Pastor Zachary Baer
Zach Baer is the Pastor at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Ordained 8 years in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he has served at Living Waters, his second call, for 3 years. He previously served as pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Leland, IL, for over three years. Pastor Zach has Bachelor’s Degrees in Psychology and Religion, and has a Masters of Divinity for the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. He met his wife, Stephanie, when they both were working at a Lutheran camp in North Carolina. They live in Crystal Lake with their beloved black lab mix, Rex. In his free time Pastor Zach enjoys reading, craft beer, and rooting on his Green Bay Packers. Pastor Zach is passionate about sharing the eternally good news of Jesus Christ, even in this time where so much of our ministry is being transformed to best meet changing community needs. If you are looking for a church home, Pastor would love to chat!
Pastor Zach may be reached at: pastorzachbaer@gmail.com
Pastor Zach
C.T. Hogan: Director of Music Ministry
C.T. grew up in a traditional ELCA church near Lake Geneva, where he started playing music in church in 7th grade. In addition to singing, he plays trombone, keyboard, and drums. He was a music major for a year in college before deciding he didn’t want to pursue music for a living (he has since changed his mind).
He has attended six different colleges and even managed to graduate from a couple of them! After earning a masters degree in medieval studies in Scotland, he studied history at the University of California and then taught ancient and medieval history at the University of Wisconsin and a small Catholic college, which permanently closed during the pandemic. While living out near Silicon Valley, he started working as a mobile phone game designer and still does creative content writing and game design occasionally.
He has worked as a music leader in a variety of Protestant churches over the past two decades, in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, and Maryland. He is passionate about including woodwinds and brass in worship, and loves arranging music for whatever instrumentation is available. Because he started playing in church as a teenager, he enjoys involving youth in Sunday morning music as well, and he looks forward to involving more musicians in worship at Living Waters.
He has played in many concert bands in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin and has played and arranged for multiple jazz bands and even a trombone choir (it’s not as bad as you might think). During the pandemic, he learned to play the vibraphone (the xylophone’s cooler, smoother big brother) at the community college here in town, and if you have $5,000 to throw away, he’d love to have a vibraphone of his very own!
Outside of church, he loves jazz & funk, role-playing games, medieval history, half of the Star Wars videos on Disney+, and potato chips.
C.T. Hogan
Carol Barrett
Carol Barrett: Office Manager
Carol has been with Living Waters since December, 2021. She's a long time resident of the Crystal Lake area is the proud parent of 2 adult kids and a grandmother of 6! She brings years of experience as an executive assistant, office manager, and bookkeeper to her role here at LWLC. Carol has done extensive volunteering over the years and loves live music, riding motorcycles , outdoor adventures and doing a variety of arts and crafts. Feel free to email her with any questions you may have.
Email: carollwlc@gmail.com
Chris Zyburt
Chris Zyburt: Volunteer Financial Manager
Chris has been a member of Living Waters since 2004. She retired in 2014
after a career in accounting analysis and management. Chris volunteers in the church office as one of the financial mangers, handling accounts payable and cost analysis. She is married to her high school sweetheart. They have one daughter and son-in-law who have given them 3 grandchildren; which Chris feels is a great return on investment! When not playing with numbers, ​Chris loves to travel, play strategy games, and has recently learned to quilt.
Email: carollwlc@gmail.com
Kermit Swanson
Kermit Swanson: Volunteer Financial Manager
Kermit, and his wife Lynn, have been attending Living Waters since the very first service in 1992. They, and their son Evan, are all charter members of Living Waters! Kermit is a retired Director with AT&T where he held a variety of leadership positions in Information Technology and Network Services. At Living Waters, Kermit has served as Council President, Chair of the Building Steering Committee, Chair of the Strategic Planning Team, and also served on several of the church's standing committees. He currently volunteers in the office as one of the Financial Managers of the church performing a variety of financial management functions. When not working in the office, Kermit enjoys playing guitar and singing in the worship band, singing in the Elgin Master Chorale, and playing golf whenever time and the weather permit!
