
leadership
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Pastor
Mike Merriner
mike.merriner@clearwater.church
(907) 727-1382
Mike was born and raised in beautiful Alaska, along with his three brothers. They lived in Anchorage most of the time, but spent junior high and early high school in Dillingham. Mike gave his life to Jesus as a child as a result of the faithful witness of his parents. At the age of 18, he obeyed God’s call and committed himself to full-time Christian ministry. In pursuit of this calling, he earned a B.A. in HIstory at Harvard, an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a D.Min. from Denver Seminary. During his time at TEDS, he met his wife, Sabrina, with whom he has two daughters: Morgan and Aubrey.
Prior to planting Clear Water Church ten years ago, he was a pastor at Faith Christian Community for seven years and a pastor at ChangePoint for five years. Some fun facts about Pastor Mike are that he fished commercially in Bristol Bay for fourteen summers, he spent a year doing mission work in Russia, and he really enjoys coffee, nordic skiing, and fishing.

Pastor
James Embree
james.embree@clearwater.church
(907) 315-3803
James was born in Glenallen, Alaska. His parents were missionaries, planting a church in Eagle, AK. He grew up in church and had faith in Jesus from a very young age. In pursuit of God’s calling, he attended Taylor University in Indiana and received a B.A. in Biblical Studies. To further his education, he also received an M.A. in New Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago.
James has been married to his wife, Ella, since 1997 and has three children: Hannah, Max, and Bronwyn.
Prior to working at Clear Water, he worked as a youth pastor in Alaska and Chicago, then went to South Africa as a missionary Bible College teacher. He loves that he is able to teach the word of God and help people to understand Scripture and apply it to their lives. He also loves that He is able to help church members accomplish the ministries that God has given them a vision for. God has called him to know and follow him and to help others know and follow him.
James enjoys a lot of outdoor activities, especially cycling, including bicycle touring on a tandem bike with Ella. Some fun recent tours included Deadhorse to Coldfoot, San Juan Islands, San Francisco to Santa Barbara, and Tahiti.

Pastor
Brian Whitson
brian.whitson@clearwater.church
(907) 268-8659
Brian is from Florida and was saved in the 7th grade band room at his middle school. He was called to ministry at the age of 16, but ran from God for many years. He worked many jobs before committing to ministry, such as RVT, molecular biologist, baseball player, and general contractor. He submitted to God’s calling in 2003 and attended Southeastern Seminary, acquiring an M.A. in Biblical Counseling.
During his time in seminary, he married his wife, Kristin, and has four children, Rhett, Evelyn, Ellen, and Elizabeth, which he says “consumes any free time he might have!” Brian loves his family and says the “stolen free time” is worth every minute because children do grow very fast.
Brian is a friendly, outgoing person, which is why God has called him to serve at CWC as the youth pastor. He started CLUB68, which God has tremendously blessed. He says that even though he is 50 and a youth pastor, he likes to refer to himself “a late model corvette!”

Technical Director
David Burgess
david.burgess@clearwater.church
(907) 310-8474
David was born and raised in Alaska. He was saved at an early age due to witnessing his parent’s own faith walks. David went out of state for college, attending Valley City State University in North Dakota. He majored in Music Education and uses his academic knowledge to teach music lessons, play in several musical groups, and lead Clear Water’s worship ministry. In addition to playing guitar, he also sings, plays trombone, and is learning new instruments all the time.
David has been married to his wife, Liz, for one year, and enjoys hiking, biking, skiing, hockey, and many other outdoor activities.
David is grateful for a job that serves to build God’s Kingdom and a job that allows him to integrate his passions and skills. He believes that God is calling him to read his Bible more.
A lover of bad dad jokes, David would like to share a joke to end his biography: What’s the difference between a viola and an onion? No one cries when you cut up a viola!

Bookkeeper
Louise Witt
(206) 682-8336
Louise was born and raised in Ogden, Utah. She was saved at the age of 14 and has loved Jesus ever since. Louise and her late husband were blessed with twins who are now grown up; a daughter, Heidi, and a son, Eric. She has two beautiful grandchildren, Jack and Jacob, that she gets to see on a regular basis.
Louise received a B.S. in Secondary Education and a B.S. in Admin Accounting and has used these skills to teach High School, teach adults, Girl Scouts, and now, to serve Clear Water in all things administrative and financial. She has worked in both public and not-for-profit organizations.
Louise enjoys her work at Clear Water because she gets to work with people and be of service to those in need. She loves the openness of the church and its Biblical based teaching.
She believes that God has a place for her talents that He instilled within her. He directs her in the way that she should go and she knows that God in His sovereignty knows when, where, and why events occur when they occur.
Louise enjoys being with her family, watercolor painting, hiking, outdoor activities, and gardening.

Communication Coordinator
Katie Sharp
(907) 341-7671
Katie was borned and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She witnessed her parents' strong faith and accepted Christ as her Savior in 2007 when she was 9 years old. Katie grew up singing and playing piano and decided to pursue a B.A. in Worship Arts from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated in December of 2017. During her time at GCU, Katie met her now husband, Zach, with whom she shares two daughters: Shiloh (3) and Finnley (1). Katie and her family moved back to Alaska in July of 2022 due to Zach’s job.
Katie says you can always find her with a coffee in hand and a messy bun, because #toddler mom. She spends her free time playing piano, studying apologetics, and begrudgingly watching 80’s/90’s action films with her husband.
She enjoys working at Clear Water because she loves the opportunity to be creative. She loves seeing God glorified in all that is being done at Clear Water. At this point in her life, Katie says God is calling her to keep discipling her children in His Word and serve His Kingdom with her love for all things creative.
A fun fact about Katie is that she thinks cats are way better than dogs! Oh, and a hot dog IS indeed a sandwich.

Elder
Bill Burgess
Bill was born and raised in upstate New York. He has BS degrees from Syracuse University and the College of Environmental Science and Forestry and then a MSCE
from Cornell University. Bill relocated to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1982 for gas pipeline design work and after one winter he was transferred to Anchorage where he put down
roots working as a civil engineer. After 40 years on the job, he still dabbles part time as interesting opportunities arise.
God blessed Bill by leading him to his wife Kim in 1988 and subsequently blessed him further with four sons and now five grandchildren. He is fortunate to have his sons and
grands all settled in Anchorage and following Jesus. Bill and Kim are longtime supporters of the Young Life ministries. Kim served on staff at Young Life’s Malibu BC youth camp and later worked as wilderness guide and base camp coordinator at the Beyond Malibu backpacking program. Our sons have all been to Beyond Malibu to go on a wilderness trip or volunteer as base camp staff, boat driver, or mountain guide.
Bill serves as chairman of the elder board for Clear Water Church in Anchorage and continues in discipleship through Bible Study Fellowship. Bill answered the call to join
the board of Arctic Barnabas Ministries because of his passion for supporting missionaries and pastors bringing the light of the gospel to remote and dark places in
Alaska.

Elder
Doug Ketterer
Doug grew up in New York and Virginia playing baseball and enjoying time at the beach with his family. At 29 years old he became a Christian and left the East Coast to pursue adventure in the form of wilderness leadership studies through Wheaton College, eventually earning a Masters in Educational Leadership. Doug found his ultimate adventure in Alaska where he met his wife LeAnn and they are now raising their two boys Axel and Oliver.
The Ketterers deeply value their church community in Alaska as well as the abundance of unique outdoor opportunities the 49th State provides. In his free time Doug enjoys mountain running, camping, biking, skiing, and spending quality time with family and friends. Doug loves encouraging others in their outdoor pursuits, and you can find him every May in the announcer's booth at the Gold Nugget Triathlon.