LANSING — City Rescue Mission’s top leader has stepped down from his executive director role but is sticking around to help his successor ensure a smooth transition.
Mark Criss, executive director for more than two decades, retired his executive director title on June 14 and his successor is Randy Barton, a lifelong Lansing-area resident and Lansing Eastern High School graduate who has served on the mission’s staff for 13 years.
“After 23 years of rescue ministry work, I feel led to shift gears and work full time with my church, The Commons Church,” said Criss in the mission’s June 16 announcement. “I will remain on staff at the City Rescue Mission of Lansing as a part-time Senior Director of Finance and help Randy Barton transition from Senior Director of Operations to our new Executive Director.
“I am excited at this new chapter ahead, for me and for the Mission, and look forward to serving in this new capacity.”
In the mission’s release, Criss was credited for a significant growth in the mission’s capacity to provide food, shelter and hope to vulnerable and underserved men, women, and children throughout the Greater Lansing community.
When Criss became executive director in 2004, the mission provided approximately 1,800 nights of shelter and 2,800 meals per month. The mission now provides approximately 9,600 nights of shelter and 16,500 meals per month, the release said.
During his administration, the mission acquired and opened its Women’s and Children’s Shelter on South Cedar Street about 15 years ago and opened in August 2025 a new men’s shelter on West Kalamazoo Street as part of a major expansion project. The Kalamazoo Street campus also has an overnight drop-in center, and a women’s dorm is expected in the future.
The mission’s Board of Directors unanimously appointed Barton as the mission’s next executive director earlier this month.
Barton joined the mission staff in 2013 after “many years volunteering with the organization, first alongside his family as a child and later as an adult,” the release said.
“Lansing is my home,” Barton said in the release. “In this community I was raised, rooted and developed a love for serving neighbors. I consider it a great privilege to be a part of the rich heritage of the City Rescue Mission, both in my previous roles and now in the role of Executive Director.”
Don Lambert, the mission’s board president, said that Criss has been invaluable to the mission and “his heart and direction will have a lasting impact. The board’s confidence in Barton, he said, stems from his proven character and work ethic over more than a decade of service, but also from his commitment to the mission’s purpose.
“Because of Mark’s consistent leadership, the supporting teams have been developed over time, and the board is confident in bringing on Randy Barton as our new executive director,” Lambert said in the release. “(Barton’s) heart for this work and the Gospel is unquestionable! The need is ever-growing, and we are fortunate to have staff prepared for this new chapter in our history of service to our community.”
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: City Rescue Mission’s leader steps down, hands reins to longtime staff member
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
