Pastor Mark Viets

Pastor Mark graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., in 1970, where he was a classmate of Pastor Stuenkel and Pastor Bob Fitzpatrick, former pastor of Ascension.

Pastor Mark's first area of work was in Kansas for 16 years – one place in the small town of Wamego, Kan., and a second place in a central city area of Kansas City, Kan. For several years in Kansas City he served as one of the 30 police chaplains – each taking a 24-hour period a month to respond to crisis needs involving accidents, violence, and deaths.

Pastor Mark has been in Ohio since 1985 in two places: Grafton (near Elyria) and here in North Olmsted. Along the way he has gone through education and training required to become a member of the Association of American Pastoral Counselors.

Mark and his wife, Barbara, met in Fort Wayne, Ind., during college. Barbara is from Napoleon, Ohio, and has been a pediatric nurse for the past 18 years, presently with Dr. Lum in Westlake. She enjoys kids, loves gardening and landscaping from her farm roots, as well as doing crafts and quilting. They live in North Olmsted, north of the park.

They have two children, Matthew and Josie. Matthew works in Lorain, Ohio. He and his wife, Jen, recently welcomed their son, Steven Christian, into the family. Josie lives in Lexington, Ky., with her husband, Ryan, and their two dogs and five cats.

Pastor Mark enjoys following high school sports, taking in area football and basketball games with the boys and fast pitch softball with the girls. He also enjoys hitting a golf ball.

Pastor Mark does the pastoral counseling at Ascension and is one of our leaders in the Stephen Ministry of Ascension.