Pastors
Mitch Kim
Senior Pastor
Mitch has served as senior pastor at Wellspring from its beginning in 2015. He began ministry in 1994 at Korean West Alliance Church, which birthed Living Water Alliance Church in 2011, which merged with Blanchard Alliance to become Wellspring. He was born to Korean immigrant parents, grew up in Japan, studied philosophy at Wheaton (B.A.), ministry at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.Div.), and biblical theology at Wheaton College Graduate School (M.A., Biblical Exegesis; Ph.D.). With G. K. Beale he wrote God Dwells Among Us, a biblical theology of mission from creation to new creation. He has also taught at Wheaton College. He lives in Naperville with his wife, Eunsil, and has three daughters: Elise, Ana, and Eden.
James Lee
Youth Pastor
James has been serving in youth ministry since 2001, primarily in the immigrant church. His passion is to see youth know and experience Jesus Christ as they have opportunities to exercise their faith in evangelism, service, and leadership. He majored in English-Literature at Loyola University in Chicago. James and his wife, Sandy, are the proud parents of Ruth, Karsten, and Jeremiah.
Kathy Woods
Pastor of Children’s and Family Ministries
Kathy joined the Wellspring staff in April of 2019, after having joyfully ministered with children at Christ Church of Oak Brook. Prior to her work with children, Kathy loved teaching and leading women in Bible Study Fellowship which led her to pursue her Master’s degree in Christian Formation from Wheaton Graduate School in 2012. Before her calling into ministry, Kathy enjoyed making a child’s visit to the dentist, super fun! Kathy is enthusiastic about bringing people of all ages together for formational journeys towards loving Jesus and becoming more and more like him. Kathy lives in Wheaton and enjoys her two grown children and her fun, new son-in-law.
Staff
Heather Mroz
Worship Director
Heather joined the Wellspring staff in May 2022. She has been playing the piano on and off worship teams since high school and has a B.M. in Sacred Music from Evangel College. She is passionate about drawing closer to Jesus through musical worship and bringing music teams together in community. She loves spending time with her husband Marc and four kids and drinking coffee.
Paula Schrad
Director of Administration & HR
Paula joined the Wellspring staff in January 2022. She has a wide variety of professional experiences that give her a unique perspective on working with people, teams, and organizations. She began her career teaching inner city students in Milwaukee and then went on to obtain a Masters Degree in Counseling from Gordon Conwell Seminary. Since that time she has worked as a family counselor at The Meadows, a Trainer/Consultant at an educational reform not-for-profit organization, as Senior Vice President of Organizational Development at a local ministry-focused fundraising agency, and as a private practice therapist. She is passionate about loving others well, building healthy teams, and empowering others to live more fully into who God created them to be. Paula loves to travel, bake, and spend time with her husband Greg and their favorite labradoodle, Dusty.
