Mark Stortvedt started composing music in grade school and by the time he graduated from high school had a string orchestra and two full orchestra works to his name. He also had composed several piano pieces by this time. Mark did his undergraduate work in Music Education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; majoring in voice and minoring in piano. He also played violin in the University Symphony Orchestra and got to play with the symphony when they were invited to be featured at the Ives/Schoenberg Festival at the Kennedy Fine Arts Center in Washington, D.C. He went on to teach Jr. High Music at Nathan Hale Jr. High School in Omaha, NE.
This journey helped him see the need students had to understand their purpose and destiny in life. Mark then accepted a call into the ministry at Christ is King Community Church, Norfolk, NE. Over the next two years Mark would be convinced more than ever that he needed to work with the whole family to see young people really change and thrive. This lead him to become the Pastor of Counseling in the same church and to start a ministry to the community of Norfolk called: Oasis Counseling International which has grown to cover a 22 county area with three offices across the northern part of Nebraska. Oasis Counseling International currently has a staff of 38 people and was chosen by the Nebraska Chapter of Voices for Children to be the 2008 recipient in the Organization Category for Making a Difference for Children. This award was for their entrepreneurial programs developed for Drug Affected Families, their Bilingual Spanish/English In-home and therapy services and their Faith-based Family to Family Mentoring Program for families in need called Befriend.
In education during these years, Mark completed training in Lay Counseling, followed by a Masters in Clinical Pastoral Counseling and in 2007 a doctorate in Professional Pastoral Counseling. His dissertation showed promise and his dissertation committee recommended that he publish his dissertation in book form. "The Scriptures: A Mirror to the Soul" was published by Spiritual Journey Press in December of 2008. In recent years Oasis was chosen to be the lead agency in the starting of the Northeast Nebraska Drug Court for Adults and received a Federal Capacity Building grant for $250,000 a year for 3 years to start effective youth services in the Norfolk area along with its collaboration partners: The Norfolk Family YMCA, The Northeast Nebraska Child Advocacy Center and Norfolk Family Medicine.
This began a new journey for Mark in working with faith-based and community based organizations to increase their capacity to provide these services. Two years ago through the encouragement of his nephew, Benjamin Newburn, Mark began seriously recording songs he had written over the years that related to his personal journey. After recording a home studio with his nephew in Davenport, IA Gilli Moon and Matt Thorne of Los Angeles, CA, heard the home studio version also saw the value of Mark’s work and became the Producer and Associate Producer of Mark’s debut album: Journey Worship. Mark has over the last 20 years presented Spiritual Journey Seminars in Turkey, Mexico and Cuba and along with his wife Colleen presented Marriage and Family Seminars and Lay and Professional Counselor training Seminars in Romania, Turkey, Cuba, and Sweden.
April 2010, Mark released his debut album, Journey Worship.
Details about the album and where to buy
Listen to tracks from the album
CD Release Concert information
Download CD Release - Press Release as PDF
Check out the Music Video of the single, Kingdom Of God, on the Video Page.
Journey Workshop - Mark Stortvedt - One sheet - Download PDF here