Pastor Jim Stochl has been serving us since July 2012. He and his wife, Beth moved to Ceres from Southern California, where they worked and served churches for 28 years. Originally from Minnesota, Pastor Jim’s faith journey began as a student at UC Davis and continued at UC Berkeley. He served for five years with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Diablo Valley College, Cal State Hayward and San Jose State. He graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1989 and served as solo pastor at Faith United Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, where he led the 40 person congregation in a $1 million seismic retrofit of their historical building. He served as Business Administrator at Arcadia Presbyterian Church for six years, and then served several interim pastor positions. He taught Luke-Acts for 18 years at Azusa Pacific University as an Adjunct Lecturer in New Testament, and led hundreds of students through Mark Manuscript studies at Campus by the Sea on Catalina Island. Jim is an ardent sports fan, living and dying with the 49ers, Giants and Warriors. Since both hips were replaced he has been committed to walking, last year walking over 3,000 miles. He and Beth have two grown children. Mark is an Aerospace Engineer in El Segundo. Rachel is a grad student at San Jose State in Justice Studies. They also have a white and black Cocker Spaniel named Dempsey.