Claudia was born and raised in Chicago. She met Lowell while attending Trinity College in Deerfield, IL and they were married in 1972. She graduated with a B.A. degree in Elementary Education as a Special Education teacher. She taught Special Ed. in the Waukegan, IL public school system for 7 years before leaving for Africa as a missionary.
Lowell was raised in the southern Chicago suburb of Lansing, IL. As a youth he used amateur radio to communicate with missionaries around the world. Between his freshman and sophomore years in college Lowell went on a summer mission trip to the Republic of the Congo (Zaire). Working his way through college in the field of Industrial Maintenance in the chemical industry, he graduated with a B.A. in Sociology. After their marriage Lowell went on to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and received a Master of Divinity degree with a specialization in World Mission.
They became missionaries in 1980 and served in Zaire for twelve years under the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.
While serving in Zaire, Claudia started a center to teach African ladies sewing and Bible and has run a guest facility. Lowell served as a radio technician, pilot, started a Christian print shop, a lumbering and carpentry operation, and director of the Luena Technical High School. He used the "Jesus" movie to do village evangelism.
In 1991 they had to evacuate their mission station in Luena, Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) twice, both times under gunfire, due to political unrest. They continued with the GBGM until October, 1992.
Lowell is an ordained United Methodist minister and elder of the Tanganyika-Tanzania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is serving under special appointment of Bishop Ntambo Nkulu to be the Africa Executive Director and missionary of Joy in the Harvest.
Founded in December of 1992, Joy in the Harvest is a mission agency dedicated to providing expertise and resources needed by the African church for making Christian disciples. The four main areas of service of Joy in the Harvest are: Evangelism & Church Planting, Technical Support for the church (such as aviation and radio communications), Apprenticeship and Vocational training, and Refugee & Compassion ministries.
From 1993 to the present the Wertzes have resided in western Tanzania near the countries of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. They have had an exciting ministry among the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the wars in those three countries.
They have adult two children, Katherine and Luke, who are both born in Africa. Katherine was married to Adam in a service inKigoma, Tanzania in 2006. She and her new husband reside in the Middle East. Luke is a senior at Asbury College in Lexington KY and is a computer specialist.