Rick Schwake Pastor
Born and raised in Southern Wisconsin in the old West Wisconsin Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. Served as Methodist Youth Fellowship District Treasurer. Last two years of High School were in private schools – one boarding and one day student. College course of study was History and Design. Later I earned a certificate in Travel & Tourism and worked for a travel agency. I served as a Certified Lay Speaker in the UMC for 18 years. In 1999 I became a Local Pastor and completed my Course of Study work at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA. I served a community of 417 people for three years and was then appointed to a town of 2,000, both in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, for four years. At the end of that time, my wife, Debra, was offered a teaching position on the Crow Indian Reservation in Southeastern Montana. She had followed me in my ministry so it was only fair that I followed her. We were in Montana for five years. Debra received an offer to teach in Sisseton, South Dakota on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Indian Reservation. She retired in 2017. We continued to live in Sisseton until we moved to Bessemer in February of last year.
Michael Meyer Organist
Michael serves as organist of Wesley. He began leading worship at the pipe organ when he was 11, learning on a historic Hinners tracker-action pipe organ in the Congregational Church of Mendon, IL., and taught during his high school days by Wilfrid Nelson, organist at the then Episcopal Cathedral of St. John, in Quincy, IL.
Educated at the University of Illinois-Urbana and the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a historical geographer, Michael taught middle school for 7 years at St. John Sacred Heart School in Sherwood, WI and was organist/choirmaster for 15 years at Peace United Methodist Church, Kaukauna, WI (Stormy Kromer’s home!). With grown children in both Appleton and Madison, Michael has since 2015 served as the Executive Director of the Ironwood Chamber of Commerce, and you will find him at his Historic Ironwood Depot office during the week.