2026 NOMINATING TEAM WORK
A NOTE FROM THE NOMINATING TEAM
HRAC Family -
Our Nominating Team is honored to place before you this slate of candidates for your affirmation on Celebration Sunday (January 11, 2026). We thank you so much for your prayerful partnership in this process. As the Nominating Team prayed, shared conversations together, shared conversations with individuals, and listened and discerned together - God truly brought encouragement, clarity and unity to our work. We love that this is HIS church, and we hope this little snippet into each person helps you feel connected and informed to what is happening in the life of our church!
Sincerely,
HRAC Nominating Team
Margie Grant
Jill Yoder
Melodi Johnson
Kelsey Strand
Keith Sietstra
2026 NOMINATIONS
NOMINATING TEAM – AT LARGE: JOHN COMBS
Hi my name is John Combs! I have attended Hood River Alliance Church since 2016, when my wife Tina and I were married. While ministry has always and continues to be a large part of our lives, as it is with any pastor and spouse, our ministry together also took place in our home through foster parenting. This calling led us to being the short and sometimes long-term home for 8 children and led to us adopting our son Sam, age 23, at the age of 17, and a guardianship of Tia, age 18.
HRAC is my family as well, and I have had the pleasure to serve in many areas at the church. I have been a youth volunteer, a chili champ, a tech team regular, and a novice sound technician. Currently I serve on the worship team, participate in the Sunday coffee rotation, Prayer team, as the church library manager, and I am the men’s ministry leader at Celebrate Recovery. Other things I enjoy are roasting coffee, reading while drinking coffee, writing, and learning to play guitar.
I am humbled to be considered for a spot on the nominating team. I believe that Jesus is doing something special here, and that as we keep him at the center of all we do we will be transformed into a people that love each other, our community and the world around us to a degree we cannot do on our own. As a member of the nominating team I look forward to seeing and identifying the gifts God is raising up within the HRAC community.
NOMINATING TEAM – AT LARGE: LINDSAY HOLMSON
Hello! My name is Lindsay Holmson and I am honored to be considered for the role of serving on the Nominating Team! I was born and raised in Hood River County, grew up going to Parkdale Community Church and started attending HRAC at the end of high school. My husband Andy and I lived away for college at OSU then started our careers up in Bainbridge Island, Washington, where we resided for about 8 years.
We always loved visiting HRAC whenever we were in town and became members soon after we moved back in 2017. Andy and I have been blessed with three wonderful kids: Luke (12), Connor (9) and Isabel (7). When I am not busy being mom, I also enjoy working part-time as a pharmacist for Safeway here in town and teach gymnastics classes at Chalk. I also volunteer as a coach in our community in other sports and am Vice President of the board for the Hood River County Christmas Project.
HRAC has always held a special place in my heart and I have truly loved serving in the past as the Moms Connection coordinator, a Women’s leadership team member, and helping with the most recent Children’s Pastor selection. I am currently serving as a teacher for Sunday School with 4 th and 5 th graders, am a regular Women’s bible study attender and participate on the Hospitality Team. If selected for the Nominating Team, I hope to support elevating many of our wonderful members into leadership roles at HRAC through the use of thoughtful prayer and discernment.
GOVERNING TEAM – AT LARGE: MELISSA ING
Hi, my name is Melissa Ing! I am a retired educator who spent 21 wonderful years serving in the Hood River School District, most of that time in Special Education classrooms. My husband, Ed, and I have been married for 38 years, and we have deep roots here in the Hood River Valley. Our family farms 90 acres of fruit, and Ed has worked with Mt. Adams Fruit Company for over four decades.
We are grateful parents of three grown children - Jonathan (married to Chelsea), Alex (engaged to Aileen), and Emily (married to Neil)—and proud grandparents to our granddaughter Jaycie, with another grandchild on the way.
For 19 years I have volunteered with Young Life, and over the past 38 years at Hood River Alliance Church, I’ve had the privilege of serving in many roles. My involvement has included serving as a deaconess, sitting on the governing board, supporting youth ministry, helping with Vacation Bible School, teaching Sunday school, participating in the prayer team, and helping plan women’s retreats.
Faith, family, service, and community are deeply important to me, and I’m grateful for every opportunity to invest in the people and place God has planted me. I am honored and excited to serve in this role on the Governing Team, and excited for all the things God is doing in and through HRAC!
GOVERNING TEAM – ELDER: PATRICK GRIMSLEY
Greetings. Thank you for your consideration for the elder position. My lovely wife, Naomi, and I have been married for 26 years. We moved from Los Angeles in 2002 to The Dalles and raised three boys, Titus (20), Levi (19), and Shadrach (14). We moved to Hood River in 2015 and have been attending Hood River Alliance Church since 2016.
I’ve worked as an emergency physician in The Gorge for 21 years and now practice medicine in Portland and serve on the hospital board for Adventist Health Columbia River Gorge.
I have enjoyed supporting a Bible study group in our home since moving to Oregon and love to have people from our church, and those who have not found a church home, join us weekly for tasty food and passionate Bible study.
I have carved out my niche at Alliance in the comradery and sharing in Man Coffee and working on the church grounds. I was also involved with the high school youth group while transitioning to the loving care of Melissa.
Spreading the gospel is one of my passions and I have helped to plan and direct multiple mission trips to the Honduran jungle where we delivered the gospel to every patient we touched. I was also involved with Young Life development in The Dalles and have been honored to help support the Young Life medical teams at Washington Family Ranch. Coaching track at the junior high and high school have been wonderful opportunities to interact with the youth in our community.
I was raised as a Catholic and finally surrendered to Christ as my Lord and Savior during my residency in 1998 with the loving example of my wife and the solid church we attended in LA. A church that can deliver the Gospel message through teaching God’s word and showing his love is crucial in leading a community to the foot of the cross. Our leaders and congregation are well on the way to accomplishing this goal and I feel nothing but honored to be considered for this position.