Aaron McRae

Aaron McRae is the Senior Pastor of Hillside Community Church in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Since May of 2012, Aaron has had the privilege of leading this community into the future God is preparing. Aaron and his wife, Holly, have three children.

Evan Wickham

Evan Wickham is the lead and founding pastor of Park Hill Church in San Diego. He and his wife Sandy have five kids and have been leading worship together since they were high school sweethearts. Ushering people into moments of Encounter is a huge passion of theirs! He has a Masters of Divinity degree from Westerns Seminary and has released four albums of worship songs.

Ken Elben

For over 30 years, I’ve been privileged to serve on senior leadership teams in remarkable ministries such as Shadow Mountain Community Church, Christ Church Memphis, Forest Home, Dalton First in Georgia, and currently as the Family Ministries Pastor at Chino Valley Community Church. My passion is equipping and shepherding all generations to fulfill their purpose in Christ. I am deeply committed to encouraging families in their walk with Christ, promoting a Biblical worldview, fostering Christian community growth, and seeing the Great Commission lived out.

Alongside my supportive wife, Joy, a Southern California native like myself, we have been married for over 26 years. Together, we share a love for travel, a heart for global outreach, and a commitment to serving our local community. In 2004, we joyfully adopted our son, Isaiah, and our journey in adoption and foster care has granted us valuable insights into the needs of families in similar situations. Whether speaking in a church, camp, retreat, or leadership setting, I am grateful for the transformative power of God’s Word and remain dedicated to sharing the grace of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, with others.

Erik Thoennes

Dr. Erik Thoennes serves as a professor and chairman of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University in La Mirada, California and is pastor at Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, California. He is a published author and award-winning professor who has a heart for sharing God’s love. Erik and his wife, Donna, have four children.

Jim Burns

Jim Burns is the president of HomeWord. He speaks to thousands of people around the world each year. He has close to 2 million resources in print in 20 languages. He primarily writes and speaks on the values of HomeWord, which are: Strong Marriages, Confident Parents, Empowered Kids, and Healthy Leaders. Some of his most popular books are: Confident Parenting, The Purity Code, Creating an Intimate Marriage, Closer, and Doing Life with Your Adult Children. Jim and his wife, Cathy, live in Southern California and have three grown daughters, Christy, Rebecca, and Heidi; three sons-in-law, Steve, Andy and Matt; and three grandchildren, James, Charlotte and Huxley.

Justin Unger

Justin has been committed to the local church for over 17 years as a worship pastor.  Passionate about unifying the Body of Christ with the gift of music, he has learned to stand firm amidst the cultural and traditional challenges that many churches face in regards to worship and the Sunday gathering.  He is a pastor of pastors and has a heart to disciple, equip and encourage both young and seasoned worship leaders  that are called to serve the local church.

Justin serves primarily as the Executive Director with Likewise Worship and also as a Speaker & Consultant for churches that are struggling to bring all generations together in worship.

He is married to his wife Falon, and together they have 4 beautiful children.  Visit www.likewiseworship.com to learn more about Justin’s music ministry.

Scott Stevenson

Scott is a follower, a husband, a GirlDad three times over and a local church pastor. Originally from Sacramento, California, Scott currently leads the community of Open Arms Church in Scottsdale, AZ where he has adapted to desert living in all the best ways! At any given time, you can find Scott enjoying unlimited refills on iced coffee, trying not to injure himself in the Crossfit box or hanging out with his four favorite ladies.

Andrew McCourt

Andrew is one of the Senior Pastors at Bayside Church. He is married to Isabelle and together they have four children. Originally from Northern Ireland, he has been in active ministry for over 20 years and travels extensively sharing the Christian message in a creative, humorous, and challenging style. He is committed first and foremost to building local churches and raising up multigenerational leaders. As the father of four children, life is never dull, however he still finds the time to enjoy running, mountains, and French food!

Bob Lepine

Bob Lepine is known to radio and podcast listeners as the long-time co-host of FamilyLife Today® and as the on-air announcer for Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Today, he serves as the host of Mornings on Family Radio, a network of more than 70 radio stations in the US. He is also the host of The Bounce podcast for pastors and church planters.

Bob is the teaching pastor at Redeemer Community Church in Little Rock, Arkansas which he helped plant in 2008. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Great Commission Collective and for Revive Our Hearts.

He is the author of Build A Stronger Marriage (2022), Twelve Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Easter (2023), The Four Emotions of Christmas (2022) Love Like You Mean It: The Heart of a Marriage That Honors God (2020) and The Christian Husband (1999). Bob and his wife, Mary Ann have five children and eleven grandchildren.

Jeff Whye

Jeff is a campus pastor at Sandals Church in Riverside California. He spent 8 years in the entertainment industry before God calling him out and into full time ministry.  In the past 16 years, he has been a teaching pastor, youth pastor as well as a campus and online pastor. He also has been on staff at 3 Christian Universities. He has earned degrees from Anderson University in Indiana and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. Jeff has been speaking to various groups across the nation and overseas since 2007. Jeff is married to his hot nerd of a wife Nicky and together they have 4 kids and reside in southern California!

David Guzik

David Guzik serves as the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara. He is married to Inga-Lill, and has three adult children. David founded Calvary Chapel Simi Valley for fourteen years. David has over 35 years of pastoral ministry, including church planting and directing an international Bible College in Siegen, Germany. David is a popular Bible commentator with millions of people accessing his teachings and commentaries.

Dr. Chris and Alisa Grace

Dr. Chris and Alisa Grace met in 1986 when they were seated at the “singles” table at a friend’s wedding. He fell in love with her quick wit, she fell in love with his motorcycle, and (after selling the motorcycle to buy her engagement ring) they were married just a year later. Now, for more than 30 years the Graces have been writing, teaching, and speaking nationally to thousands of couples, churches, and college students on healthy Christ-centered relationships, dating, and marriage. Together, they co-lead the Center for Marriage and Relationships at Biola University, where Chris is a social psychologist and full professor, and Alisa is an adjunct faculty member. They also co-teach an undergraduate course on Christian relationships and co-host the popular podcast, The Art of Relationships. The Graces co-authored the Marriage Mentoring Workbook and Video Series, and serve on the speaking team for FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember marriage conferences.
Chris and Alisa live in Southern California and have two adult children married to fabulous spouses, as well as their unexpected blessing who attends Biola University.

Mandie Pinto

At the age of 14, Mandie Pinto clearly heard the call to minister through music and set out to sing at churches at conferences and services throughout the world. Currently, she attends and serves as a Worship Leader at Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch. Mandie also is the Worship Director at West Valley Christian Church in West Hills, CA, teaches voice privately and makes spiritual and musical development with mentorship a priority coaching worship leaders around the country. She enjoys regularly singing the National and Canadian Anthem for professional sports including the LA Dodgers, Anaheim Angels, LA Kings and LA Galaxy. Mandie resides in Southern California with her husband, Jeremy to whom she is happily married for 17 years and is a blessed mama to their two young beautiful daughters, Bridgette & Brielle.

John Randall

As a child (in 1974) John’s family began attending Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. There he attended elementary school, junior high and high school at Calvary Chapel High School. Following his graduation, John joined the staff at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa as a janitor. During that time he met his wife, Michelle who was an elementary school teacher at Calvary. Within 19 days, the two were engaged and a few months later, they were married. John and Michelle celebrated 31 years of marriage in 2023!

After four years on staff serving in the children’s ministry, high school ministry and in worship, John joined the staff at Calvary Chapel Vista in California.

In 1997, the Lord called the Randall family (John, Michelle & their 2 young boys) to take a step of faith and move to the west coast of Florida. It was there that they planted their first church—Calvary Chapel of Brandon. After 10 years of ministry in Florida, the Lord called them back to Southern California where John currently pastors Calvary South OC in San Clemente (formerly known as Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano).

Pastor John has been serving in pastoral ministry for 30 years. He is also the featured speaker on the Bible teaching radio program “A Daily Walk”, and is known for his clear and relatable presentation of the Scriptures.
John and his wife Michelle have 4 children (3 of whom are married) and they welcomed their first grandson in 2023.

Dr. Greg & Erin Smalley

Dr. Greg Smalley serves as the vice president of Marriage and Family Formation at Focus on the Family. He is the best-selling author of 17 books and co-creator of the premarital curriculum “Ready to Wed” with his wife, Erin. As the program manager for Focus on the Family’s marriage ministry, Erin Smalley develops content for the marriage department. The Smalleys have four children.

TBA

Jason Carson

Jason Carson is the Senior Pastor of Encounter Church in Mission Viejo, CA.  He loves his family more than anything on the planet.  Jason and his wife Julie were married in 1998 and have 4 amazing children: Halley, Lucy, Janey, and Shane.  Jason was the Youth Pastor at Mission Hills Community Church in Rancho Santa Margarita for 14 years and saw it grow from 11 to 160. After transitioning to adult and family ministry for a couple of years, Jason got the clear call from God to plant a church in his hometown of Mission Viejo in March of 2015. His true passion is shepherding people and caring for them as they encounter a life changing God, and become passionate followers of Christ.

Formerly, Jason was the founding member of The OC Supertones, one of the most popular bands in all of Christian music. While serving in the band, Jason delivered the message of the gospel to over one million people.  He has spoken at numerous Harvest Crusades, Billy Graham crusades, Food for the Hungry events, Creation festivals, for the Pope, and at several youth camps.  Before the band, Jason worked as a small group leader, teacher, worship leader and youth director at Mission Hills Church in Mission Viejo, CA for 7 years.

Jason graduated with a degree in Pastoral Ministries from Vanguard University in Southern California.

Paul Twiss

Paul serves as the teaching pastor at Bethany Bible Church in Thousand Oaks, CA. He is also an associate faculty member at The Master’s Seminary. Paul loves to preach and teach the Bible. He is blessed to be a husband to Laura and a father to six young children.

Paul and Virginia Friesen

Drs. Paul and Virginia Friesen were married in 1976 and are the parents of three young women, two of whom are now married to wonderful, Godly men.  They have been involved in Family Ministries for over 40 years through family camps, church staff positions, speaking, consulting, and writing. In 2003, they founded Home Improvement Ministries (www.HIMweb.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to equipping individuals and churches to better encourage marriages and families in living out God’s design for healthy relationships.

As the lead resource couple at Home Improvement Ministries, the Friesens regularly speak at marriage, men’s, and women’s conferences in the US and internationally, as well as local family and parenting seminars, and have an ongoing ministry with professional athletes.  Paul and Virginia both have Doctorates in Marriage and Family Therapy from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

The Friesens have authored over ten books and curriculums on parenting and marriage, including Letters to My Daughters, In Our Image, Raising a Trailblazer, Before You Save the Date, and most recently, The Marriage App.

Paul and Virginia’s greatest joy in life is knowing that their children are walking in the Truth.

George Louis

Worship Leader, Artist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer/songwriter with over 15 years of musical achievements and accomplishments. George began by playing the drums alongside Eddie Espinosa and Andy Park. His original music has been recorded and played throughout Mexico, Latin America and Europe. Check out more here: https://georgelouismusic.com/

George has led worship at churches and events in Southern California such as Lake Avenue Church, the Crossing, KKLA Men’s Gathering, EPIC Worship Conference, Franklin Graham Samaritan’s Purse World Conference and Harvest Riverside. George is married and lives in Los Angeles.

Phil and Diane Comer

Phil and Diane have been married for 38 years of marriage. They have four children and six grandchildren. Combining forty years of pastoral experience, Biblical instruction, and lessons learned in their own story, Phil and Diane bring parents hope and the practical help they need to accomplish their God-given task of raising children who will walk with God in vibrant faith.

Brook and Elizabeth Mosser

Brook leads Intentional with Phil Comer and has been in full-time Pastoral ministry for 18 years and has a heart to help “The Church” with spiritual formation in the family. He resides in Bend, OR with his wife Elizabeth (who also leads Intentional) and their four children, Duke (13), Scarlet (10), Birdie (6), and Sloane (4). Brook and Elizabeth host “The Intentional Parents Podcast” which is a global podcast on spiritual formation in the family. They are also passionate about leadership, marriage, spiritual formation, and seeing their own four kids become all in disciples of Jesus and helping other’s do the same.

Aaron Kellim

Aaron Kellim is a singer/songwriter and worship leader from Los Angeles, CA.  He has been creating music and leading worship since he was sixteen, and has traveled the country playing with bands such as Switchfoot and OneRepublic.  Aaron is currently writing new music and leading worship at churches across the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.  Aaron has been married to his beautiful wife, Kristin, for seven years, and has two rescue pups, Waino and BB.

Brandon Reed

Brandon is the Lead Pastor at Vista Church in Orlando, Florida. Born and raised in Tennessee, Brandon attended the University of Tennessee, where he studied biology and chemistry in pursuit of becoming a dentist before sensing God’s call to ministry. He has a Doctorate in Leadership and Master of Divinity degree in Theology from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon is a passionate fan of the Tennessee Volunteers and an avid college football enthusiast. He and his wife, Kara, have two kids, Addy and Bauer. Their family loves all things Disney, hanging out together at the beach, and going on fun adventures.

Jonathan and Melissa Brown

From the moment they were married in 1992, God has taken special care to teach his truths about marriage and parenting to Jonathan and Melissa Brown. It is with joy that they pass on their knowledge and understanding at every opportunity. Jonathan and Melissa have 7 children plus one African son to whom they are his American parents.

Jonathan and Melissa do not just teach family and relationships, they live family and relationships. Their wisdom flows from their Spirit filled faith and is grounded in the clear teaching of the Word of God. Their insights are transforming and practical. They will leave you empowered and confident.

Brandon Grant

Brandon Grant is the founding and current lead pastor of Rise City Church in Lakeside, CA – and he’s about to become the next lead pastor of Eastview Christian Church in Normal, IL. Originally from Illinois, Brandon and his family moved to the San Diego area to launch Rise City Church in 2013. In his ten years of leading Rise City, the church was able to help plant 13 new churches, baptize hundreds, gather thousands, and give away millions of dollars to community and global initiatives. Regarding Eastview, in many ways it’s a going back “home” for Brandon and his family. Brandon was on staff at Eastview for seven years as the college pastor before Eastview helped send him to plant Rise City. Brandon officially becomes the lead pastor of Eastview Christian Church on July 1, 2024. Brandon is married to the love of his life, Jamie, and he is the proud father of four – Elyse, Shepherd, Hope and Connor.

Matthew Cork

Pastor Matthew Cork is the Senior Pastor of Friends Church in Yorba Linda where he has served in his role since 2007 and served the church since 1992. With a BA and MA from Azusa Pacific University, Pastor Cork has led the development of Friends Church into 6 campuses located in Orange County and Riverside.

Matthew also serves as the Superintendent of the Friends Southwest family of 38 churches, bringing vision and growth to the region. As an author, Pastor Cork has published two books: Why Not Today and Broken for Good, both available on Amazon.

In addition to his work in the United States, Pastor Cork champions hope and freedom for the most marginalized people of India through the work of Dignity Freedom Network (DFN). Under his leadership, Friends Church continues to build educational centers and bring holistic transformation to the world.

Matthew and wife Mardi were married 28 years Oct. 22, 2023.  They are the proud parents of three adult children Nolan, Sophie, and Ella.

Danny Huerta

Daniel Huerta oversees Focus on the Families initiatives that equip mothers and fathers with biblical principles and counsel for raising healthy, resilient children.

A bilingual, licensed clinical social worker, Huerta addresses issues related to parenting such as communication, conflict resolution, spiritual growth, discipline, stress, anxiety, depression, media discernment and healthy sexuality.

He has been interviewed by media outlets including Fox News, Fatherly, Christianity Today, WORLD Magazine, The Christian Post and CBN, and he regularly speaks on Christian radio stations across the United States. He’s also written for publications including The Washington Post on topics related to marriage and parenting.

Huerta earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He’s currently working on his doctorate in psychology at California Southern University.

He has maintained a private practice in Colorado Springs since 2003 and served as a board member on the El Paso County Mental Health Association for almost four years.

He and his wife, Heather, have been married since 1997 and have two children, Alex and Lexi.

Anthony Prince

Anthony Prince is a husband, dad, and pastor—in that order. Anthony currently serves as the Executive Pastor at Real Life Church of LA, a growing church plant in the foothills of Los Angeles, CA. He is a graduate of Fuller Seminary, with an M.A. in Global Leadership and an emphasis in Youth, Family & Culture. As a consultant & coach with Ministry Architects (http://ministryarchitects.com), Anthony specializes in helping congregations and pastors across the US develop church-wide strategic planning, build sustainable ministries, and create multi-site solutions to better reach their communities. He is married to Christine and together they have three children.

Matt France

Hi, I’m Matt France, am a Pastor who loves Christ and has a calling to use my life to point others to Him. My faith and walk with Christ have grown steadily since I became a Christian in 1993 at a Harvest Crusade. I began my college career centered around a baseball scholarship from Concordia University, Irvine. The scholarship was a blessing and of course a dream come true but then God began to open other doors and I allowed Him to mold my college education into one centered around Christ, finishing at Vanguard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies with an emphasis in Ministry & Leadership. Some of the things I personally enjoy are family time, surfing, snowboarding, coaching sports, working out, experiencing new foods, traveling, hiking, camping.

The Lord has blessed me with a beautiful family consisting of wife- Monika, daughter Jordyn(22), Daughter-Skyler(19), Son-Bradyn(18), Son- Gavyn(15) and son-Caleb(9).  My wife has served a number of ways in Ministry over the years from late night counseling sessions, guest speaking, involvement in women’s ministry, being a small group leader as well as facilitating small group leadership training in both High School and Women’s Ministry settings. She has served at different levels with our Embrace Me (foster and adoption) ministry. She is CAPPA Certified Childbirth Instructor for San Antonio Community Hospital as well as a Professional Photographer, specializing in family, maternity and newborns and a real estate agent. My children enjoy music lessons, riding horses and are all involved in a variation of sports, they all serve and are actively involved in different ministries at our church. We thoroughly enjoy having a full house teeming with life.

My ministry work experience began at Ocean Hills Community Church in San Juan Capistrano, formally Mariners South County over 23 years ago and continued serving there for 8-1⁄2 years with jr high and high school students before the Lord called us to Rancho Cucamonga, California and Hillside Community Church. The Lord has given me a passion for young people with a desire to see their walks with Christ grow.

I spent 8 1/2 years at Hillside Community Church serving as the High School Pastor and Pastor of Life Celebrations. This has been a formative growing experience for 81/2 years. I have seen God do so much in and through the ministries I had the privilege to lead.

For the past 6 years I have been at Water of Life Community Church in Fontana Ca. a large church with avg. weekly attendance of 7000 adults & kids and a student ministry of around 400. I am currently the Sr. Director of Family Ministries overseeing kids ministry, students and college, birth through college and a staff of 22 with 600+ volunteers. Every step of my ministry calling and the opportunities that God has presented me has been a challenge to trust Him as I am at every step of my ministry career been entrusted with more and more responsibility. I love what I do and I’m excited to see God work through me and the leaders that have been called to serve alongside in ministry.

Throughout my life and ministry experiences I have seen lives changed by the power of Christ and the church body be a source of love and hope to the world. I look forward to getting to know you this week and serving your family.