Who We Are
We are a body of believers in southern Johnson County who seek to glorify God by making disciples for Christ. We have been blessed to call nine faithful men as pastors, seven serving the local church and two as foreign missionary pastors.Pastors
We believe that pastors are charged by God with the responsibility to serve as shepherds under Jesus Christ in His church. Their responsibility, as laid out in scripture, is to shepherd, guide, and protect the flock. As overseers, they are to superintend, guard, and provide directive care for the church. As elders, they are to manage, lead, represent, and govern the church. The care that these men show for God’s people is primarily spiritual.
God has blessed Countryside with a group of pastors who are faithful to their God-given call. We are thankful for them and for the grace God has shown in their lives.

Mike Summers
Lead Teaching Pastor
Preaching • Counseling • Journey to Judea • Deacons • Deaf Ministry

Scott Nicoll
Associate Pastor
Church Administration • Pastoral Care • Greeters • Security Team • Fellowship Table Ministry

Bryan Neal
Associate Pastor
Children’s Ministries • Missions Ministry • Men’s Bible Study • Adult Bible Classes

Otto Skoog
Associate Pastor
Bible Institute • Teacher Training • Young Adult Class • Men’s Ministries • Women’s Ministries

Michael Summers
Associate Pastor
Worship Ministry • Resource Center • Technology Ministries • Gateway Ministry • Internships • Pastoral Residency

Philip Johnson
Associate Pastor
Student Ministries • Newcomer Fellowship Ministry



Brian Warne
Missionary Pastor - Mexico
Mexico Churches • Foreign Missions • Spanish Bible Institute
Deacons
We believe that deacons are called by God and confirmed by the local church to serve the body. These men care for the physical needs of God’s people. God has blessed Countryside with a group of deacons who faithfully serve our church members. Deacons serve on one of three focus teams: Building & Grounds, Body Needs, and Finance & Budget.
Chairman
Bill Bucher
Vice Chairman
Travis Jacobs
Building & Grounds
Beau Lynch (Lead)
Greg Allen
Kenny Cook
Joshua Johansen
TK Fujimoto
Cam Rucker
David Smith
Josh Threlfall
Tommy Trendel
Body Needs
Steve Johnson (Lead)
Warren Bailey
Rob Brown
Ron Craven
Travis Jacobs
Scott Jensen
Jesse Maxwell
Jonathan Slaven
John Ruhl
Dalton Wiens
Mark Yurosko
Finance & Budget
Ryan Bucher (Lead)
Harvey Amos
Bill Bucher
Caleb Bucher
Curt Hemphill
Dave Lammers-Meis
Ryan Lynch
Andrew Roggow
Paul Taulborg
Dr. Mike Summers
Lead Teaching Pastor
Mike Summers started Countryside as a small church plant in 1989. For more than 33 years, he has shepherded the church through many different seasons of growth and change. While pastoring and leading, Mike earned both his masters and doctoral degrees from the former Northland University in Wisconsin.
Currently, Mike serves as the lead teaching pastor at Countryside. Outside the primary responsibilities of studying and preaching, he also spends much of his time counseling with families, couples, and individuals. He is the head of our Journey to Judea ministry, overseeing the many teams and group leads. Mike also speaks at conferences, events, and retreats. He has written two books: Help! My Spouse Has Been Unfaithful and Life In Christ: A New Disciple’s Guide To Following Jesus. He has been married to Karen since 1982 and has 6 children and 14 grandchildren.
Scott Nicoll
Associate Pastor
Scott and his wife Dori have been at Countryside since 1990. A graduate of Calvary Bible College, Scott served as our youth pastor for 20 years. He has more recently transitioned to a different role, providing more pastoral care for the entire body by overseeing the small group ministry, funeral ministry, and being available for “filling in gaps” as needed. He enjoys preaching, teaching, and visiting folks in the hospital and in their homes, as well. Scott was also employed by the KCMO fire department until his retirement in 2016.
The Nicolls have four married adult children, four precious granddaughters and three awesome grandsons. Scott enjoys spending time with his family, going on hikes with the love of his life, riding ATVs, traveling, and watching most sporting events.
Bryan Neal
Associate Pastor
Bryan Neal came to Countryside in June of 1994 and served as an Adult Sunday School teacher and deacon for 10 years. In 2004, he was called by God and the church to serve as an Associate Pastor at Countryside and has continued to serve in that role. Bryan received his bachelor’s degree in Bible and Christian Education from Citadel Bible College in 1986 and taught in Christian schools for three years before beginning a much less stressful career as an Air Traffic Controller in 1990. He retired from the FAA in 2012 after 23 years of service.
Currently, Bryan serves as the associate pastor who primarily oversees the children’s ministries at Countryside. These include Sunday School, C.H.O.W., Tiny Trackers, Power Pack, JYG, Vacation Bible School, and his favorite, Junior Camp. Bryan has been married to Kathy since 1983 and enjoys not living on a farm but in a maintenance-provided community. He loves dearly his three daughters, two sons-in-law, and 6 grandchildren.
Otto Skoog
Associate Pastor
Pastor Otto first was introduced to Countryside in the early 1990s. As an atheist, Otto was convinced of the futility of religion and denied the validity of God’s Word. Through discipleship and the hearing of consistent preaching, God did a miraculous work in his life. As he came to Christ and grew rapidly, it was evident that God was calling Otto into service as a pastor. Upon receiving theological training at Calvary Bible College, Otto was brought on staff as Countryside’s first Associate Pastor.
Currently, Otto serves as the associate pastor overseeing and teaching our Bible Institute, guiding our men’s and women’s ministries, and teaching a dynamic class to our college student and young married adults. He is married to Krista and enjoys grilling and spending time with his two children, their spouses, and his first grandchild.
Michael Summers
Associate Pastor
Michael was called on by the church body at Countryside to pastor in 2013. For the first 6 years of his ministry he led our middle and high school students and our worship ministry. Currently, he continues to lead our worship ministry, oversees technology ministries, is involved in counseling as well as our “Journey Through the Bible” study program. He holds a masters degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Michael loves spending time with his wife Kimberly and their 3 children, working on their 150+ year old home, and writing in his spare time. His new Advent devotional book titled Worship Christ the Newborn King is expected to be released in September 2023.
Roger Johansen
Missionary Pastor – Brazil
Roger Johansen came to Countryside with his then-fiancée Crystal in 1991. While serving in the church, Roger finished a graduate degree from Calvary Bible College. Countryside sent the Johansens to Brazil as church planters in 1994.
Roger has been church planting in northeast Brazil. His work began in the city of Maceio on the eastern coast. For 15 years, Roger planted multiple churches and trained pastors and church leaders to shepherd those local assemblies. These churches today are active and growing under the leadership of those national pastors. After much prayer and seeking the Lord, Roger moved his family and ministry of church planting to the city of Aracaju in 2019. He is currently seeking to replicate the kind of church planting and deep personal investment of training national pastors and leaders of these new assemblies.
While serving, Roger earned degrees from Clarks Summit University, Northland University, and Carolina University. This has opened opportunities to train future pastors around the globe. Roger has five children and one granddaughter. He continues to be supported on staff at Countryside as a church planting missionary.
Brian Warne
Missionary Pastor – Mexico
Brian serves Countryside as a church-planting missionary pastor in Mexico. He and his wife Danyel have been at Countryside since 1993. Brian was called to serve as a Countryside pastor in 1998 and began church planting in Sinaloa, Mexico among the Mayo Indians the following year. Brian earned his bachelors degree in Pastoral Studies, his masters in Biblical Counseling from The Master’s College and Seminary, and is a certified Biblical counselor with the ACBC. The Warnes have two married children and 5 granddaughters.
Brian enjoys many opportunities to assist in training pastors in rightly handling and passionately preaching the Word of God. Utilizing a pastoral residency program through the local church in Mexico he is involved in training Latin American pastors as church planters and assisting them in planting churches throughout Mexico and Peru.
PHilip Johnson
ASSOCIATE PASTOR
Philip grew up in western Nebraska and trusted Christ for his salvation at a young age. While in college, he was involved in various ministries at his local church and began to pursue ministry. In January 2020, Philip was brought on staff at Countryside as a pastoral resident to lead the student ministry. He was officially installed as a pastor of Countryside in May of 2021. Philip graduated from Cornerstone Bible Institute in 2012 and Calvary Bible College in 2016 with a degree in Biblical studies. It was during his time at Calvary that Philip met Stephanie (Dietzel) and started attending Countryside. Philip and Stephanie were married in 2016 and have two children.
Alex Lynch
Pastoral Resident
Alex began attending Countryside with his family in 2001. He trusted Christ at a young age and grew through the teaching ministries of this church, learning to treasure God’s Word and lovingly serve God’s people.
Currently, Alex serves as Countryside’s Pastoral Resident, working under the pastors to direct and support the Men’s Ministries, Young Adult Ministries, Small Group Ministries and Administration. Alex married his wife Kalena in 2016 and together, they enjoy spending time with their two sons Charlie (3) and Bennett (1).