​

Pastor Lance Irey and Janet have been together for over 40 years and have been partners in ministry for most of that time. Robin, their amazing daughter, is attending Parsons in New York studying architecture, which is Pastor’s original career and he still happens to dabble in it.

​

Pastor Lance was born and raised in the Lutheran Church; well not actually in the church, but  attended St. Paul’s Lutheran in Northville, Michigan from K-8 grade.  He then attended a public high school and graduated with honors in 1979.  He discovered a love for Architectural drafting in high school and has been employed in the construction industry for over 40 years (his day job).  When Pastor and Janet moved to Houston, Texas in 1980, they landed at Christ Memorial Lutheran Church and were very active for 9 years.  Pastor and Janet  were married in 1984 [the year the Tigers won the World Series]. They were then transferred to Southern California in 1989 and worshiped at Faith Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach for 13 years.

 

Over 20 years ago, they wanted to have Robin in a Lutheran school. With the connection between church and school so important, they transferred church membership to Christ Lutheran Church & School. Robin went there from preschool to 8th grade and then attended Lutheran High School of Orange County.

 

Almost immediately, Pastor Strubbe encouraged us to become active in the Christ Care, a small group ministry, and they both became trained as Christ Care leaders. God then lead Pastor to the Lay Leadership Training Program, available through our church’s district. After completing an extensive course of study, he was commissioned as a Deacon on Father’s Day of 2005. For many years, he felt God calling him into deeper ministry. While many people closest to him encouraged him to become a pastor, like Jonah, he ran the other way. When the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program became available, God whispered into his heart once again, and this time, after much prayer and discussion with Janet, family, and God, he  answered the call and applied to the SMP program. Pastor was Ordained on January 22, 2012.

​

Pastor and Janet came to Trinity in June 2015 where a revitalization effort has been ongoing. They both have been active in the Lutheran Cursillo community since 1996, which helps develop church leaders using a 3 day retreat program. Another area of ministry Pastor and Janet are very active in, is addiction recovery. Pastor has been sober for over 20 years and has been leading A.A. meetings (A.R.K. =Advancing Recovery in the Kingdom) in Costa Mesa for over 10 years. They also participate in Credo Recovery of Southern California, which is a Christ-centered 3 day retreat program for the last 2 years.