Leadership

My family has been members of West Hills Community Church for as long as I can remember. I grew up under the influence of the gospel from parents, Sunday school teachers, mentors, pastors, elders and many others. By God's grace He drew me to Himself at a very young age and my life as His disciple has continued to grow deeper and richer every day.

God called me into gospel ministry at the age of eighteen. I completed a Bachelors degree in Bible and Theology in 2013 and a Master of Divinity in 2017.

I married my wife, Vanessa, in 2010. Together we raise five wonderful children; Calvin, Owen, Geneva, Avonlea, and Olivia. My hobbies include exercising, reading, and just generally being outside anywhere with a view.

After serving as lead pastor of West Hills, Morgan Hill for 35 years, I
passed leadership of the campus to Jason Trapp in August of 2024 and
transitioned into a new role: Pastor-at-Large. As Pastor-at-Large I serve
the church at large where needed, whether at the West Hills Morgan Hill or San Jose campus, or outside West Hills. I also continue to serve on the elder council.

In this new role I am available as a mentor to younger pastors, a spiritual director, and counselor for those in need. I also serve as chaplain for the Morgan Hill Police Department and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department.

I have been married since 1986 to Rachel, who is my closest friend and confidant. We have two married sons, Joshua and David, and a growing number of grandchildren.

I earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, as well as certifications in crisis intervention and
trauma/grief counseling. In my leisure time in enjoy spending time with
my wife, visiting family, reading, and short road trips.

I joined the staff of West Hills in Jan of 2013 after spending 9+ years as a student ministry director at Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church. I started following Jesus as a high school student in Morgan Hill after being invited to youth group by some friends. After high school, I enrolled at San Jose State to pursue my undergraduate degree in Social Science with the hopes of becoming a teacher. It was at this time that I first started to volunteer in youth ministry which eventually became a part time and then full time ministry position. The Summer of 2004 was a big time for me. In June, David graduated from SJSU and started youth ministry full time at MHPC and then in July married my high school sweetheart Pamela. Realizing a desire for more biblical and theological education, I enrolled in a Master of Divinity program at Western Seminary which I completed the summer of 2010. It was at this time that I felt God’s leading to pursue pastoral ministry, which would eventually lead me to West Hills a few years later.

I have two ministry passions. The first is to teach the Word of God and the second is to equip people to use their spiritual gifting for God’s kingdom. It is great that the two so often go hand in hand. A lot of transformation happens as people interact with the bible, as well as when they experience the grace of God in action through service and the inevitable stretching that comes with using their spiritual gifts. It is a privilege to walk alongside people in this element of discipleship.

I love spending time with my wife and my five kids. Likewise, I am working hard to teach them to love baseball (Go Giants!). I spend much of my free time reading, drinking coffee, running, cycling and playing music.

I grew up in the South Bay Area and have been attending West Hills Community Church since infancy. Under the shepherding of WHCC, God led me to follow Jesus at age 17. I have volunteered in WHCC youth ministry, worship music ministry, and missions ministry since 2002. I worked as a commercial electrician and estimator/project manager for 10 years before leaving that career to join staff at WHCC. Beginning in 2016, I spent two years as the Pastoral Resident/Worship Leader at the San Jose campus until in 2018 I transferred to the Morgan Hill campus as full-time Pastor of Worship. My main pursuit is knowing Jesus more and making Him known. I'm excited to see people grow into deeper faith in Jesus and thoroughly enjoys seeing God’s healing power at work. I've devoted my life to applying the Gospel to the hardships of this broken world, the greatest of which is the sin we all experience. I absolutely love how God takes simple, lost people like I once was and makes us His children, fellow heirs with Christ!
 
After meeting and ministering alongside one another at WHCC, my wife Alisha and I were married in 2009. As of now, Alisha has temporarily stepped out of her career as a registered nurse in order to care for our four children, Jachin, Elijah, Kariese, and Asher. Alisha also has experience in youth ministry, music ministry, missions, and young women’s discipleship. Together Alisha and I enjoy family, the outdoors, music, traveling, and SF Giants baseball. We both love people and always love a good celebration or get-together.
 
After completing my BA in Christian Counseling through Liberty University in 2016, I enrolled in the M. Div program at Western Seminary in Santa Clara, CA. I prayerfully aspire to enter full-time preaching ministry in the coming years and eagerly wait to see where God is planning and directing.

I joined the staff as Director of Student Ministry in May of 2020. Although I grew up attending church and youth group in Wisconsin, I did not truly understand the weight of my sin and my need for Jesus until my second year of high school. Soon after my conversion, I became more involved in the student ministry at my church as an intern and began to sense the Lord guiding me toward full-time ministry. After graduating from high school, I followed that calling to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where I graduated with a Master of Divinity, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from the attached undergraduate college, Boyce College. Throughout my time at Boyce, I was heavily involved in campus ministry, serving as a campus event coordinator, a member of the student government, and as an RA.

Just before graduating, I married my wife, Alex, whom I first started dating while serving as an RA at Boyce. I am passionate about teaching the gospel and watching students learn more and more about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ (Phil 3:8). I have experienced first-hand the spiritual impact of various church staff members and leaders in my own life and feel privileged to serve alongside a team so committed to helping students grow deeper in the understanding of the gospel and God’s Word. When I'm not doing something related to ministry in one way or another, I love getting outdoors, trying new foods, or teaching myself piano and Spanish.

I grew up in the Bay Area and was very fortunate to be raised in a loving home with parents who taught me about Jesus’s love and sacrifice for me from as early as I can remember. God made me aware of my sin and need for a savior in early elementary school and my faith has grown and matured in fits and starts since then. My faithful extended family and church family were additional influences in my life displaying God’s love to me. I always felt known and seen through the loving hands around me.

I attended Wheaton College in Illinois and majored in elementary education. My husband, Joel, and I got to know each other while working at a Christian camp in northern Wisconsin during a college summer. After graduation, we made it back to the Bay Area to begin our teaching careers - both in 5th grade. We were married in July of 1999. In 2005, we moved to Morgan Hill, I became a full-time mom and later homeschool parent, and we started attending West Hills Community Church. We have four children: Elena, Toby, Hope, and Karina. I volunteered in kids ministry at West Hills and saw first-hand the impact a gospel-centered Sunday school program and faithful, loving teachers had on my own children.

I came on staff as director of kids ministries at West Hills in July of 2024. Spending time with children has always been a passion of mine. They are hilarious, adorable, chaotic, entertaining, and completely endearing. My goal in working with children is to make them feel loved and known - and that Jesus loves them and knows them more intimately than anyone else. They are so open to God’s Word and they have soft hearts. It’s an amazing ministry to be a part of!

In my free time, I enjoy being with family and friends, playing games, and reading - preferably in the sunshine.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I grew up aware of God but never fully embraced him or his teachings. Many years passed before the Lord would change my heart. In early 2014 I felt the need to finally seek God’s word. My path led me to West Hills Community Church where I would learn to truly follow Jesus Christ and come to know the awesome God that brought me here. He had a plan for me and it included sharing my testimony, being baptized and leaving a career as a theatrical hairstylist and makeup artist for over 20 years to serve in the church office.

I am thankful that my husband Ed was also called to faith at the same time and we were baptized at WHCC on the same day! We have been married since November of 1994.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

I am a Santa Clara Valley native, born at Stanford Hospital in 1960 and raised in Cupertino. Deborah and I married in Yosemite in 1989 are the delighted parents of Laurel and Avery. We live in the east foothills of Gilroy. Active in the ministry of Firefighters for Christ for my entire career, I retired as Fire Battalion Chief after 32 years, and am now a Training Specialist with State Fire Training.  Deb and I were baptized at West Hills in 1991. I became a Christian as a youth, while attending an adult bible study with his parents at Valley Church in Cupertino.

I am a native Californian having been born and raised in Santa Clara. I attended San Jose State University where I completed a B.A. Economics and an M.S. Accounting. After college I received a CPA credential and worked as a consultant serving international clients. In 2005 the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to transition from Silicon Valley into vocational ministry. I completed an M.A. Biblical Counseling at The Master’s College in 2009 to better equip me for the work the Lord has called me to do.

I currently live in Gilroy with my wife Colleen and our children Hannah, Essie, Elle, Mario and Arvi. Colleen is my constant help in ministry. Prior to our marriage, Colleen served as a missionary in Albania, teaching English and working within the church. We have a special heart for adoption and disability ministry as God has blessed us with 5 unique children with 5 unique stories, including 2 who are teaching us about life with Down Syndrome.
 
I became a Christian in high school as the result of the witness of another student (the gospel was new to me as I did not grow up in the church). The years that followed were marked by a slow but steady spiritual growth and a desire to enter missions. After college, I struggled spiritually as I grappled with career pressures and the fruit of my own spiritual compromise. This season ended when the Lord confronted me with my sin and showed me in a way I had never comprehended before the beauty of the gospel. Because the Lord started putting me in situations where I was informally counseling others I began taking counseling classes at The Master’s College to become better equipped for ministry. One of my passions in ministry is to connect with people who are grappling with the messiness of real life and help them connect where they are with what it means to walk with Jesus in the “real life” world that we live in.

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