Our President

Howard Ulmer was born October 24, 1945, to Carl and Helen Ulmer of Neudorf, Saskatchewan.  The family farmed six miles southeast of Neudorf.  Baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Neudorf, Howard attended Snowflake School, a one-room country school, for Grades 1-8, and Neudorf School for Grades 9-12, graduating in 1964.  In preparation for the pastoral ministry, he was a student at Concordia Edmonton from 1964-1967.  He then spent two years from 1967-1969 at Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with concentrations in Hebrew and Greek.  He received his Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon in 1973. 

Following his ordination in 1975, Howard served parishes in Wadena, Margo, and Southey in Saskatchewan.  At the same time, he often provided assistance as vacancy pastor for other congregations in the vicinity.  From May, 1998 to November, 2006 he served as Hospital Chaplain at the three Saskatoon hospitals with the Lutheran Care Society of Saskatoon.  This ministry provided him with many opportunities to share the Gospel with patients and family members. Since February, 2007 he is “officially” retired. However, he currently serves as the Vacancy Pastor for Grace Lutheran Church, Saskatoon; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Saskatoon; Faith Lutheran Church, Saskatoon; Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Saskatoon; Trinity Lutheran Church, Wilkie; Unity Lutheran Church, Unity; Battle River Lutheran Church, Maidstone, Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Walburg; First Lutheran Church, Lloydminster; Zion Lutheran Church, McLaughlin; and St. Paul’s Bergheim Lutheran Church. He also served as Hospital Chaplain in Regina and Chaplain for Regina Lutheran Home.

Over the years, Howard has shared his skills and gifts with the larger Church constituency, as well as with the communities in which he has lived.  For Lutheran Church-Canada's Central District, he has been Pastoral Counsellor for the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, Circuit Counsellor, Secretary of the District's Foundation, Chairman of the Handbook Committee, District Secretary, and Vice-President. He served as the Local Coordinator for the Living for Tomorrow campaign sponsored by the Lutheran Laymen's League of Canada.  For Lutheran Church-Canada, he has been Secretary of the Committee on Constitutions and Structure, and a delegate to various conventions. In the communities in which he has lived, he has been involved with the Valley Legal Assistance Clinic Board, AA and the Alanon Group, Pastoral Care Committee of the Regina Lutheran Care Society, Southey Health Council, InterChurch Health Ministries-Saskatchewan, Lutheran DayCare/Preschool, Saskatoon Health District, and as president of ministerial associations in Wadena, Southey, and Saskatoon. On May 8, 2004 he received the Distinguished Service Award from Concordia University College of Alberta in Edmonton. Currently he serves as President of Malabar Mission Society.

Howard and his wife, Gloria (nee Graff), reside in Regina.  They have one daughter, Joscelyn Bona (Marcel) and grandson Nicholas of Red Deer, Alberta.

Our Vice-President

Art Timm was raised on a farm in a Christian home. His first ten years of education took place in a one-room school known as "Beautiful Plains" in the Yellow Grass district in Saskatchewan. The last two years were at Luther College, Regina.  For 35 years Art toiled in the Iron and Steel Industry, ending up as General Sales Manager for the Prairie and Eastern Division. Upon closure of the Foundry, he was employed as a lay worker at St . Paul's Lutheran Church in Saskatoon. During that time he attended the Laity School conducted by Lutheran Church–Canada, Central District.  Art counts it a privilege to serve the church as a member of the Board of Directors of Lutheran Church–Canada, Central District, as well as the Board of the Lutheran Laymen's League of the Central District. Art is married to Geraldine (nee Stewart).  They have 2 sons and 5 grandchildren.

Our Project Officer

Carlton Riemer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Erwin J. Riemer, was born in Mequon, Wisc., Sept. 15, 1941. He attended Trinity Lutheran Elementary School of Freistadt in Mequon, Concordia High School and Junior College in Milwaukee, Wisc., Concordia Senior College in Ft. Wayne, Ind. and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo.

On June 25, 1967, in Trinity Lutheran Church - Freistadt, Mequon, Wisc., he was ordained and commissioned as a missionary to serve in the India Evangelical Lutheran Church. From September 1967 to May 1969, he studied in Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Conn., and from that institution received a master of arts degree in the history of religions with a specialization in Islamics.

In 1969 and 1970, he served in Tamil Nadu, India; from 1970 to 1978, he served in Lanao, Mindanao, as missionary with the Lutheran Church in the Philipines. He did further studies in Southeast Asia, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Ill. and in clinical pastoral education in Trinity Lutheran Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. From 1979 until November 1987, he was pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ruston, La., and campus pastor for Louisiana Tech University and Grambling State University. In Southern District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Pastor Riemer served as campus ministry coordinator and as a zone and district counselor for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.  Carlton was also pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, Oklahoma, for twenty years (from November 1987 to June 2007) and Lutheran Campus Pastor at Oklahoma State University from 1989 to 2007.  In addition, Pastor Riemer served as a Circuit Counselor for nine years and as a vice-president for six years in the Oklahoma District.  During this time Carlton also served as the Oklahoma District LWML Pastoral Counselor (for four years), while his wife, Arlene, served as the Oklahoma Disctrict LWML Vice-President for Human Care.  Pastor Riemer was also a member of the Standing Committee for Campus Ministry of the Board for Mission Services of the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod (for three years).

Pastor Riemer is married to Arlene, nee Haefker, who was born in Orlando, Okla. The couple has three married daughters and three sons-in-law and are grandparents to four granddaughters.

Our Program Advisor

Born at the start of the Great Depression – and raised in Neudorf, Saskatchewan – Roland Miller followed the path of his Lutheran father (and pastor) and pursued a career in the ministry. After completing the first two years of a B.A. course at Edmonton’s Concordia College, Roland moved to the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri where he received both the bachelor of arts and master of divinity degrees. Upon completing his theological studies in St. Louis, Dr. Miller received an M.A. degree from the Kennedy School of Missions, Hartford, Conn. and a Ph.D. degree in Islamic Studies from the Hartford Seminary Foundation. The Rev. Dr. Miller served as an ordained missionary of the Lutheran Church in India from 1953 – 1976, residing in the Muslim-majority community of Malappuram, Kerala. An internationally known Islamicist with a specialization in Indian Islam, he is regarded as the leading authority on the Mappila Muslims of Kerala.

In 1976, Roland and his wife, Mary Helen, returned to North America, and to Saskatchewan. From 1976 – 1993, Dr. Miller was Professor of Religious Studies and Dean of Luther College at the University of Regina. In 1993 he received the university’s Award for Excellence in Under-graduate teaching. From 1993 – 1999, Roland was a visiting professor at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, where he directed the institutions now well-known graduate program in Islamic Studies. For ten years (1992 – 2002), he chaired the Lutheran World Federation’s Dialogue Program – Islam Section, during which time he traveled extensively throughout the Muslim world.

Roland and Mary Helen are also co-founders of the Malabar Mission Society (1990). Together with a small group of pastors and friends, the Millers created the mission society as a way of supporting Gospel work among Muslims, particularly within the Malabar region where they lived for 23 years as missionaries.  In 2010, the Malabar Mission Society celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Although retired, Dr. Miller continues in an active role as guest lecturer, scholar in residence, and as a board member of the Malabar Mission Society. Roland is also Professor Emeritus of Missions at Luther College and is considered to be the top Lutheran expert in the world about Islam.

Dr. Miller is the author of several books and many articles in the fields of Islamics, India Studies, Christian Thought and Missiology. His most recent books include Muslim Friends: Their Faith and Feeling; Christian-Muslim Dialogue; Theological and Practical Issues and Muslims and the Gospel: Bridging the Gap. He is currently working on a volume entitled "Mappila Muslim Culture" which will be published in India.