Evangelical Free Church of Mankato
Staff & Leaders

Roger Gilbert

Roger Gilbert Interim Pastor Roger Gilbert is serving as the Interim Lead Pastor of Mankato Evangelical Free Church since June 2012. Roger serves our congregation with a relational leadership style and preaching that examines the claims of Scripture on our lives as believers. Roger became of follower of Jesus while in high school. He studied Computer Science and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse where he belonged to the campus ministry called The Navigators. Roger moved to Mankato to work in the software industry when he met his younger wife Karen while she was a nursing student at Minnesota State University. Karen grew up on in the 300 person southwestern Minnesota farm town of Ruthton, while Roger grew in the 85,000 person city of Racine, Wisconsin. She is the hard working farmer type servant who likes running. He is the ‘it’s-all-about-fun’ people person who likes playing soccer and hockey. The Gilberts lived in Mankato for over 20 years, and have spent 2 years as missionaries in Bogota, Colombia and most recently lived 3 years in Alberta, Canada. Roger has been in the ministry for over twelve years and is a graduate of Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Gilberts have four children, their daughter Allison who is studying nursing at George Fox University in Newberg Oregon, their oldest son and recent graduate Josh, high school freshman Bryan and 5th grader CJ. The entire family enjoys soccer, music, hiking and playing family board games. They used to have a camper, but now they just talk about camping. When Roger retires he dreams of a VW camper van and traveling to baseball games across the country. You can email Roger for conversation about E. Free, faith, news or sports at [email protected]