Our Pastor

Pastor Paul Stanley

Pastor Paul is a recent transplant to California from Indiana by way of Ohio. He has been married to his wife Barbara since 1993 and they have one son, Caleb, who is six years old. He attended both Ashland Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree. He was fully ordained as an Elder in the Brethren Church in 2004. Pastor Paul is also a veteran of the United States Navy, and loves to explore northern California on his Harley-Davidson Road King.

I did not come to know the Lord until I was 30 years old. I spent a lot of years wasting my life through other avenues that promised the security and freedom I think everyone looks for in this life. I spent a great deal of my life living in the "biker" world where everything from drunkeness, drugs, drug dealing, guns and whatever rebellion I could get my hands on were an everyday thing.

It's a long story, but I tell you the truth (and I would not say if it wasn't so) that when I met Jesus Christ, my world changed. I did not "find" Jesus, He was never lost; I was. He did not "find" me, He always knew where I was, He was just waiting for me to come home. I tried everything from the wild living kind of life to several years of the very disciplined life of martial arts and all of it kept coming up empty. When I submitted to the Lord, the peace, security and freedom I had been looking for suddenly was mine. Shortly after coming to the Lord, I came across a verse from the Bible found in Jeremiah 29:11-14 that says it all for me. The verse reads "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity."

Are you looking for a change too? Sorry, church won't help you. Surprised? Don't be, because what I mean by that is that the only One that can help you is Jesus Christ. Once submitted to Him, church will certainly become part of your life and will help you grow and be nurtured as a believer, but if you just try "doing church," it will just be on your list of things you tried and didn't like.

So if you're sick and tired, of being sick and tired, pray to the Lord and submit your life to Christ. I promise your life will never be the same. And if you're ready to get plugged into an active body of Christ that is serious about serving the Lord, I invite you to join us so that we can grow together as children of the Living God.