Our Leadership

ANDY ROMSTAD

ANDY ROMSTAD

Senior Pastor

Married to Ali and father to Kaarin and Peder, Andy moved to Cambridge on New Year’s Day, 2002. Prior to this, he served churches in the Chicago and Milwaukee suburbs. Born in Chicago, he grew up in Richfield and was the original drummer at our contemporary service (Horizon).

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You

We believe God gives everyone a calling and purpose and you can make an impact. This comes from a very old idea called "the priesthood of all believers," which views Christian ministry as God’s people serving in the world with our entire lives — through our jobs, as moms and dads, as neighbors, as servants and through God’s church.

You use your talents and passions to serve you make an impact on God’s mission. Many participants in our ministry dedicate significant time and energy to enrich and expand our ministry. To explore areas where you are gifted and tell us where you’d like to serve, check out our "Next Steps" page.

Emily Martin

Emily Martin

Pastor

Emily joined the staff as Associate Pastor in 2017. Her roles include preaching, traditional worship and small group formation. She also oversees our Children, Youth and Family staff. Emily loves coffee (iced) and believes that serving as a barista helped prepare her for ministry.

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Dean Oelfke

Dean Oelfke

Visitation Pastor

Married to Jean, retired from Calvary Lutheran in Mora, MN, Dean leads visitation ministries here at CLC including communion services, the Befrienders Ministry, as well as home and hospital visits.

Mary Chapman

Mary Chapman

Finance Manager

Mary is married to John and they have grown children. Mary brings many years of church administration experience serving as Finance Manager accompanied by a deep faith and a desire to serve Jesus through the church. Mary began serving CLC in 2014. Mary begins all Finance meetings with a devotional on how we serve through our finances and giving.

Kimberly Polzin

Kimberly Polzin

Director of Stewardship

Married to Jeff Benny, Kim directs or ministry of stewardship, encouraging and engaging people in generosity toward God’s work in our church and beyond.

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Kate Roettger

Kate Roettger

Children, Youth & Family Director

Kate is married to Tony with two children. They live in Ham Lake. Kate oversees Children’s Ministry, Middle School Ministry and Sr. High Ministry with administrators and teams assisting in each area. Kate previously served at Our Saviours, East Bethel and Zion, Anoka in similar roles, as well as having worked in corporate sales.

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Kim Etter

Kim Etter

Children's Ministry Administrator

Kim is married to Eric. They live in Ham Lake with their three school age children. Kim is passionate about all things related to history, archaeology and maps. She loves to travel, try new foods, and can often be found biking, swimming or dancing.

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Shirley Geib

Shirley Geib

Middle School Ministry Administrator

Married to Bob Medin, Shirley is retired from a career in teaching. She is now teaching in new ways, directing choirs and serving as Ministry Adminstrator for Ignite, our Middle School Ministry. Have questions about Camp Wapo or Wednesday evening confirmation? Contact Shirley.

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Steve Danz

Steve Danz

Horizon Worship Team

Steve is married to Jayme with grown children. During the week, Steve works in bonds for US Bank. On weekends, he's leading our worship team at the Horizon service.

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Michelle Trunk

Michelle Trunk

Organist

Michelle serves as an organist here 75% of the time, sharing time with Shirley Geib, and others. She also accompanies the Sanctuary Choir and the many soloists in worship. In addition to Cambridge, Michelle has served as organist at churches in Princeton and North Branch. Michelle works in the North Branch school district.

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Aaron Knudsvig

Aaron Knudsvig

Sanctuary Choir Director

Married to Sarah, they have three young children. In addition to leading Play Inc., a local theater company for young people, Aaron teaches locally and leads the Sanctuary Choir, the adult choir that anchors the Festival traditional worship services.

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LAVAYE GALBRECHT

LAVAYE GALBRECHT

HOSPITALITY DIRECTOR / FOOD & KITCHEN

LaVaye oversees CLC activities involving the kitchen, coffee serving, and food including Sunday mornings and special events during the week. Questions about the kitchen or food? Contact LaVaye. Her bright and positive attitude brings joy wherever she goes.

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Kathy Maltrud

Kathy Maltrud

Director of Serving

Retired from Thrivent for Christians, Kathy works at the Cambridge Eye Clinic. In her spare time, she arranges all of the serving ministry roles here and was instrumental in transitioning our serving ministry to all digital sign-up system. She loves spending time with family and nieces and nephews in the Cambridge area.

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Our History

The only Lutheran church started during the U.S. Civil War, Cambridge Lutheran Church was founded in 1864 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church. We celebrated 150 years as a congregation in 2014. We started during some of the darkest times of our nation's history and still seek to offer God's light to our community and the world.

A side view of Cambridge lutheran church from the outside

It is said that congregations need to re-invent themselves every 40 years as part of their life-cycle, and this church has gone through many manifestations of itself. These include switching from Swedish to English, multiple building programs, and size, having been a small, medium and large church over the years.

Part of our rich history has been starting many other area sister churches in the area. This history is recorded in our centennial book, The Lighted Spire.

Our roots are in the old Swedish Augustana synod. We are part of the ELCA since 1988, prior to that having been a part of the Lutheran Church in America.

We give thanks for the faithful who've gone before us, many of whom rest in the cemetery on church grounds.

Our identity, however, is not in tradition or history, but in what God is doing today. For more information about our history, you may contact the Archives Team.

We're more focused on where we're going than where we've been. Click here for our vision, mission, and values. In the meantime, what follows is our rich history as a church.