CAN Board of Directors
The CAN Board currently consists of three persons. Additional nominations are being accepted at info@canaccess.org.
Paul Leichty
Paul Leichty is an ordained Mennonite minister living in Goshen, Indiana. He began Congregational Accessibility Network during his work as Executive Director of Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADNet) from 2004-2011 and then spun it off as a separate organization in 2011.
For about 16 years, Paul served as a pastor in cross-cultural urban congregations in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Indiana and faced a variety of situations involving disabilities, mental health, and addictions. He also served several other congregations in Indiana as a part-time music minister. As the father of two children, one of whom has significant developmental and intellectual disabilities due to a genetic condition, he became involved in advocacy work to integrate persons with disabilities into the church and community, serving for a time as a direct service provider and live-in caregiver for persons on the autism spectrum before helping to found ADNet in 2003.
Paul is also the Executive Director of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship (MHF) and Director of User Services for Mennonite.net which provides Internet hosting services to churches and small non-profit organizations. He and his wife, Twila, are active in several local congregations and ministries as well as their neighborhood association on the southeast side of Goshen.
Devon Lengacher
Devon Lengacher, MDiv, lives in Lagrange, Indiana. He grew up in an Amish home. Early in his life, he experienced God’s presence in the midst of multiple surgeries necessitated by cerebral palsy. Having experienced the ministry of hospital chaplains, Devon sensed a call as a young adult to Christian ministry. Despite not having the opportunity for college study nor the support of the church community in which he grew up, he followed his calling and graduated in 2011 from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Virginia with a Masters of Divinity degree. After a year of Clinical Pastoral Education in Charlottesville, Virginia, Devon moved back to his home area in Lagrange County, Indiana, serving in volunteer and interim ministry roles while pursuing a long-term ministerial position. Devon was a founding Board member of CAN in 2011 and continues his Board service in the restructured CAN in 2014.
Michael Sherer
Michael Sherer is Director of Information Technology at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana and Executive Director of Mennonite.net, the web host for the Congregational Accessibility Network website. He is also a musician and writer, and an amateur researcher into the latest health information and advocacy with particular attention on the role of diet in overcoming physical and mental health challenges. In addition to undergraduate degrees in English and Music, Michael holds an MDiv degree from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Michael delights in turning the latest thinking in the world of technology into practical applications to benefit churches, church institutions, and other non-profits. He lives with his wife, Patsy, in Goshen, Indiana.
