About the Missionaries
Pastor Bob: I was raised in a home filled with alcoholism and violence. Following in the footsteps of my parents, I became addicted to drugs by the age of 12. After dropping out of school and “doing my own thing” for many years, I came to the end of my rope. I cried out to God, and He rescued me from an attempted suicide. I then went to Oakland Peniel Mission and graduated from the one-year residential recovery program. I began searching for what God would have me do with my life. I met Lisa, a World Gospel Mission missionary, and we were married in 1995.
I joined Lisa in Stockton, California, serving the children, youth, and families on the south side. In 1996, I was given an appointment with WGM as a missionary. I was ordained in 1998. In 2007, I was privileged to become a Stockton Police Chaplain. I was then assigned as the very first Stockton Police School Resource Chaplain, assigned to two schools in our area. I am humbled that God chose me to take His love to children and families who are in the same position I was in as a child.
In 2023, amidst organizational restructuring by World Gospel Mission, philosophical disparities emerged that would exclude the people we have served for the past three decades. Unwilling to forsake our calling to serve the underserved and underrepresented within Stockton's inner-city landscape, we have embarked on a new chapter with the establishment of the LTA Resource Center (Love Them All Resource Center) creating a non-profit organization in May 2024.
“God did not call us to an organization, He called us to a people group in Stockton, California, and we will not abandon those He called us to serve.”
Pastor Lisa: I became a Christian when I was 17 years old. After high school, I attended Vennard College (Iowa). After graduating, I returned home to California, and I continued to seek God’s direction in my life, wanting to serve Him wherever He could use me. In 1988, God called me to the mission field. I applied with World Gospel Mission and was assigned to Honduras. I spent one year in language school in Costa Rica and then went to Honduras.
I was a missionary in turmoil. I began to realize that I was not serving the people God had called me to. After eight months in Honduras, I transferred to the Los Angeles Peniel Mission. I immediately knew I was doing the work God wanted me to. After two years in LA, I was asked if I would consider transferring to Stockton. I felt God directing me to Stockton and began working here in 1994. After working a year by myself, I married Bob, thus doubling our staff! I am privileged to serve God in Stockton.
In 2023, World Gospel Mission decided to recast the vision and mission of Stockton Peniel. This change would exclude the underserved, underrepresented population we have worked with for three decades. Not being willing to forsake the call God has on our lives, we began a new venture with the LTA Resource Center, Love Them All Resource Center. We received our 501c3 nonprofit status in May of 2024. We are excited to continue to work within the community we have been called. He has led in so many ways over my life. He has been faithful, and I know He will continue to be.