Our Pastor. Michael Woodcock has lived in Southern California most of his life.  He came to a life-changing faith in Christ during his teen years, and soon felt God’s call to ministry. After serving in a few different church ministries, and much education and training, God led him to become the Pastor of our church. Michael has been joyfully married to Kathy for thirty-six years, and the Woodcocks have one adult daughter, Michelle, and a son in law, Adam.

Preaching, teaching and living the Bible are big parts of Pastor Mike’s ministry. He encourages us to pursue a vibrant daily experience of God through prayer and the Bible. He wants to help us connect our Sunday faith to our Monday work, and connect with God in the whole of our lives.

We share Pastor Mike’s belief that real unity is possible, but costly. Together we’re saying, “Let’s keep growing in our practice of genuine love and truth; let’s become more like Jesus in our relationships with each other, and with our world.”

Pastor Mike encourages creativity and range in our approach to worship, and in the ways we connect with our local community. He uses humor and speaks honestly. We share his deep conviction that God has given us a unique opportunity to model racial and social reconciliation. 

A little bit more about Pastor Mike. He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University (B.A., Biblical Literature), and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.; Ph.D. in Theology, with concentration in Old Testament).  He’s an ordained American Baptist minister, and has served as our Pastor for twenty-six years.  A few years ago Pastor Mike contributed articles on hope, intercession, repentance of God, vision, theology of work/labor, and several other topics to the Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary. He teaches courses in biblical studies for International Theological Seminary and New Theological Seminary of the West.