GLC Staff

Larry Sherman

Acting Superintendent, Director of Church Planting

Larry is married to Debbie and they have 3 grown children and 3 grandchildren.  Most of Larry’s ministry career has been spent starting things: Redwood Covenant Church in Santa Rosa, CA; Redeemer Covenant Church in Carrollton, TX: and now in his role as Director of Church Planting in the GLC, helping start more than a dozen churches.

Larry’s passion is to coach church leaders who can lead healthy, missional churches.  He gets excited about the number of new believers that are being reached by GLC churches and by GLC church plants.

His Doctorate combines strategic planning with church growth and church planting.  He has developed several systems to help churches with Change, with Re-vitalizaton, with Outreach strategies, and with Structural Focus.

Larry enjoys walking, reading, and travel with Debbie.  He listens to Rascal Flats and most anything in Contemporary Praise and Worship.  Larry and Debbie love visiting their kids and grandkids in Dallas and California.

Steve Armfield

Director of Church Vitality

Steve Armfield grew up in Portland, Oregon but now makes his home in Grand Rapids, MI. He and his wife Janet have 3 grown children: Lindsay Small who is co-pastor of Harbert Community Church in Harbert, MI along with her husband Kyle; Matthew who is a medical student in Wisconsin; and Benjamin who lives in Fresno, CA and is soon to be married.

Steve served Covenant Churches for 38 years before his retirement in August of 2009. The majority of those years were spent as pastor of Thornapple Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids, MI. Steve will be working with the GLC churches in the areas of vitality and revitalization as well as with the pastors in coaching and mentoring.

Steve feels strongly that life, vitality, and health are things that are important to every church and he is eager to work with the churches of the GLC to help them become or continue to be healthy, missional churches.

Jody Eidnes

Office Administrator

Jody Eidnes has been the Office Administrator of the Great Lakes Conference since June of 2004. As an Air Force child, Jody grew up all over the world. During her freshman year at Michigan Technological University, she met Johannes to whom she has been married since 1983. They have two children, Toby (who is a student at Michigan Tech) and Kari (a senior in high school). Jody and her family love to travel, especially to Norway to see Grandma and Papa in the summer and to Orlando in the winter for fun in the sun at Walt Disney World. It is Jody’s heartfelt desire to help the churches be everything that God has called them to be.

Kari Griebel

Assistant to the Office Administrator