Leadership
Lee Atkinson
Senior Pastor
Pastor Lee has been a member of Dyer Baptist since his teen years, and started serving in various roles as a young adult. After a few years of gracious transition, Pastor Lee assumed the role of Senior Pastor in January of 2018.
He has a deep and strong burden for Christian education and desires to see every age group growing in the knowledge of God. He is an avid student himself with advanced degrees in theology, science, and education.
The Lord led him to start the Plum Creek Christian Academy in 2006 as a way to train local children with strong academics within a biblical worldview. Dyer Baptist Bible Institute is a dream of his that is just being realized, as a way to edify adults in sound Biblical understanding and application.
Peter Knezevich
Associate Pastor
God led the Knezevich family to Dyer just after graduation from Bible College. Two weeks after getting married, Peter and Heather packed their belongings and left their native state of Oregon for a different sub-culture of America: the “Midwest.”
God has blessed Peter with a sharp and creative mind. He is never one to go along with the crowd, but rather thinks things through deliberately. He works with the teenagers, the children in Kids Church on Sundays, as well as teaches some middle school classes. With degrees in both Bible and technology, he also oversees the many technological components of our ministry. Peter has a deep love for people and is one of the most servant-minded individuals you will ever meet.
Paul Lerand
Music/Media Director
Paul juggles a lot of responsibilities between the Academy and the Church. He loves the creative arts and oversees most of the artistic aspects of ministry. God has gifted him with the ability to foster worship through music and singing, and he enjoys directing the music program at the church including congregational singing, choirs, and orchestra.
Paul ends up designing most of the visual material for the ministry. On the Academy side he oversees the fine arts department, teaches classes and private lessons, and designs yearbooks and promotional material. But, no matter how many tasks Paul has to complete, you’ll always finding him taking time to reach out to people with a smile on his face and a deep concern for their well-being.
David Dang
Student Ministries Director
God led David to our ministry in 2013 when he came to America to work on a masters degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University. A few years later while working on his doctorate, David began to develop an increasing desire to devote his life to full-time service, so he went to Moody Bible Institute and completed a masters degree in biblical studies.
David has a deep love for others and places high priority on relationships. He teaches Bible in our school, leads our Wednesday night ESL program, a Sunday afternoon school for children learning Mandarin, and also our Chinese-language class on Sunday morning. He has a tremendous love for the international students at Purdue and spends significant time in individual Bible studies. He also works extensively on translating our Bible Institute classes so that they can be used in his native land.
Jody Carman
Secretary
Jody was a successful manager for McDonald’s corporation when the need opened up for a lead secretary at Dyer Baptist. Since May of 1995 she has used her tremendous skills and AMAZING ability to get things done to keep our ministry organized. An office without Jody would be like a motor without oil!
Jody has a tremendous love for people, and constantly gives of herself to serve others. She is one of the first teachers our toddlers have, and she takes that role very seriously. She is a wonderful seamstress, and has an amazing gift for writing puppet plays for our children!