I adopted “I don’t need anyone” as my life motto. I thought I just needed to survive until death, because I believed I was an orphan in a hostile world. But the gospel I encountered in high school told me I had a heavenly Father who loved me so much that He died on the cross to forgive me. And that changed everything. 

A big part of that change took place in my college years at Berkeley, where I grew to love people and God’s vision for the church. He eventually led me to full-time ministry along with my wife Sarah.  Since I came to our church in 1991, God has filled my life with deep relationships and joy -- which would not have been possible if left to my own devices. And I thank God for that.

So today, I am back in my hometown, San Jose, CA, overseeing ministries in Stanford, Santa Clara U, UC Santa Cruz and SJSU along with Interhigh Youth. I’m a father of two adult-age daughters, but I still feel like a college student. The secret to that everlasting youth is that I don’t exercise, so that I can’t feel my age. 

Myers-Briggs: ENTP (The Inventor) -- shared by Gandalf, Sirius Black and R2D2. One source said that the way that ENTP dies is “an elaborate magic trick gone wrong”. If you know me, you would be shocked how accurately that statement describes me on multiple levels.