ELDERS

Our elders/shepherds have responsibility for the oversight of the church body and the shepherding of its members.

LEW HANCOCK

Lew was born in Dodge City, Kansas. He grew up in Kansas and Montana. Lew has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Salt Lake City for over 40 years. For 12 of those years he directed chemical dependency programs including Dayspring and LifeLine. He received his Master’s Degree in Social Work from St. Louis University and his Doctorate from Brigham Young University in Marriage and Family Therapy. Lew is the author of the book “When Drugs Hit Home” published by Deseret Book. He was the minister for the Orem Church of Christ for four years and was the minister of the Southside Church of Christ for ten years. He lives in the Millcreek area with his wife Pam, and they have four adult children.

Jeff Oliverson

Jeff has lived in Utah his entire life. He attended the LDS church until age 17. He was previously married and had one child from that marriage. "I have felt that God has always been a part of my life and I knew the time had come to find out what he wanted me to do with my life. He started attending Southside (now Cross Tower) in 1989 and was baptized soon after. He met LeeAnn at Southside, and they were married in 1990. The Oliversons have 2 grown children, Megan and Christopher, who have both grown up and been a part of Southside.
Jeff is a Regional manager for a European machinery company. Jeff enjoys playing guitar, piano, singing and writing songs. He holds a private pilot's license and enjoys flying. He is quite handy and has remodeled many parts of their home; he enjoys mechanical endeavors and fixing just about anything. Cross Tower has been Jeff's home ever since he became a Christian. Jeff has enjoyed his service at Cross Tower and has been involved with most everything including maintenance, teaching both children and adult classes, serving as a ministry leader, song leader, committees from Finance to Elder- selection and everything in between."

MARK SWAN

Mark accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and was baptized in 1967 at the tender age of 10. Mark and his wife Terri met while attending the Four Seasons Road Church of Christ in Bloomington, IL where Terri’s father was an elder. Mark and Terri were married in 1978. After Mark received his undergraduate degrees in accounting and business administration, he and Terri moved to Salt Lake City in 1979 so he could attend law school at the University of Utah. They have 3 grown children (a daughter and two sons), a son-in- law and 2 grandchildren. They are lucky to have all of their children and grandchildren living in Utah. Mark maintains a solo legal practice, and Terri works as the Operations Manager at a local community bank. Both Mark and Terri have been actively involved with the churches of Christ in the Salt Lake valley since moving to Utah. Before it merged with the Southside Church of Christ (now Cross Tower), Mark was a deacon and elder at the Church of Christ that met in downtown Salt Lake City. After the merger of the two congregations Mark has served in various capacities at Cross Tower, which includes being a ministry team leader, teacher and worship leader. Mark and Terri love the family feeling at Cross Tower and its dedication to the teaching of God’s Word. Mark has served as an elder and shepherd at Cross Tower since 2014.

Bill Tyson

Bill was born in Salt Lake City in 1949 and grew up in a family with three younger sisters. The family attended the Congregational Church where Bill’s parents were very active. Sharon grew up in southern Idaho and became a Christian 1958 when a group came to their small town to start Magic Valley Christian College on the old state school campus. She moved to Salt Lake after graduation from Pepperdine. She and Bill met in 1971. Bill graduated from the University of Utah in 1972 and they were married that summer. Bill was baptized just before daughter Jennifer was born in 1976. Bill is a retired engineer for PacifiCorp (formerly Utah Power and Light), for which he worked for 35+ years. They have two children. Jen and Chris Cassity live in Murray and have two girls. Ben and Kelly Tyson live in Wichita, KS and have a girl and two boys. Bill has been a shepherd of the Cross Tower family since 2003.