Meet Our Team

Rev. Andy Casto-Waters
Interim Senior Pastor and Head of Staff

Andy joins our CLPC family as Interim Pastor from South Carolina. Originally hailing from Atlanta, Andy is a graduate of Wofford College, Columbia Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. Andy has served in numerous transition settings before and is excited to work with Cypress Lake as we navigate the next year of discerning our future as a congregation. Andy is married to Rev. Brandi Casto-Waters, the new senior pastor at Faith PC in Cape Coral. They have two daughters: Ella, who is in eleventh grade, and Lucy, who is in tenth. In his free time, Andy loves to run and spend time with family as they explore Southwest Florida. Please help us welcome Andy to CLPC! His email is andy@clpc.us.

The Reverend Joel Ajo-Fernandez
Pastor - Spanish Speaking Ministries

Pastor Joel is the temporary part time pastor of Spanish speaking ministries at CLPC and the leader of worship at Iglesia Presbiteriana Cypress Lake.  A seminary trained and ordained pastor, Joel comes from Cuba where he served as the Methodist Bishop of Havana.  After entering the United States, Pastor Joel served several churches (including a join United Methodist/Presbyterian church in New Jersey.  He is honorably retired and lives in Cape Coral with his wife.  Pastor Joel is leading our Spanish ministry while the church conducts a search for a permanent, Spanish speaking pastor. His email is joel@clpc.us.

John Ferris
Director of Praise Worship

John, a native of Fort Myers (yes, there really are people that were born and grew up here) is a devout Christian musician.  Proficient on the guitar, piano and drums, John brings years of experience singing and leading praise bands.  He is also a trained graphic designer but his real passion is using music therapy to reach people with dementia or alzheimer's.  
John would love to hear from you, his email is John@clpc.us 

Rachel Carrier
 Director of  Traditional Worship

Rachel comes to us from Dayton, Ohio where she has led music, drama and Christian education, having years of experience in leading church growth by serving Christ.  Rachel has a remarkable voice, is a gifted pianist, but most importantly, has a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus
Christ. 

She would  love to hear from you at Rachel@clpc.us.

Karen May

 Office Manager

 Karen serves as our office manager and is the "go to" person for anything involving the church campus or activities in the church.  Karen joined  our staff team in the summer of 2005 after a decade and a half of service with  the federal government.  Karen grew up in the Presbyterian Church and currently  lives in Cape Coral near her mother and adult son. 
Karen's e-mail address is Karen@clpc.us.

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Lay Leadership

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), a unique aspect of church leadership is the involvement of lay leaders, or members of the congregation. At CLPC, the Session provides general oversight and administration for our church. The current members of Session are listed below next to the ministry team each member serves on (Support, Church and Community, Disciplemaking, and Worship).

2020 Session
The Rev. Andy Casto-Waters, Moderator
The Rev. Joel Ajo-Fernandez
Gordon Coffman, Clerk of Session
Bob Hoschner, Support
Rich Meacham, Support
Hal Slusher, Worship
Melissa King, Worship
Alberto Gomez, Worship
Elena Garcia, Worship
Karen Clifford, Worship
Amanda Johnson, Worship
Joyce Botchford, Church and Community
Wanda Bishop, Church and Community
Chris Giesecke, Church and Community
Tim Baldwin, Disciplemaking
Terri Bergmann, Disciplemaking