Memorial Lutheran Church Katy Staff
Rev. John Davis - Senior Pastor
Pastor John Davis grew up in the greater Houston area (No, he is not a native Texan, but he got here as fast as he could) and graduated from Cypress Creek High School in 1981, and from Texas A&M University with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1985. Upon graduation from college, he received his commission as an officer in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, he served as a surface warfare officer on board the USS Nicholson (DD-982), a destroyer home-ported in Charleston, South Carolina. Pastor Davis left the Navy in 1989 and enrolled at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. Upon completion of his studies, he was called to Memorial in Katy as associate pastor. He served in Katy for six years, then for eight years in Giddings, Texas at Immanuel Lutheran Church, until the Lord said it was time to come on back to Katy to serve as Senior Pastor.
Pastor Davis is blessed with a beautiful bride, Brenda (she is a native Texan!), as well as four children-Sarah (and husband Shawn), Laura, Hannah, and John. A self-avowed sports junkie, Pastor loves to play golf, coach little league, swim, and either do or watch most anything that can be seen on ESPN. However, his greatest passion is sharing the Good News of Jesus with others and helping them live the life of a disciple, so that the community of Christ might be extended in the heart of our community and beyond.
Rev. Dimas Jimenez - Hispanic Outreach Pastor
Pastor Dimas was born in Chorrera, West Panama in 1965. He was raised by his grandparents in Panama and was raised in the faith. Even from a young age, He took many leadership positions within the church. Through the encouragement of other pastors and missionaries, he enrolled in the Seminario Teologico Bautista de Panama in 1984. He graduated from the Seminario in 1989 and married his wife Ana Maria Sanchez de Jimenez on December 30th of the same year. He served in various pastoral positions in Panama from 1990 through 2001. In December of 2001, he and his family came to Houston to work with Mark Junkans to reach out to the hispanic population in the Houston area. Pastor Dimas now works hand in hand with Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy and the Lutheran Inner City Network Coalition to reach out to the Hispanic people in the area.
In addition to his wife Ana Maria, he has two sons whom he loves dearly, Dimas Ivan Jimenez Sanchez and Kabir Ivan Jimenez Sanchez. Pastor Dimas is a man of great joy and love for the Lord and wants nothing more than for others to know Jesus to have the same joy and love that he has for Jesus.
Vicar Ken Chitwood - Missions Director & ACTS Coordinator
Vicar Ken Chitwood is hard to pin down. Growing up in California he spent most of his time away from home either surfing, hiking or serving the Simi Valley homeless community or building homes in Mexico. As a DCE student at Concordia University Irvine Ken served for three years as Director of Youth Ministries at Mt. Hope Community Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. After graduating and getting married to his other 100% (Music Ministry Leader Elizabeth Chitwood), the pair took off to New Zealand for Ken's internship as a DCE with the Manawatu Lutheran Parish where Ken did youth ministry, oversaw children's ministry, taught adult education and was a missions coordinator working in New Zealand and North Sumatra, Indonesia. Following their time "Down Under," the Chitwoods found themselves in South Africa where Ken was a religious educator, community evangelist, leadership trainer and assisted with local worship services. Immediately before coming to Katy, Ken was Dir. of Family Ministry at Mountainview Lutheran in Apache Junction, AZ and Assistant Director of International Friendship House, an outreach to international students, at Arizona State University. In Houston, Vicar Chitwood serves as a mission coordinator and "pastoral intern" for Memorial and is the Director of the LINC Bible Institute, a mission training ministry of LINC Houston. He also blogs and writes for the religion section of the Houston Chronicle. Vicar Chitwood likes to run, bike, swim, read, write and no matter where you find him, he is passionate about extending the community of Christ!
Elizabeth Chitwood - Music Director
Elizabeth Chitwood is a 2007 graduate of Concordia University Irvine, CA, with a bachelor’s degree in parish music. She married her college sweetheart, Ken Chitwood, in June 2007. His DCE internship took them to New Zealand in July 2007 where Elizabeth served as Director of Worship for the Manawatu Lutheran Church. In March 2009, Elizabeth was invited to teach music at a Lutheran boarding school in Dirkiesdorp, South Africa. She and Ken spent six months there doing ministry with Zulu, Swazi and Zimbabwean youth. She took her first Call as Director of Music Ministries at Memorial Lutheran in Katy, Texas in 2010.
Elizabeth is excited to experience life as a “Texan” and to serve the Lord in music ministry with the members of Memorial and the surrounding community. She is currently a board member with the Houston Choristers Guild and sings in the alto 1 section of the Houston Symphony Chorus. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys hiking/backpacking with her husband Ken, playing and teaching piano, writing songs, hanging out with family and friends, taking her dog Pepper on walks, and photography.
Nathan Engman - DCE - Director of Youth & Family Discipleship
Nathan Engman is proud to say that he grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. (I hope you got the Merle Haggard reference.) He graduated from Muskogee High School in 1999, and from Concordia University Austin in 2005 with a Director of Christian Education degree. While studying at Concordia, he met his wonderful wife Sarah and they got married in the summer of 2005. Upon graduation from CUA, he served as a DCE intern here at Memorial Lutheran Church for that year. After the internship was over, he received and accepted the call to serve here as the Director of Youth Ministries in June of 2006. He has been serving here ever since.
He loves to be active and play sports. He especially loves playing Disc Golf. Give him a call if you ever want to go play a round or two. He also enjoys playing video games and reading when he has the time. His greatest passion though is being a disciple of Christ and encouraging high school and junior high students to be disciples as well. There is no greater joy for him than to watch God at work in the lives of these students. He is excited that as he follows Christ, he gets to be a part of extending Christ's community here in Katy.
April Ramsey - Director of Children's Ministries
April was born in El Paso, Texas and moved with her family to Katy when she was 13. She graduated from Katy High School in 2001 and went on to attend Concordia University in River Forest, IL. While there she studied Theology and Social Work and was part of the Deaconess Program. Her Deaconess internship was done with Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services in Watertown, Wisconsin where she served the chaplaincy department in their mission to individuals with developmental disabilities. She graduated in 2006 with her certification in Deaconess Studies and Majors in Theology and Social Work. Her first call was to Krause Children’s Residential Treatment Center operated by Lutheran Social Services of the South. At this center for child protective service and probation teenagers with emotional and behavioral disorders she served as their Spiritual Care Director. In 2010 she stepped down at Krause and went to become a teacher at Memorial Lutheran Pre-School where she taught Gross Motor and Jesus Story. This year she continues to serve the Pre-School as their Jesus Story Teacher and will also be assisting Memorial Lutheran Church with Children’s Ministry.
April married Patrick Ramsey in October of 2009. Some of her interests include sign language, music, horseback riding, reading, and playing games. In her free time she enjoys volunteering with ARC of Katy- a group who does outreach and day services with individuals with developmental disabilities. She also enjoys volunteering with S.I.R.E. a Therapeutic Riding Center in Hockley. She loves sharing the love of Christ with others through word and deed that they might know the joy and peace of their savior.
Jody Cook - Office Manager
Linda Stahmer - Preschool Director
Please visit our Preschool section to see our preschool staff .