City Leadership Team
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Alhambra Mary Glenn
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Growing up in San Francisco, diversity was a valued part of Mary's up-bringing. She is thankful for the richness of her childhood environment which included friends from diverse cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds. Yet Mary was aware that not everyone valued this diversity as she witnessed racism and hatred first hand. Still Mary was passionate and idealistic, full of hopes and dreams. At the age of 16, she was introduced to Jesus. Through Jesus' example she became more passionate about building bridges and developing community where everyone was valued and had a place to belong. While in college at San Diego State University, Mary attended Skyline Church, under the leadership of Pastor John Maxwell and she served in the college department on ministry staff. This season provided Mary with invaluable ministry leadership training and opportunities for her to be mentored by seasoned ministry leaders. Mary graduated from San Diego State University in 1992 with a Bachelor's of Art degree in Political Science. She believed her call was in law and politics, however, God was leading her to full-time church work. She worked in various churches throughout California as a youth pastor and she spent ten years leading summer camps including creating and directing a day camp in 1996 (that served as an outreach to local neighborhood kids) in Vancouver. She spent over three years ministering in Canada and received her credentials as a Licensed Pastor with the Baptist Union of Western Canada in 1996. While living in Canada, there was a mass migration into Vancouver from Hong Kong due to the impending return of Hong Kong to China from British rule in 1996. This transition resulted in a quick change in the ethnic make-up of Vancouver creating an environment of prejudice and misunderstanding among people. God was stirring in Mary's heart. She studied these issues and how the Church could be a catalyst for understanding and reconciliation in our diversity. Her thesis project was entitled: Youth, Racism and the Gospel of Christ. Upon her graduation from Regent College (Canada) in 1997 with a Masters in Christian Studies, she accepted the call to be the Minister of Students at Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church where she served as youth pastor for seven years. During this time, received her Masters in Divinity with a concentration in cross-cultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2003. From 2003-2006 she served as the Minister of Community Outreach at Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church. She currently serves in the Community of Alhambra as a member of the Alhambra Rotary Club and as one of the Founding Coordinating Chaplains for the Alhambra Police Department in which she has served since 2001. She is also the Co-Coordinator of Area-C (Police) Chaplains providing partnership and training for the 8 surrounding Cities Police Agencies’ Chaplains. Mary grew up in the Catholic Church and has participated in Protestant Churches since she was 16. Mary has been ordained as a pastor by the International Ministerial Fellowship, which credentials those who are called to be bridge builders among many Churches rather than being ordained by one particular denomination. She is a Doctoral student at Bakke Graduate School with a concentration in Transformational Leadership in the Global City. Mary is currently serving as the Alhambra City Catalyst with Kingdom Causes. Mary loves learning about cities. If Mary was not serving as the Alhambra Catalyst, she would be working as the local city tour guide. Mary is committed to seeing the Church partner with the City. She believes God is calling us together to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and God's will to be done in Alhambra as it is in Heaven. |
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Bellflower Ryan VerWys
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Ryan was lovingly introduced to God through years of observing his parents living out their faith. Their example of intentionally loving their neighbors and their radical obedience to God’s call shaped Ryan’s view of the Christian life. At age sixteen, Ryan lost two of his best friends in a fire that he escaped from without a scratch. As the lone survivor, he wrestled with God wondering what purpose he had for sparing his life. At first he felt it might be God’s purpose for him to be a missionary to Latin America and it was with that goal in mind that he entered Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. God used a semester of study in Honduras at that time to further sharpen Ryan’s understanding of God’s calling. He began to see and understand the depth of human suffering and injustice in the world. His paradigm of ministry was challenged and reshaped. Ryan returned home and began to see the injustice and suffering that he had not previously noticed in his own community. He began to study the Christian Community Development movement and read several books by John Perkins. He was excited to see the church at work, healing human hurts, restoring broken relationships, and promoting God’s shalom in the urban context of America. He was hooked and soon began to see that all Christians are called to be in community with those who are economically disadvantaged; called to live out racial and economic reconciliation and “loose the chains of injustice.” Ryan married his wife Rachel in January of 2000. Rachel’s kingdom heart and compassion convinced him that she was “the one.” After receiving degrees in Social Work, the two signed up to work as associates with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, an international relief and development agency. Sent to Bellflower, California, they spent the first of their two year term working with local non-profit organizations helping to build their capacity and mobilizing the churches in the area to serve the communities around them. In the fall of 2002 Ryan became the youth pastor at New City Church in North Long Beach. Concurrently Ryan participated in the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative training course, a fifteen month intensive training program for young urban leaders. Following the completion of their two year service term they had fully intended to move back “home” to Michigan but God had other plans. He began to break their hearts for the community of Bellflower. In November 2003 Rachel and Ryan helped to initiate a network of House Churches in the Bellflower area called the Church on “X” Street affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church which has ordained Ryan as a Ministry Associate. In March 2004 Ryan became the Executive Director of Open Arms Community Services, a non-profit that was seeking to unite the church in serving the community. After years of dedicated service to the community on its own, the Board of Directors of Open Arms decided in March 2005 that it would be beneficial to join forces with Kingdom Causes and to adopt the strategy of inspiring, connecting and empowering the church for God’s purposes. Ryan and Rachel are excited to see how God will use Kingdom Causes to bring about the redemption of their community, city and world. |
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Torrance Evan Chase
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I was born and raised in Flint, Michigan and drove cross country to California in 1987 to pursue the American dream of wealth and fame. As it turned out, the Lord was pursuing me and in 1994 I surrendered my life to Christ. I married in August of 1995 and had my first child, Connor in 1998. My daughter Alexandra, or Lexie, came along in 2001. My wife and I also adopted our son Jeremy, then a teenager and now 21, in the summer of 2000. In addition to these three, I also have a spiritual son, Shawn, who is 21 and married. I'm a simple man. Some of my favorite moments are holding or encouraging my children and coaching Connor's basketball team. I enjoy spending time with my extended family, which is fairly often. My wife and I enjoy art, time away talking over coffee and evening dinners that include going to the theatre. Finally, I love the Lakers. My professional career began in 1993. I began working for a self help company, PSI Seminars, as a manager, trainer and speaker. Through long hours, the sales from my division quadrupled in the first year. I received some of the accolades that I originally wanted from acting and modeling. But, in spite of my growing success, I left the company after a year and a half when I came to Christ and discovered the huge philosophical difference between my new faith and the company's new age teachings. This is when I put on a restaurant apron and pursued a college degree. These were humbling & exciting years as I went to school full time, worked two jobs, served in the church and started a family. I graduated college in 2000 with a degree in Pastoral Leadership and began working full time as a Pastor at Torrance First Baptist. In August of 2001 I was fired from TFB for conflicting visions and began to search for God's direction. In December 2001 I believe I started my life's work, United 2 Serve. United 2 Serve is a non-profit organization dedicated to building bridges between churches and their communities. John 17:23 is our foundation verse. Currently I am attending Coast Christian Fellowship in Torrance and am thrilled about partnering with the team at Kingdom Causes. |
Regional Leadership Team
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Executive Director & Long Beach Catalyst Brad
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Brad Fieldhouse was born and raised in Southern California. Growing up in a Christian home provided him with a solid foundation for life and many of his days growing up were spent at church activities. His relationship with the Lord established deep roots early on. After graduating from Valley Christian High School in 1990, He enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, to pursue a pre-medical degree with the hopes of one day serving in the medical field. It was during his junior year of schooling, while on a medical missions trip in Kenya, that the Lord changed his course and gave him a new focus. This was a challenging time because up to this point things had been pretty straightforward and the next steps had always seemed to be clearly defined. Upon returning to the states he completed his B.S. in Biology the following year and enrolled himself at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He knew that God had enlarged his heart for people, exposed him to global mission field and that He had called him into a life of full-time service but he did not know what form that would exactly take until many years later. It was in the early years of his theological training that he married the love of his life, Cari. Their families attended the same local church and often did things like vacation together. Having grown up together their friendship had steadily increased over the years. They made it official on July 13th, 1996. Brad’s conviction to serve the Lord in a full time capacity and his missionary heart led him to move his family to Moreno Valley, CA to be a part of an established church that was going to plant a new church in the nearby Riverside area. Church planting became an area of interest for him because of its missional focus and entrepreneurial bent. He served on the leadership team of this church from its early conception phases until its one year birthday in various roles. Brad had always felt that this time in Riverside was to be a rich time of equipping and training while he was being exposed to the real world of church planting and while he was finishing his schooling. All the while, however, his heart to passionately serve Long Beach had never faded away. In late 1999, Brad was commissioned as a Pastor in the Reformed Church of America. He moved his family to Long Beach sensing the Lord calling him to initiate a church planting movement there through the simple and reproducible model of house/organic church planting. Their local network of house churches is called Crossroads. He is still currently involved as a key leader in a larger effort (Church Multiplication Associates) that has seen numerous churches being planted in Southern California, in many other states across the nation and in various other countries around the world. As a member of the RCA leadership team, Brad has also served as the Far West representative on the national Urban Ministry Team where he is an advocate for the denomination’s efforts to serve the urban centers of America. He is also working at completeing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in “Transformational Leadership for the Global City” through Bakke Graduate School in Seattle. Locally, Brad serves as part of the Long Beach police departments chaplain team. He also enjoys coaching his kids soccer teams. His family has also now grown to include two daughters Brynn (8) and Lauren (5) and two sons Grant (3) and Nickolas (15 mo). “I pray that Christ Jesus and the Church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine.” Eph 3:20-21 (CEV) |
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Operations Director Rachel VerWys
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