Merle Miller, Senior Pastor
merleacc@gmail.com  
I was born and raised in Montrose, Colorado.  My parents' humor and the country setting offered me a very happy childhood. I was "all boy", with boundless curiosity and energy to match. Near the close of my sophomore year of high school, a lifelong friend invited me to attend his church's youth group, and I was soon enjoying Sunday School and church services.  In a short time, I began to consider Christ's invitation, and I eagerly accepted Him, giddy with delight on the day of my baptism.  That summer I "discovered" Camp Christian, which also had a profound influence on my growing values and future plans.  I attended Camp every summer for five years, intentionally making jobs and other activities take second place to the Camp schedule, a choice I have never regretted. In my second year at Camp I met Judy (Hertzke).  I am still, some forty years later, dumbstruck that someone so pretty, popular, talented, witty, and wonderful as she would come to love me, but she did. Following a courtship that extended through the rest of high school and several years of college, we were married in December, 1968.  We have been blessed with three children and four grandchildren. Careers since college have included Bible-college teaching, selling cars and preaching.  I have also owned a small used-car dealership and have operated a home-based computer programming business.

The "things you might not have guessed" category would probably include these:  took a solo 950 mile cross-country bicycle trip; won trips to Denver, Dallas, Detroit, and Hawaii, along with a new Corvette and a new Grand Am, in sales contests sponsored by General Motors; taught Greek for 5 years; won a recording contract singing with a college quartet. In conclusion, you might wonder whether I have ever been hurt, hindered, held back, harmed, hampered, harried, hassled, humbled, misused, mistreated, delayed, denied, detained, defeated, distressed, depressed, repressed, arrested, impeded, short-sheeted, or blind-sided. Well, yes, I have.  But who in his right mind would want to write about it?  And who in his right mind would want to read it?

Cody Long, Associate Pastor
codyacc@gmail.com
I was born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado. I graduated from Fruita Monument High School in 1999 and attended Mesa State College in Grand Junction from 1999 to 2001 as a major in Music Education. I left Mesa State College to pursue a career as a Music Minister at Northeast Christian Church. It was at Northeast Church that I met my beautiful wife, Summer! We moved to Lakewood, CO in 2003 where we both went back to school. Summer graduated from the Red Rocks Community College Physician Assistant Program with a Master's Degree in Medical Science. I graduated from Colorado Christian University with a BA in Biblical Studies. We moved back to Grand Junction in 2006 where we both now live and work. My hobbies include music (guitar, trumpet, vocals) and biblical studies. It is a pleasure to be serving here at Appleton Christian Church where I perform a number of tasks, such as preaching, teaching, leading music, and best of all, heading-up our student ministry, ACCelerate!

Kathy Messamer, Secretary
kathyacc@gmail.com
My family and I were transplanted to Colorado in 1995 after living over 40 years in Iowa. My husband, Kelly, and I were married on a cold day (January 11, 1980) in Iowa. Our family includes three grown sons, Keith, Kyle and Kevin, along with Kevin's wife, Trinity . We began attending ACC in August of 1998 after searching for a church home. Kelly and I are the core leaders for the Heritage of Jacob Peru Mission in Huanuco, Peru.
My job description as church secretary includes a number of tasks, such as answering phones, overseeing publications such as our weekly bulletin and monthly newsletter: The Apple Press, editing of text, audio, and video files for distribution, and, most difficult of all, keeping our two ministers in line!