Leadership

Pastors & Staff

Devin Leichner

Lead Pastor

Pastor Devin is the lead pastor working in a relational alignment with his father who is the founding pastor of the church. They have a common desire to build a relevant 21st century church, a place where people of like heart and mind can meet. Together they have brought the generations into inspirational and practical ministry. They have helped the church face the challenge of staying with the standards of Biblical roots and fundamental principles while continuing to evolve in its methods to reach today’s contemporary lives.

He is the Oneighty Youth Pastor. Acknowledging his call to preach, he began pastoring the youth at age sixteen. He ministers to hundreds of teenagers with an energetic devotion to see teens reach their spiritual potential. He applies innovative ideas and solid Biblical preaching combined with the experiential. Pastor ‘D’ has been successful in connecting youth with the Lord and seeing them released into a powerful flow of the Holy Ghost. This has resulted in teenagers with an incredible desire to live a practical Christian life.

He is a gifted communicator that operates under a powerful anointing to make a significant difference in today’s youth. He leads a dedicated group of men and women in several areas of youth ministry.

Pastor Devin is a talented musician. With a proficiency in percussion, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and as a vocalist, he has led the choir, praise singers and band into a new realm of praise and worship with consecrated passion. His desire is to create an atmosphere where God has the full focus of worship, and the Holy Ghost moves in the freedom and liberty of abandoned praise!

Pastor Devin is married to Jenny who also ministers with him. They have a daughter Reilly.

Mike Leichner

Founding Pastor

Pastor Mike's ministry spans multiple areas over many years. These include nine years of full-time travel and evangelism, statewide camp-meetings and revivals, music ministry with 13 recordings and is a published author. He started the Ark church in 1988. Pastor Mike has ministered on the 700 Club, TBN Praise the Lord, Christian cable TV, multi-state radio stations and hosted the daily radio broadcast ‘Fresh Fire’. He is a United States Marine, a strong patriot with a love for his country. This is reflected in his message and his music ministry. He has been recently honored to have a song nominated as Song of the Year, his recording ‘Country Side of Me’ nominated as album of the year, a song reach #1 on Country Gospel charts and another that has climbed into the top 10 of national charts. He is foremost a preacher of the Gospel for today’s generation, and a passionate communicator of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Dee Leichner

Sister Dee Leichner has served alongside her husband in ministry. She is a Bible teacher with a passion for prayer, a published author of books and study material, director of Fire in the Plains Bible Institute for in-house study and credentialing and a speaker at Women’s Conferences. She is an ordained Elder, holds an Exhorter’s license through FPBI and a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry from Indiana Christian University. 

Dewayne McGuire

Associate Ministry Leader

Dewayne is an ordained Elder on staff. He works as an assistant to the Pastoral staff and to Oneighty student ministries. He is head of the Ushers and Greeters ministries, a teacher of the Word and responsible for activities in many areas. Elder Dewayne came to the Ark as a teenager and became a vital part of the ministry. 

John Liggett

John began attending the youth ministries here at the Ark as a young teen where he gave his heart to the Lord.  He has attended the Ark faithfully for over 20 years, and has volunteered in many different ministries. John joined the church’s staff in 2001.  He has worked alongside his wife, Desiree, in Generations since 2005 teaching classes, and leading the creative & music teams. He teaches in the JV and Varsity services in the Oneighty Youth Ministry, and he oversees the facilities during the week.

His desire is to create an atmosphere where kids can’t wait to get back to church – where they can build a relationship with God that will last their lifetime.  Creating skits, characters, events, and segments in the classes that captivate the kids attention are his strong suits.

Desiree Liggett

Children's Ministry Director

Desiree stepped into the role of Director in 1997 at the age of eighteen. She has worked on staff at the church since 1995, and was an active volunteer before being hired. She also serves as the Executive Secretary for the church, and is involved in several other ministries.

Born in Wichita, raised on the road traveling with her family – founding Pastors of the Ark; Desiree came to Christ at the young age of five. She had a true desire to minister to children, as a child herself – that has been the driving force behind her compassion, love, and calling to work with children.