Meet The Committee

Meet the other NYG committee co-chair, Pastor Glenn Worcester! Since 2012, Pastor Glenn has been serving the people of Peace Lutheran Church in Winnipeg, and been serving on various Youth Gathering committees as well, including the last time the NYG was in Winnipeg. His first experience with LCC Youth Gatherings was the 2007 NYG in Ottawa when he was just a vicar (at Immanuel Lutheran in Lethbridge). There he met his future wife, Andrea, and they have been married for 11 years and have two very lovely, occasionally unpleasant children; Micah (3, born on the first day of the 2016 NYG), and Ivy (1). He also enjoys playing most sports and games, music, and adding to his collection of board games no one’s ever played (or heard of) before. He’s looking forward to seeing everyone in his backyard at the next NYG!

The NYG committee is very pleased to announce that our main speaker for 2021 is Pastor Eric Moffett

Pastor Eric is the Associate Pastor at Foothills Lutheran Church in Calgary, where he spends half of his time on the university campus interacting with students. He’s been involved with youth gatherings since he was a youth himself (no comment on how long it's been since then), and is on two gathering planning committees. He enjoys playing board games with his lovely wife, has terrible taste in music, loves sports, and knows some real bad dad jokes. Originally from Kitchener, he’s a CREW Ministries alum, has a music degree from Concordia Edmonton, and was ordained and installed at Foothills in 2015. UofC campus outreach, youth ministry, and music are some of his greatest joys as part of his work there.

Meet our committee member Michelle! Michelle Heumann's first LCC youth gathering was the 2004 NYG in Brandon, and she's been involved in gatherings ever since! The Lutheran community had a big impact on her life, and not much makes her happier than sharing that with others! When she's not busy organizing youth retreats, she just finds other things to organize instead, but gatherings are her favourite. Michelle lives in Calgary, where she's a youth leader at Foothills Lutheran, a freelance editor (the Canadian Lutheran is one of her clients), and co-chair of the IMPACT Youth Gathering, among other things. She's excited to be on the NYG committee for the first time, and will be the stage manager for the awesome IN NOT OF main session team. She's also involved with the social media and communications side of the NYG! If you've never been to a gathering before, she would really like you to come and be part of the community!

Thanks, Michelle!

Meet committee member Stephanie Mayer! Stephanie is the DPS at Hope Lutheran Church in Port Coquitlam, BC. She loves Jesus, her husband Jordan, youth, music, and snacks. She decidedly does not love jello or spiders. She also really loves youth gatherings! After attending a few as a youth, one as an iBod, and one on the planning committee, she maintains that youth gatherings are a highlight of anyone’s summer — especially the times of worship, building friendships, and digging deeper into faith. She hopes to meet YOU (or see you again!) in 2022!

Meet committee member Josh Gajdos! He is very excited to help plan the next NYG, and especially happy to do so beside his wife of three years, Erika. He is an accountant in London, Ontario, and pastor’s kid who has lived in Victoria, Calgary, Burlington, and Kitchener. He enjoys sports and competition with his 5 brothers, cooking, and playing the trumpet in church. Josh is passionate about his faith in his Saviour, Jesus Christ. He finds comfort knowing that whatever may befall him in his earthly citizenship, through Baptism, he has the certainty of eternal heavenly citizenship with his living Redeemer.
Josh’s first gathering was 2019 when he attended as an iBod. He was an active member of his youth group and has served Christ’s church in various capacities including as Sunday School, VBS, and Youth Bible Study leader, a member of the East District Communications Committee, a Youth Volunteer Leader at a Lutheran summer camp in New York, an usher in his congregations, and in various roles for the last 8 years on the board for the East District Lutheran Young Adults. Josh hopes to see many new and familiar faces at the next gathering!

Meet our NYG Chaplain! Pastor David Haberstock lives in Regina with his wife, Lise, and daughter, Rebekah. He currently serves as the Central Regional Pastor of Lutheran Church—Canada, and has served churches in Thunder Bay and Regina. These days he enjoys bouncing on the trampoline with Rebekah, reading and watching epic fantasy, studying the Bible in Greek, singing, and playing guitar and piano. Last millennium, back when he was a long-haired hippy, he toured with Crew Ministries as part of “Unchained.” At the turn of the millennium, he shaved his head, and dropped out of life for a year to travel around the world. He has wrestled with bouts of depression, and recently with anxiety. The most important thing to him outside of his family, is that he knows Jesus purchased and won him from all sin, from death, from the power of the devil with His holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death, and that Dave is certain of this because he is baptized!

Meet Erika Schroth-Gajdos, our NYG registrar! Erika is currently finishing her specialization in health science at the University of Western Ontario, and lives in London with her husband, Joshua. Spoiler alert: Joshua is also on the committee with her!
Erika attended her first NYG in 2013, which was also at the University of Winnipeg. She is excited to go back and make it a memorable experience for more youth!
Erika enjoys games, sports, goofing around, teasing her family and hanging out with other young adults. She’s very involved with EDLYA, the East Region young adults’ group, and is excited to see how young adults can be more involved in the NYG. She's also involved with running the NYG social media. Come meet Erika and all the other committee members in Winnipeg!