ABOUT US

Progress Through Purposeful Leadership

For the past fifteen years, Grace in Action has partnered with WELS affiliated ministries and created services specifically tailored to your leadership needs. Our team understands the unique challenges facing called workers and lay leaders and brings a proven set of tools to guide your ministry journey.

Meet Our Team

With a proven, strengths-based approach applied to Christian ministries, we enable individuals to identify their goals, empower their teams, and move their ministry forward.

Pastor Sutton serves as Board Chairman and adjunct leadership trainer with Grace in Action. He has been a parish pastor since 1979 serving both missions and large, established congregations. Until his retirement from parish ministry in 2021, he served as Ministry Coordinator at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, MN. In addition to his role as a parish pastor, he has been a leader at the circuit, district, and synodical levels. Pastor Sutton not only has a passion for ministry, but also for planning and helping leaders to be the best that they can be to God’s glory as they lead fellow Christians in carrying out the Great Commission. His specialties are Great Commission Leadership, strategic planning, team building, and CliftonStrengths.

Pastor Don Sutton

Board Chairman

Dr. Todd Russ serves as Executive Director. He joined the Grace in Action team fulltime in 2022 after serving on the Board of Directors. He has spent 31 years in K-12 school leadership and education with ministry stops in Florida (Ocean Drive, Pompano Beach), Colorado (Shepherd of the Valley, Westminster), Wisconsin (Pilgrim, Menomonee Falls) and most recently, Minnesota, at St. Croix Lutheran Academy. These ministry opportunities have shaped the way that Dr. Russ sees organizations and ministry. The people, leaders, vision, and operational structures impact the ability of a ministry to seize opportunities for Gospel proclamation. His experiences at St. Croix Lutheran Academy shaped how he views culture. He is passionate about helping the body of Christ see and value differences within its members. He and his wife Sara have two children on earth and one awaiting them in heaven. His specialties include: team building, leadership development, and strategic planning.

Dr. Todd Russ

Executive Director

Shawn brings a wealth of experience in Christian education, with over 25 years of experience as a teacher, principal, coach, and administrator. Having seen the challenges and burn-out that teachers and faith-based organizations face, he is passionate about helping others build a balanced, three-legged stool of spiritual, emotional, and physical health, so they can serve God and others with increased strength, joy, and resilience.
Shawn is a great listener and is one of those people who doesn’t just give advice, he lives it. As a certified Christian Leadership Coach, he knows the importance of putting on his own oxygen mask before helping others. He’s created a Personal Resiliency Plan and loves to help others create theirs as well. If you work with Shawn or one of his coaches, you will learn the difference between “positive stress” and “negative stress” and how to navigate both your challenges and opportunities with a toolkit in place. If you’ve ever wondered if a supportive (and challenging) coach could help you perform better, or if you could just use some encouragement from someone who has been in the trenches like you, reach out to Shawn – he’d love to listen, provide Christian encouragement, and answer your questions.
Strengths: Competition, Significance, Learner, Achiever, Focus

Shawn Herkstroeter

Director of Coaching

Greg Schmill has been a WELS teacher/administrator for over forty years, having served a total of thirteen years as principal and upper grade teacher in Delano, Minnesota, and in Maitland, Florida. He has also served as a teacher, guidance director, and assistant principal at Manitowoc Lutheran High School for fourteen years. He next served as the synod’s Forward with Lutheran Schools (FWLS) educational consultant, where he worked with congregations to begin and strengthen full-time children’s ministries. He continued synodical service for five more years as the Director of the Commission on Lutheran Schools (CLS). His passion for supporting and encouraging WELS school and church leaders led him to accept the call to begin serving with Grace in Action. He develops and delivers leadership training and coaching support for WELS/ELS pastors, principals, and ministry leadership teams. His specialties include team building, spiritual-emotional-physical health and resiliency, CliftonStrengths, leadership/life coaching, communications, and service to multi-generations.

Greg Schmill

Facilitator & Leadership Coach

Steve Granberg, before joining the GIA team, spent over 30 years serving as principal for two Lutheran Elementary Schools and for two Area Lutheran High Schools. Steve's ministry background includes urban and outlying district experiences as well as service in the "heartland." He enjoys serving the church at large, assisting with district and synod work - including twelve years of service on the WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools. He appreciates all he has learned from servant-leaders throughout his ministry years, and he is blessed to be able to support leaders and leadership teams in their work to reach and teach the lost and to grow and encourage the found. Steve's wife Leslie teaches at a Lutheran Elementary School, and they have three grown children.

Steven Granberg

Chuqee Fletcher

Ministry Leadership Partner

Chuqee Fletcher serves as Director of Cultural Competency with Grace in Action. He has a variety of previous ministry experience having served as a lay leader at Garden Homes Lutheran Church and on staff at Lighthouse Youth Center, both are in Milwaukee. He also currently serves as the Director of School Culture and Outreach at Shining Star Christian Schools. He graduated from Martin Luther College in 2012 and Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2017, receiving his MA in Education with an emphasis in Leadership & Innovation. His passions include cultural diversity, outreach, sports, and youth development. He and his wife Erika, who teaches at Garden Homes Lutheran School, live in Milwaukee and have four children.
Shawn is a great listener and is one of those people who doesn’t just give advice, he lives it. As a certified Christian Leadership Coach, he knows the importance of putting on his own oxygen mask before helping others. He’s created a Personal Resiliency Plan and loves to help others create theirs as well. If you work with Shawn or one of his coaches, you will learn the difference between “positive stress” and “negative stress” and how to navigate both your challenges and opportunities with a toolkit in place. If you’ve ever wondered if a supportive (and challenging) coach could help you perform better, or if you could just use some encouragement from someone who has been in the trenches like you, reach out to Shawn – he’d love to listen, provide Christian encouragement, and answer your questions.
Strengths: Competition, Significance, Learner, Achiever, Focus

Director of Cultural Competency

Peter Wolfgramm serves as Administrator and Presenter with Grace in Action. He has a variety of ministry experience having served as a teacher or staff minister in several congregations throughout the midwest since 1996. His passions for ministry include outreach, youth, Bible study, and organizing events. He and his wife Missy live in Appleton, Wisconsin, and have a college age son.

Peter Wolfgramm

Director of Operations

Stephanie Janke brings over 20 years of professional experience in coaching and human resources. She graduated from Drake University in 2003, and in 2013 earned her Masters in Education with an emphasis in Athletic Administration from Northcentral University. She currently serves as the Director of Human Resources for Gustave A. Larson Company, a Wholesale HVAC/R Distribution organization with 500 team members across 16 states. She enjoys golf, working out, and supporting her children in their various school and sport activities. She and her husband live in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and have three children.

Stephanie Janke

Jamie Walta

Ministry Coach

Jamie Walta graduated from Martin Luther College in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. She is passionate about early childhood education, and has spent the last 14 years as a dedicated preschool director and teacher. She is currently serving as the Early Childhood Director at Faith Lutheran School in Fond du Lac, WI. She was blessed to meet her husband Kris at Martin Luther College, and the two have been married since 2001. Together, they have three loving children: a college son currently attending MLC, and two high school daughters enrolled at Winnebago Lutheran Academy. In addition to her professional work, Jamie enjoys reading, hiking, exercising, and traveling. In the past, she has served as an NTI mentor through Martin Luther College, and now looks forward to coaching and supporting others in ministry through Grace In Action. Her love for connecting with people and hearing their stories fuels her passion for sharing Jesus and walking alongside others in their ministry journeys.
Shawn is a great listener and is one of those people who doesn’t just give advice, he lives it. As a certified Christian Leadership Coach, he knows the importance of putting on his own oxygen mask before helping others. He’s created a Personal Resiliency Plan and loves to help others create theirs as well. If you work with Shawn or one of his coaches, you will learn the difference between “positive stress” and “negative stress” and how to navigate both your challenges and opportunities with a toolkit in place. If you’ve ever wondered if a supportive (and challenging) coach could help you perform better, or if you could just use some encouragement from someone who has been in the trenches like you, reach out to Shawn – he’d love to listen, provide Christian encouragement, and answer your questions.
Strengths: Competition, Significance, Learner, Achiever, Focus

Our Board of Directors

OFFICERS

Pastor Don Sutton - Chairman
New Ulm, MN

Jay Johnson - Vice Chairman
Sarasota, FL

Mark Schulz - Secretary
Milton, WI

Nate Birkholz - Treasurer
Rochester, MN

MEMBERS

Ron Hillmann
Watertown, WI

Stephanie Janke
Fond du Lac, WI

Phil Punzel
Holmen, WI

Art Westphal
Mankato, MN

Leah Brekken
Thornton, CO

Lyle Fahning
Prior Lake, MN

Pastor Jeff Gunn
Frankfort, IL

Sarah Harstad
Mankato, MN

Ministry Partners

Grace in Action partners with CrossTrain Ministries to provide life, leadership, and marriage coaching for WELS pastors and missionaries. CrossTrain helps pastors build healthy habits and transparent relationships that foster resilience—all grounded in God’s grace and brotherly support.

Our business partner, Partner2Learn, serves business teams and other non-WELS groups with coaching, consulting, leadership training, and resources.

“The Traction / VTO tool and Level 10 meetings have helped to make the goals and initiatives clear and hold us accountable to keep us on track with what we identified as most important to our purpose – rather than regret not making progress.”

★★★★★

– VERIFIED CLIENT