jail recovery ministries and programs, drug and alcohol outreaches, and I am currently the recovery leader for Evergreen’s Christian Center’s 12-step faith based recovery program.  I am concurrently gaining new experience as a chaplain for the Washington County Sheriff Office community and jail programs.  In addition, for the past 13 years I have enjoyed applauding high school grads by coordinating safe and sober all night events for Portland Partyworks & respective high schools in the Greater Portland, Central and  Southern Oregon & SW Washington areas.

In 2007 I completed a two year christian counseling college course of study through the Moriah Bible Institute under Chancellor Larry Bowen, and have earned a Christian Counseling Certificate and Bachelor of Theology that completed my former studies at San Jose State University.  It is with a sense of awe that I can clearly see a design planned by God that led me to this Hillsboro community, where I have had opportunities to grow, serve and love.  It is my continued prayer that I will never tire of reaching out to a hurting world… here, near and far with the good news of God’s amazing grace.

                                                                              Bruce Wenigmann

An ordained United Methodist elder, Bruce has been in professional ministry since 1987, serving churches in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Oregon. 

He was sworn in as a community chaplain in December 2010, and is also part of the newly-formed Crisis Intervention Team, a multi-county effort.

Besides serving the local church he has been involved in camp ministry, Christian retreats (Walk to Emmaus), and several short-term mission trips, primarily to Mexico, but also St. Croix, and the Gulf coast for disaster response.           

A native of New Hampshire, Bruce first came out west as a VISTA volunteer to Pocatello, Idaho. 

He has helped start two non-profit organizations, Idaho Neighbors Network (INN) and Creative Arts North (CAN).  INN helped low/moderate income people advocate for themselves.  CAN is a Minnesota group to help artisans/crafts people with business development.

Bruce has served on numerous church and non-profit boards in Idaho and Oregon, such as the Pocatello Free Clinic, Idaho Legal Aid, Oregon VOAD (disaster response), and Wilsonville Community Sharing.

Married in 1986, he and Vanessa have 3 children; currently they live in Wilsonville.  Among his other interests he is an avid sports fan, traveler, and kayaker, paddling year-round.   

Education: Contoocook Valley Regional High School (Peterborough NH, 1973), the University of New Hampshire (BA, Spanish, 1977), Andover Newton Theological School (Masters of Divinity, 1994). 

Besides pastoral continuing education, he has taken several courses from the International Critical Incident Foundation and Code4 on crisis response.

                                                                               Nani Crecelius

Nani has been with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office since 2006.  She started as a chaplain intern through Moriah Institute of Christian Studies, and now works as a chaplain for the Sheriff’s Office.  She helps co-ordinate volunteer chaplains who work with jail inmates, loves working with staff, and responds to crisis situations in the jail as well as in the community.  As a member of the PKNW team, Nani has also been serving Hillsboro PD and their Domestic Violence Response Team since 2010. 

Nani graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Western Oregon State University, attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and has a Diploma of Christian Counseling from Moriah Institute of Christian Studies.  She has also earned certificates in Critical Incident Stress Management (Individual and Group), Emotional Survival for Public Safety Personnel, Mental Preparation for Combat, and Mediation. 

Nani is a member of Pacific University’s Institutional Review Board.  She also enjoys being a member of a local Community Crisis Team, which is a citizen group of individuals prepared to respond to crisis situations in the community. 

Nani loves to hear the life stories of people, and feels extremely blessed when able to respond to people in crisis.  Most of all, she enjoys time spent with family and feels very fortunate that her mom, daughter, son and daughter-in-law all live fairly near her Hillsboro home. 

                                                                                Audrey Ristow

Born in Panguitch, Utah and raised in Bend, Oregon, I am a country-girl at heart.  I love exploring the grandeur of Oregon from the beautiful coastal beaches to the rolling hills in eastern Oregon and everything in between. 

In May, 1997, my husband and I quit our jobs, got married, and started a nonprofit ministry to families of individuals with developmental disabilities (what were we thinking!?) called Quiet Waters Outreach.  God blessed our youthful naivety and placed me in the positions of office administrator, bookkeeper, interior decorator, and mental health advisor (somebody needed to keep my husband’s sanity in check!).  

After 14 adventurous years in the ministry, I “retired” from Quiet Waters Outreach and jumped into the challenge of Domestic Engineering (aka:  full-time-stay-at-home-mom).  Now I fulfill the positions of household administrator, book reader, interior maid, and mental health advisor (my own!).