Rick Loewen
Rick was a police officer for 20 years prior to serving in public ministry. As a police officer he served as a patrol officer, narcotics detective, vice detective, and homicide detective. He taught police officers in the areas of interviews and interrogation, undercover operations, and crime scene investigation. While serving as a police officer and enrolled in the staff ministry program at DMLC, he received a divine call to start the first youth and family ministry program on the White Mountain Apache Reservation AZ. He was then called by WLCFS to develop and implement family ministry programs Synod wide. He served as the director of ministries at WLCFS and oversaw their ministry support services program, family life education program, and counseling division. Rick is currently called by Crosswalk Lutheran Church. At Crosswalk, he serves for a subsidiary ministry called CrossTrain Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries is a self-supporting ministry in partnership with Grace in Action Ministries.
Daron Lindemann
Daron serves on Jesus’ mission with a passion for developing people in transformational discipleship. He has pastored churches in both a mission relocation at Hope Lutheran Church in Irmo, SC for 6 years and a large, downtown setting at Grace Lutheran church in Milwaukee, WI for 13 years. A desire to help healthy, growing pastors shepherd healthy, growing churches has led to his involvement in Pastor Partners, a pastor development initiative of Grow in Grace at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Daron’s own development has included being coached by Rick Loewen, then advancing to a life coaching certificate and coaching stateside pastors and world missionaries. He currently serves as pastor at CrossLife Church in Pflugerville, TX. He enjoys the outdoors, exploring BBQ food trucks in Austin, or attending Christian concerts with his wife, Cara. You’ll also find Daron relaxing near the grill and sending fun videos to his kids and grandkids.
Tim Glende
Tim Glende has been a WELS pastor since 1998, beginning his ministry with a mission start-up in Urbana/Savoy, IL. From 2006-2025, he served as the Lead Pastor of 922 Ministries in Appleton, WI—a multi-site church that includes St. Peter Lutheran Church and The CORE. He currently serves as the Executive Pastor of Crosswalk Ministries in Phoenix, AZ another multi-site ministry that Crosstrain is a part of. Beyond pastoral leadership, Tim has been deeply involved with CrossTrain Ministries since 2010. In 2014, he earned a life coaching certificate and began coaching pastors, a role he continues today, while also overseeing the administrative operations of CrossTrain and CrossTrain Kids. In his free time, Tim enjoys working out, spending time with his wife, Holly, and visiting their adult children and grandchildren.
Jim Buske
Jim has served as a WELS pastor since 2002 and has served as a tutor at Luther Preparatory School in Watertown W, associate pastor at Christ the King in Bremerton WA. and currently serves as founding Executive Director at Lighthouse Youth Center in Milwaukee WI since 2006. He is passionate about sharing Jesus and helping young people make wise life decisions. Jim has been coached by Rick Loewen in the Crosstrain Coaching Network since 2011. He has been part of the Crosstrain coaching team since 2016, assisting pastors in their personal finances. When he’s not at the Lighthouse, you can find him enjoying his kids activities, in the garden, on the lake or in the woods. Jim and his wife Terry have four children.
Tim Dolan
Tim has served has served in the public ministry for the past 17 years. He began his ministry as an instructor at East Fork Lutheran High School on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona, where he taught religion, coached, and worked with the youth and family ministry center. He continued his ministry as a tutor at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Michigan. He served as a parish pastor at Cross of Life in Miami, Florida and Divine Savior Lutheran Church Doral, Florida. Tim moved from the parish ministry to education and served at Luther Preparatory School as recruitment director and for the past 7 years as dean of students. In addition to his duties at Luther Prep, he serves as chairman of the Administrative Committee for Native American Missions which partners with WELS ministries on the White Mountain and San Carlos reservations in Arizona. Tim has been a part of Crosstrain ministries since it began in 2010. He has a certificate in pastoral counseling and life coaching. Tim has been supported over the past 18 years by his best friend and wife Jill. They have been blessed with 3 children
Ben Blumer
Ben has been a pastor since 2003. He serves as the Lead Pastor at NorthCross Church in Lakeville, MN. Ben’s ministry passions are preaching, leadership, and creating churches that have a strong desire to share the timeless truth of Jesus in a way that is timely. Ben has been a part of CrossTrain since 2011. He joined the CrossTrain Staff as a certified coach in 2017. In 2018, Ben and his wife, Carrie, helped to develop a marriage coaching curriculum for CrossTrain. Today, they coach couples from all across the world. In his free time Ben enjoys coaching basketball, working out, and spending time with his family. Ben and Carrie have been blessed with four children.
Jay Zahn
Jay serves as Executive Pastor at Trinity, Waukesha, WI since January of 2022. This role provides Jay the opportunity to exercise his ministry passions of leadership, developing people and forming cohesive teams that pursue their God-given purpose with gospel-driven passion. Jay has been receiving coaching through CrossTrain since 2011. He became a certified coach with CrossTrain in 2017. He appreciates the chance to invest deeply in the lives of fellow pastors, helping them to thrive in life and ministry in these challenging times. In his free time, Jay enjoys family time, reading, golfing, and working out.
Aaron Boehm
Aaron has been honored to be called a pastor since 2004. He was first called to Tucson, AZ. After three years there, he headed further west to where he currently serves the east side of San Diego in La Mesa, CA. He also enjoys serving the congregations of the AZ-CA District as Second Vice President. He has been involved with CrossTrain ministries since 2016, and became a certified coach in 2019. Aaron and his wife, Gena, have four children who would all agree that they have the best parents in the universe. Aaron is intentional about building up his marriage, guarding time with his family, the ongoing pursuit of personal growth, and sharing his discoveries with others. He is also fascinated by succulents, making him super manly. He loves laughing and attempting to make others laugh, and plays indoor soccer as much as he can.
Carrie Blumer
Carrie graduated from MLC and was called to teach at St. Phillips in Milwaukee along with serving as the music director. In 2003, her husband Ben, was called to serve at Bethlehem in Lakeville, Mn. There she served as music director, which included directing choir, music ministry for children and leading music for VBS. She currently serves in roles as a leader in women’s small group ministry, vocal leader at worship services, and has coached and walked alongside women in our congregation during difficult times. She joined Crosstrain in the fall of 2018 and is certified as a marriage coach. Carrie values the blessing of a Christ-centered marriage and has passion for encouraging and supported couples to grow together in their marriage. She enjoys spending time with her husband and 4 kids, loves music and worship, has a passion for health and wellness, and encouraging others in their walk of faith.
Paul and Tracy Schuler
Paul and Tracy serve as Crosstrain Marriage Coaches. They completed their certifications for marriage coaching as well as their training to be Prepare-Enrich Facilitators in 2019. Paul and Tracy have been married for 23 years and have been blessed with 4 children. Paul has served as a parish pastor for 21 years serving congregations in Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Greenfield, MN and has been a Crosstrain participant since 2013. Tracy currently serves as the School Secretary at Salem Lutheran School. Over the years she has served in many roles in Christ’s church including Sunday School teacher, Small group leader, Women’s Bible Study leader and is very active in their church’s VBS programs. At the same time she manages their home which includes keeping track of their 3 sons and 1 daughter ranging in ages from 13 to 21. Both Paul and Tracy have a passion for growing their own marriage as well as guiding others to do the same. They both enjoy camping with their family, water-skiing, walks/runs at a local park and riding motorcycles when they get the chance.
Dustin Blumer
Dustin has been serving as pastor for 11 years at Amazing Love Lutheran Church. He was assigned to plant Amazing Love in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. His passion is for outreach and preaching. He feels that when we are in heaven with the Lord in year 7,000, we will not regret our time and efforts in sharing Jesus with others. He also understands the tremendous joy and rigors of serving the Lord in the public ministry. As a member of Crosstrain he has benefited from the emphasis of spiritual, emotional, and physical care. He has completed his training for crisis and trauma coaching, and feels honored to encourage other pastors in their unique contexts of ministry. Dustin enjoys spending his free time with his wife, Kat, and two daughters. They love exploring the Chicagoland area always finding a new meal or experience whether in the Loop, Mag Mile, Chinatown, or Greektown.
Samantha Bialozynski
Director of Curriculum Development and Instruction for CrossTrain Kids
Samantha brings a strong foundation in Christian education, having attended WELS schools from Pre-K through college. She graduated from Arizona Lutheran Academy and continued her studies at Bethany Lutheran College before earning a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from St. Cloud State University. She later completed her graduate degree in School Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. A nationally certified school psychologist, she has held a variety of roles in education, including school psychologist, federal setting III teacher, educator coach, and special education coordinator. She holds certification in PREPaRE crisis response training and has significant experience supporting students with trauma-impacted backgrounds. Before her current role, Samantha worked for an educational consulting firm, where she coached teachers and school leaders to help them meet both professional and district-wide goals. For the past three years, she has contributed to curriculum development at CrossTrain Kids and now serves as the Director of Curriculum Development and Instruction.