About

Originally from eastern Colorado, Pastor Jeff grew up on a farm and was the fourth of four boys. After high school he moved to Portland, Oregon where he studied and graduated from Multnomah Bible College in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biblical Studies.

He then served as an Intern Pastor at Easthill Church in Gresham, Oregon under Pastor Jerry Cook. Pastor Jeff would say it was Jerry who first helped him to fall in love with the Church and the desire to live out love, acceptance and forgiveness, the mission and motto of Easthill.

After a couple of years, Jeff went on staff at Easthill and served for five years with the new senior Pastor, Ted Roberts. While there, he enjoyed serving as the college-age pastor and was also able to serve as youth pastor to jr. and sr. high students as well as a year with young couples.

After having two children, Pastor Jeff and his wife and ministry partner, Debbie, moved to the Merced area to be closer to Debbie’s family. They began attending YC as “just another family” and within a few weeks Pastor Jack Parker, asked Jeff to fill in while Parker was away.

The opportunity to share with the YC family came often, which began to meld Pastor Jeff and YC together. When Jack decided to leave YC, the church asked Jeff if he would fill in as their interim pastor during their search for a new senior pastor.

Jeff agreed to fill the interim position and in one short month, the elders asked if they could suspend their search and offer the position to him. He accepted the position in October of 1991 and felt blessed to be given the opportunity to serve as a senior Pastor, which had been a goal of Jeff’s for many years.

Jeff and his wife, Debbie have two children, Kacy and Kyle, and son-in-law Matthew Rosson. They love spending time as a family, hiking, playing board game like Settlers of Cataan (and others) and vacationing together. Jeff enjoys collecting oak antique furniture and doing the needed restoration, and riding off-road dirt bikes with a collection of wonderful friends from the church and community.

Jeff’s lifelong dreams have been to enjoy a thriving marriage, to be intimately close to his children, to have a small cluster of very close friends and experience a church movement that has a powerful and sustained impact for Christ on the community.  Jeff passionately pursues to live out the mission of meeting people where they are and loving them to where Christ wants them to be.