Pastor Brandon James Froiland was born in Bloomer, Wis., and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pre-Seminary Studies and Theological Languages from Concordia University-Wisconsin in 2004. He began his seminary formation in the fall of 2004 and received his Master of Divinity degree in May 2008.
Pastor Froiland served as Assistant Pastor at Christ Lutheran beginning in the summer of 2008. He accepted the Divine Call to be the Senior Pastor of Christ Lutheran on December 18th, 2022.
Pastor and his wife Sara have seven children. They enjoy traveling and spending time with friends and family.
Deacon David Buchholz was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo. He graduated from Concordia Teachers College of Seward, Neb. in 1978 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in education and earned a master’s degree in education in 1988.
Following their June 1978 wedding, Deacon and Mary (Zobel) Buchholz received their first placement to Immanuel Lutheran School in Hillside, Ill., where they both served as Lutheran school teachers. Subsequently, Deacon Buccholz accepted the call to teach at Grace Lutheran School in Kansas City, Kan., followed by Trinity Lutheran in Alma, Mo. While at Trinity Lutheran, he served in a variety of positions including teacher, Athletic Director, and Principal. He also served as Principal of Holy Cross Lutheran School in Kansas City from 2001 to 2004.
Deacon Buchholz possesses over a decade of experience in Youth Ministry, having served as Community Life Leader for the LCMS Department of Youth Ministry in the area of Servant Events. He is trained as both Consultant and Team Captain for Lutheran schools seeking National Lutheran School Accreditation and is a member of the Lutheran Education Association.
Deacon Buchholz has served as Deacon for Christ Lutheran since 2004, leading youth education and service opportunities for the parish family including Little Lambs, Kids for Chris, JR-LYF, and SR-LYF.
David and Mary have five children: Anna, Rachel, Matthew, Joshua, and Mark.
I, Abdi Mergerssa Selbana, was born in a rural city of Ethiopia called Nekemte on November 30th, 1966. My parents became followers of Christ before I was born. I was baptized in Dalo Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus on February 20, 1967. I was confirmed in 1986 and got a call from my congregation to be an evangelist at the same year of my confirmation. Then I got a call from the Central Ethiopia Synod/District in 1993 to be an outreach work coordinator. During my ministry in Central Ethiopia Synod, with the grace of God, I was able to establish 400 churches and reached out to about a million people with the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2000, I was sent to Mekane Yesus Seminary in Ethiopia for four years to study theology. I graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree.
I was ordained on August 7, 2016 in Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. In 2018 I began work with the Kansas City Oromo Evangelical Church in Kansas City, MO. I was a member of Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. I passed my colloquy interview/examination into the LCMS ministry in September 2020 and received my call to Christ Lutheran and was installed on March 28, 2021 as an Assistant Pastor at Christ Lutheran Church to the Oromo Congregation.
The Oromo congregation I serve at Christ Lutheran has begun the process to charter as an LCMS congregation.
I am married to Feven Aldiga and we have two children, Nafsif and Bisi.