Pastors at Grace Church
Scott Carson – Senior Pastor
Scott has been serving the Lord at Grace Church since 1988 as the Senior Pastor. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and first came to Wisconsin in 1975 as a junior to attend high school. He holds a Bachelors Degree from Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin and a Masters Degree from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prior to coming to Grace, Scott served as an assistant pastor in Danville, Illinois and helped plant a church in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. He has a business background, having previously been involved in commercial sales and marketing.
Scott and his wife, Jane, have been blessed with three children: Charity, Ben and Aaron and a daughter in-law, Jiayu. Scott will quickly tell you that the six greatest days of his life have been “the day I accepted Christ, the day I married Jane, the birth of each of our three children, and the wedding of our son.”
Scott is a dedicated student, an avid reader and a book collector. He is committed to providing clear, practical teaching of the Bible as God’s perfect Word.
Scott is very active in our community and believes that a pastor should be involved in his community to encourage his church to be involved in their community. He is a member of the Burlington Rotary Club, President of the Friends of the Burlington Library, an Ambassador for the Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce. He is also the chaplain for the Burlington Police Department and a local hospital chaplain.
John Maguire – Executive Pastor
In his role as Executive Pastor John is responsible for implementing Grace Church’s vision with ministry leaders and staff including goal setting, strategy, development, evaluation, and mentoring. John has over 40 years of work experience which will be extremely valuable in this role.
John committed his life to Christ in 2011, at the age of 49, after being raised Catholic. He graduated from Marquette University (Liberal Arts – Political Science 1984) and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (MBA – Finance 1995), and has been married to his wife, Mary, since 1984.
John has always had a heart for service (particularly men’s ministry), for encouraging and speaking life into others, and for being a consensus builder – a skill developed from being 1 of 12 siblings! He has consistently exemplified the Grace Church DNA of service and outreach.
John has attended Grace Church since 2022 and became a member in 2024. In his spare time he enjoys rucking. He has hiked El Camino de Santiago and has completed several endurance events including the Dopey Challenge.
Gary Thompson – Senior Ministry Pastor
In 1980 Gary received the call to ministry. He went home and told Nancy and the first thing she said was, “What took you so long?” They sold their new home and all the stuff they accumulated and went to North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota majoring in Pastoral studies with a minor in missions. During this same time period he served as the Business manager and associate pastor at Brookdale Christian Center. Since then Gary has pastored in Minnesota for 10 years, Wisconsin 12 years, Oklahoma 8 1/2 years, Missouri 2 years and back to Wisconsin for another 3 years. He interned in Jamaica and he and Nancy made several missions trips to Kenya and Uganda in Africa. He also had the privilege of spending extended time in Israel with a pastoral study group.
After 4 major heart attacks and many operations, they found themselves coming back to the Burlington area to be by their family. Shortly thereafter Gary became Seniors Ministry Pastor of Grace Church. Gary considers it an honor and privilege to share the love of Christ to a growing and wonderful congregation.
Deacons at Grace Church
Bob Eck is an active member of Grace Church serving on our Maintenance team and building projects. He and his wife live in Burlington (transplanted from New York State). Tina organizes the volunteers that serve at the Welcome Desk on Sunday mornings. They are both retired and are sincere servants, ready to help wherever needed.
Mike Wiemer is an active member of Grace Church serving on our Maintenance Team and generously gives of his time wherever needed. He and his wife JoAnn live in Burlington. Mike enjoys leading Men’s Bible Study and organizing the Men’s Ministry events.
Steve Emond and his wife Kim have considered Grace their home since 2015. Steve serves on the Worship team. Kim is very active with outreach and our iFit ministry.
Mark Hutton is a devoted servant of Christ, dedicated to his faith, family, and community. Raised in the Lutheran tradition, he gave his life to Christ in 2000 and has since committed himself to living out the gospel through service and leadership. Mark and Denise began attending Grace Church in 2021 and became members in 2022
He is married to Denise and is a proud father to their two sons, Amos and Cyrus. Together, they live on a farm, where they embrace the values of hard work, stewardship, and faith in action.
Mark works in sales for a local John Deere dealer and his faith is reflected in everyday action as he strives to live in a way that honors God.
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Sunday Services
9:00AM
10:30AM
Children’s ministries available for birth through 4th grade