Meet Candice Wassell and Sherman Lee, the new Co-EDs of The Crossings Community. In this case, Co-ED means Co-Executive Director. They were appointed by the board at its January meeting to share this part-time position. They began work officially on March 1, 2018.
Sherman is an adult convert to Christianity. A software engineer, working for a large brokerage firm in St. Louis, he became a youth counselor not long after his baptism. After three years he reported feeling some burnout with youth work and answered the invitation to attend a Crossings workshop. Eventually, he co-led workshops with Crossings founder Ed Schroeder. He said Crossings provided the theological depth he needed to continue in his ministry.
Candice was going through a difficult period in her life when she heard her pastor say, “Christ absorbs the critique of the cross.” The words stuck with her and led her to seek out her pastor, Ron Neustadt, a former Crossings board member, for conversation. She earned her MDiv from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013 and currently serves Faith Lutheran Church in O’Fallon, IL.
Candice and Sherman have a working synergy developed over years of friendship from the time Candice served her internship at Bethel Lutheran Church in University City, MO where Sherman is a member. They inspire each other and hold one another accountable as Sherman sees the big picture and Candice asks the practical questions.
Their immediate goals include working to get all Crossings does for people in a more effective way; increasing the audience to include a younger generation; and continued friend making and audience building. All of this is in order to widen the appeal of Crossings, in Candice’s words “to share the absolute goodness of law/gospel theology.”
Candice married Kevin Eiler last October. He is a theology professor at Fontbonne University in St. Louis. They met 5 years ago on match.com, which Candice “highly recommends for you single, middle-aged preachers!” They live together with her two teen-aged children from a previous marriage.
Sherman met his wife, Denise Bonzon, after he filled in for her chaperoning youth on a ski trip from a neighboring church where she was a youth counselor. They took a semester-long Crossings class together, which he refers to as their pre-marital counseling. They have two adult children.
Sherman and Candice are delighted with the enthusiasm for Crossings they have encountered from those they have met in their first months on the job. They are encouraged by peoples’ loyalty and willingness to volunteer.
Candice and Sherman will have a regular column to future newsletters. You can contact them at candice.wassell@crossings.org and sherman.lee@crossings.org.
Connect with Crossings on their website www.crossings.org and on Facebook.