Our Pastor

Pastor Keith and his wife Kim are native Southern Californians. They have two daughters (Marissa-27 and Michelle-22) in their almost 35 years of marriage. Marissa is married to her high school sweetheart and lives in the Denver area while Michelle just finished her last semester at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

Pastor Keith has a B.A. degree in Business Administration from Cal State at Fullerton and a Master of Divinity degree after attending Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley. He was in the banking industry for 12 years prior to responding to his calling to seminary. He was ordained in 1996 and served his first church in Lakewood, California. In 2002 he accepted a call as parish pastor in Grand Junction, Colorado, at American LC where he concentrated on Youth ministry and added a new third service opportunity. He returned to California (although northern) to serve Grace Lutheran Church in Ukiah for six years where he helped to start a community garden, began an advanced 3-year Bible study, taught various classes on Lutheran studies, and grew stewardship in the church from 1% to 10% benevolence giving.

 

In 2013, Pastor Keith and Kim returned to Southern California to care for parents and siblings where they now currently reside in Artesia. Last year, Pastor Keith did a six-month interim for the Pacifica Synod and various pulpit supply Sundays with Pacifica and Southwest synods.