MINISTRY TEAM
Senior Pastor
Rev. Wayne Puls
Pastor Wayne Puls has served as Grace’s Senior Pastor since August 2024. He and his wife, Colleen, have five grown children and seven extremely cute grandchildren, all of whom live in New York City and Long Island. Before coming to Grace, Pastor Puls served as Senior Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest NC (2012-2024), and as Assistant Pastor (1986-1988) and Senior Pastor (1988-2012) at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hicksville NY. After graduating from Concordia College in Ann Arbor MI (BA, 1980), and Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne IN (M.Div., 1984), Pastor Puls served as Religion Instructor at Martin Luther High School in Maspeth, Queens NY and as Youth Pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Flushing, Queens NY (1984-86). His vicarage year was spent at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bayside, Queens NY (1982-83). Pastor Puls grew up in Fraser MI, and was raised in the faith at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Clinton Township MI.
Assistant Pastor
Rev. Dr. Young-Shik Yun
Education
BA | Chongshin University | Seoul, South Korea
MDiv. | Presbyterian Theological Seminary | Seoul, South Korea
ThM. | Western Theological Seminary | Holland, MI
PhD. | Concordia Theological Seminary | Fort Wayne, IN
Missiology
Pastor Yun was born in South Korea and was not raised in the Christian faith. Korean culture views all religion superstition and is looked down upon and most people are agnostic at best. While studying for high school entrance exams, he visited a childhood friend, a high school student in Seoul, who was a faithful Presbyterian, who brought him into the church. He was a confessing Christian within two years. He was a pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, until moving with his family to the United States in 1992, to enter into graduate education and work on obtaining American citizenship as a family.
During doctoral studies, he became a Lutheran due to new depths of research on the Lord’s Supper. He was called from doctoral studies to become associate pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield, VA. He currently also serves as Adjunct Professor of Missiology at the Neil T. Jones Seminary at Washington University of Virginia in Annandale, VA.
Pastor Yun is married to Jung Sook Han and they proudly have two sons, Ethan, a medical doctor in North Carolina, and Ryan, a recent graduate of James Madison University in Public Policy. Ethan and his wife, Amie, have two children. The Yun family resides locally in Woodbridge, VA.
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As Assistant Pastor, Pastor Yun is primarily involved in visitation ministry and evangelism efforts at Grace. He also often teaches adult Bible class.
Pastor Yun has been called to Grace Lutheran Church since 2019.
Deacon
Dan Buer
Education
B.A. | Mayville State University | Mayville, ND
Sociology; Coaching
MBA | Central Michigan University | Mount Pleasant, MI
Strategic Leadership
Deacon Dan was born in Rugby, North Dakota and was raised in the Lutheran Church. He has served in the US Army for 31 years.
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Deacon Buer has been married to Charity Faith since 1999 and has three children: Kayla (husband Mathew Klein), Ava, and Lincoln, as well as three grandchildren: Chase, Oliver, and Maxine. His hobbies include weight training, track and field, running, and teaching Sunday School.
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Deacon Buer's favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13: I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
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Dan was Commissioned as a Deacon and Installed at Grace in 2022.
Deacon
Tadesse Alemayehu
Education
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Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in Orthopedic Surgery – Gondar College of Medical Sciences & Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
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International Fellowship & Scholarships – SICOT (Assiut University, Egypt) and AAOS (Rosemont, USA)
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Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) – Strayer University, Virginia, USA
I was born in Asmara and raised in a devout Orthodox Christian household. In my teenage years, despite the harsh restrictions of Ethiopia’s communist regime, my sisters and I began attending a nearby Lutheran church. When one of my sisters was imprisoned for her faith, our parents forbade us from returning. Yet, by the grace of God, I came to faith and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1992. Since then, I have remained active in church ministry, especially in choir and prayer groups.
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I am blessed to share life with my beloved wife, Eyerusalem Mengesha. Together, we are the proud parents of our daughter, Kalkidan Tadesse—a Registered Nurse and worship leader at Word of Life Assembly of God in Springfield, Virginia. On June 22, 2025, our family experienced a double blessing: we celebrated the birth of our grandson, Nahom, and my commissioning as a Deacon at Grace Lutheran Church.
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In addition to my medical career, I have been privileged to offer CPR, Basic Life Support (BLS), and First Aid training to members of Grace Lutheran Church—equipping them with the skills to serve their communities with competence and compassion. I also lead online Bible study and prayer groups and am the author of Planning Into Excellence, a book—now translated into Amharic—that explores the pursuit of excellence through knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual growth.
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My guiding scripture is Revelation 4:1: “Behold, a door standing open in heaven.”
Deacon Intern
Walter Coppeans III
