Our Staff

  • Kurt Carlson

    Lead Pastor

    Kurt was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He has directed Young Life ministries in Washington and Oregon and served Covenant Churches in Illinois, Oregon, and Washington. He was the Director of Church Planting for the Pacific Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church until 2016 and was called to NWCC in January 2017. Kurt is married and has two adult children.

  • Sarah Winter

    Pastor of Family Ministries

    Sarah grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois before going to Purdue University to study Civil Engineering. After working as a Project Manager for 10 years, she left engineering and followed her heart and call into ministry. She graduated from NorthPark Seminary with a MACF in May, 2022 and is pursing her Spiritual Direction Certification. She has served as Children and Family Pastor at DeerGrove Covenant Church in Palatine and Forest City Church in Elgin and lives in Hoffman Estates with her husband Tim and her kids Kaleigh, Kyle and Quinn.


    Sarah has a passion for sharing our Christian Story with believers of all ages. Living out Ephesians 2:10, she believes that we are all God’s masterpieces, created to do incredible things through Christ and she is very grateful to be able to share in the faith journeys of our Northwest Covenant Church community.

  • Jake Jacott

    Director of Student Ministries

    Jake is originally from Minnesota and grew up in the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities. He later attended North Park University in Chicago, graduating with history and biblical and theological studies degrees. He was also a member of the men's golf team. Jake also served as summer staff and an intern at Covenant Point Bible Camp in Iron River, Michigan, and spent a year as a youth intern at Northwest Covenant in 2022. Jake returned to Northwest Covenant in August of 2024, where he began serving as the Director of Student Ministries.

  • DAUN GEISSLER

    DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION AND COMMUNICATION

    Daun was born and raised in Mt. Prospect. She attended North Park University and worked for a major oil company for 20 years before coming back to Northwest as the Director of Children and Family Ministries in 1995. Daun became the Director of Administration and Communication in 2018.

  • Drew edstrom

    Seminary Intern

    Drew was born and raised in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He attended North Park University, where he acquired his Bachelor's degree in Youth Ministry Studies. Throughout his time in college, Drew served as an intern at Hinsdale Covenant Church and Covenant Point Bible Camp in Iron River, Michigan. Drew was called to Northwest Covenant in September 2017. Currently, Drew is in seminary with hopes of acquiring his Masters of Divinity and Masters of Business Administration. 

  • Joshua Smith

    DIRECTOR OF Worship

    Joshua joined the team at Northwest Covenant in 2022. Joshua has served at Winnetka Covenant Church prior to joining Northwest Covenant.