Meet our staff


  • Pastor, Becca Jordan-Irwin

    Becca feels privileged to serve Elizabeth Presbyterian Church, a deeply devoted fellowship of believers desiring to honor God in everything they do and say; she loves their passion to reach out to the community with the love of Christ. Becca was raised in Colorado and attended the University of Colorado in Boulder before heading to Pasadena, California to attend Fuller Theological Seminary where she earned her Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry. As part of her education, she spent a semester in London, England, studying with John Stott, covering Christian Foundation, Mission, Discipleship, World View, and Bible Interpretation. 


    Ordained in April of 1990, Becca has served seven different congregations in various roles.  She and her husband Dave co-pastored two churches over nineteen years. Becca is familiar with ministering in urban, suburban, and rural communities, so she is excited to serve in Elizabeth with its rapidly changing demographics. Becca loves to minister in the local church, leading worship, preaching, teaching, Bible studies, small groups, and pastoral care.  Her international mission service is also an asset to her pastoral ministry, as her life and faith have been deeply impacted by those who have been traumatized by war and violence. Through Charizomai International (in partnership with Care Corps), Becca has personally had the opportunity to minister to people groups around the globe. She has worked with former child soldiers and child sex slaves in Uganda as well as those impacted by war and violence in Lebanon and Turkey (Syrian refugees), Jordan (Iraqi refugees), Brazil, Rwanda, Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. She feels it a privilege to serve alongside the National leaders in each country, training the leadership in trauma care principles so they can continue their ministry to the hurting and broken in their communities. 


    Becca and her husband Dave (pastor at Monument Community Presbyterian Church) enjoy spending time with their daughter Kristy and son Jeremy and his wife Heather. Skiing, hiking, Korean dramas, walking their dogs, and going to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to pet the Giraffe’s are some of their favorite activities. 

  • Pastor, Pat Russell, Spiritual Direction and Prayer

    Around 2010 Pat and Larry Russell began attending Elizabeth Presbyterian Church.  They have lived in the Franktown area since 1991, having returned from a 10-year ministry assignment ministering to the American military youth stationed in Germany.  Pat and Larry, with their 2 dogs, enjoy living in a wooded “Sanctuary” where Pat gardens, cares for creation in their “back yard,” writes, and meets with individuals in her “she-shed” affectionately known as “My Hiding Place.”

    Pat has a Master of Education and in 2004 she graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology.  She also completed the Certificate for Spiritual Direction from Denver Seminary, and in 2012 she completed the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation.  Pat has formally given spiritual direction since 1990 however, for most of her life she has met with individuals to talk about their life in Christ.  Another aspect of her ministry is accompanying those who are dealing with sickness as she has experienced cancer and heart issues in her life.

    Pat served as an Assistant Pastor in the presbyterian church. In that setting she was available for spiritual direction and pastoral care, teaching in spiritual formation, and preaching. As well, she has had an international teaching ministry in spiritual formation in China and India.
    Her Christian spiritual formation premise is, “I believe that as individuals reflect upon their lives in Christ, the Lord will make himself known through discerning hearts and minds.  His Spirit is present with us and desires to commune whether it is through words, silence, prayer, or Scripture.”

  • Pastor, CJ Biewenga, CLP

    CJ is a longtime Elder at EPC and has completed the Lay Pastor Program of Denver Presbytery.

    He attended Fuller Seminary in Colorado Springs. His deep interest of the history of the early church often flavors his sermons. He strives to use the historical context of the scripture to add additional meaning and depth to his sermons.

  • MIKE BANTA, Worship Pastor

    Mike is a graduate from Texas Christian University and has a master’s degree from Brite Divinity School. He also served for decades as a Contemporary Christian musician, touring the world and recording with Don Francisco and many other Christian artists. Along with preaching, Mike is an Elder in our Church, and also leads contemporary praise and worship in our services. His sermons and music are rooted in a deep faith in Christ and His grace, love and mercy to all peoples.

  • JOHN DAHM, DIRECTOR OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC

    John has been involved with music for well over 60 years, as a music teacher, choral singer, saxophonist, choir director and even instrument repairman. His teaching career spanned 50 years. He sang tenor with the Colorado Chorale for 10 years. He also founded and led the High Plains Singers, producing popular Spring and Christmas concerts for the Elizabeth community for over two decades. He has now directed the EPC traditional choir for longer than anyone can remember, and here is his comment about that: “At age 102, it’s still fun!”

  • CLARK HAGAN, PRAISE TEAM LEADER AND SOUND ENGINEER

    Clark is a Colorado born, Grammy Award winning producer/engineer and a master of the recording arts. Clark moved to Nashville in 1993 where he had the opportunity to work with the legendary Chet Atkins. During his time with Chet, Clark engineered “Jam Man” which won the Grammy for Best Country Instrumental in 1996. That success led to work with other top Nashville artists including Ray Stevens and Bryan White. Clark has been a musician and follower of Jesus his whole life. He’s also the proud owner of one of Chet’s guitars, which he sometimes plays when he rocks the house at EPC.

  • DONNA WINCHELL, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECH SUPPORT

    Donna is a proud third generation Colorado native and has loved Elizabeth since she and her husband built their home here 30 years ago. By the grace of God, Donna was drawn to Elizabeth Presbyterian Church and the support of a strong church family after her husband passed away in 2018. Since then, EPC has been nothing short of a blessing to her, and has provided numerous opportunities for her to use God’s spiritual gifts in service to the church.


    Her management career spanned 35 years in Banking, Business Process Outsourcing and Telecommunication operations; and her passion is technology and learning new things. This combination has allowed Donna to support church communications with worship bulletin and newsletter creations, email blasts and communication and outreach projects. She has enjoyed building and maintaining a church database that functions as a source for our congregational directory, working closely with our technical team for live-streaming services and maintaining the church’s website pages.


    When not with her church family, Donna enjoys spending time with her grown children, grandchildren and five great grand babies; reading, walking and taking on-line classes.  

  • Patricia Mersich, Office Support

    Patricia was born in San Francisco, CA. Her husband, Ed, was born in New Jersey. Ed was in the Navy for four years then went to work for AT&T Communication in San Francisco and Patricia worked for Southern Pacific Railroad. They were transferred to Denver, CO in 1993 and lived in Centennial for 9 years. Patricia and Ed both retired in 1998 and moved to Elizabeth in 2002. They have two children Nathaniel and Nicole. Nathaniel has four stepchildren and lives in Wyoming. Patricia enjoys their occasional sleepovers. Nicole and her daughter, Emma, live in Denver. Patricia also enjoys Nicole and Emma’s sleepovers, which happily can occur more often.


    Patricia has attended EPC since 2002 and volunteers in the church office. She supports printing and assembly of the weekly worship service documents and maintains multiple pieces of office equipment. Patricia tracks and orders supplies to assure the office runs smoothly and is instrumental in sorting incoming mail and correspondence. She is the point person for scheduling greeters for each service and defines communion server teams each month.


    Patricia also volunteers at the EPC food bank and is a member of the Red Hat Society.

  • Zane Bauerle, Youth Leader and Soundboard Tech

    Zane is a Colorado native and lived in Elizabeth for 18 years before moving to Aurora. He has been going to Elizabeth Presbyterian Church since he was a kid along with his dad and stepmom and recently introduced his fiancé to the church. He works the sound system every Sunday during church services for both in-person congregation and anyone who is watching at home. Zane is one of the lead members of the church’s youth Sunday school program.