About Brad

I was introduced to the person of Jesus in my youth… around the same time in which I began to enter some rather rebellious years. Through various cycles of trying to run from God…culminating in some dramatic moments… I surrendered to the inescapable call of Jesus. I came to see how Jesus wanted to “redeem the rebel”… how Jesus is the only true rebel in this world. …the one who confronts the real powers that have ruled us all. I believe that the call of Jesus is not a call to simply be “good” religious people but to receive the grace of God to reclaim us as His own… by a love that meets us at the deepest core of our nature.

I was born and raised on the Westside of Los Angeles… graduated from Pacific Palisades High School and San Diego State University. Early years of ministry included that of youth, then in college providing an "open house" to those in need, followed by serving as a youth and young adult pastor for an international church plant in in Geneva, Switzerland and then time in India.

I returned to Southern California to attend Fuller Theological Seminary where I completed a Masters of Divinity in Theology and a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy. During this time I became a part of the Westside Vineyard and in 1991 was called to serve as the Senior Pastor.

That same year I was united with my dear wife Leah…now my partner for over 33 years.  There is a type of surrender that the partner of someone in vocational ministry makes that is unique and unseen. She has given herself to multiple spheres as she has been at the forefront of raising four children… cared for so many patients in a longstanding career in nursing at UCLA, where she now serves as a Bone Marrow Transplant Coordinator…. and been unwavering in her faithfulness to Jesus and His Vineyard community ….and all of this with grace. We are deeply blessed by our four young adult children … Travis, Jackson, Cate, and Cole.

It was a remarkable privilege to serve as the Lead Pastor of the Westside Vineyard Church for over 33 years. I am so deeply grateful for all the years and all the lives. During these years I also had the opportunity of serving the larger Vineyard movement as an Area Pastoral Leader and Missional Partnership Leader for India. Having completed a succession of my pastoral role in the summer of 2024, I will continue to reflect on the challenging issues of our current culture…and hope to share that which may serve others.

Ultimately, I realize that the deepest call of Jesus is to be found… to be found by his call that lies outside of us… and transcends every role we may try to find our identity in … every form of human striving and success… every human opinion that makes a claim on us. I can only be found in him. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)