Inside WACC






Loading Page Content
Bill Ankerberg

Senior Pastor
Email: bill@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x101

Bryan Guthrie

Lead Pastor of Creative Ministries
Email: bryang@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x129
How did you come to WACC?
WACC found me when I was volunteering at Yorba Linda Friends Church and asked if I would help out during the interim until Bill found the person to be the full-time worship pastor. At some point, he stopped looking and decided to go with me. Good for me!!

What do you love the most about your job?
The creating of worship times and experiences, the chance to try something new every week and use the creative gifts God has given me.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
I plan and lead our corporate worship gatherings on the weekends

What is your favorite movie?
That depends on what kind of mood I'm in.
ACTION: The Matrix
COMEDY: Notting Hill
DRAMA: The Talented Mr. Ripley
WESTERN: Silverado
CLASSIC: Star Wars (yes, to a 33 year old, that movie is now considered a classic)

What are your hobbies?
Listening to my ipod while working in the yard, golfing, playing with my kids, cooking with my wife

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I played four years of football in high school

Denny Ford

Pastor of Finance & Administration
Email: denny@wacc.net
562.945.4500 x123

How did you come to WACC?
I was invited by Pastor Bill and the Board to help with WACC's administrative transition. Later I was asked to be interim CFO and then full-time finance and administrative Pastor.

What do you love the most about your job?
I love helping people be more effective in doing ministry.

What do you do to relax?
I take long walks, sometimes 10 or more miles, with my iPod.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
Church management is a shepherding ministry of stewardship, oversight, and administration in the local church. At WACC we provide services and support to our ministries and members in doing the work they were called to do. We also make sure business rules and processes are followed to give people confidence that money is being spent carefully and wisely.

What is your favorite movie?
I'll give you three: What About Bob, A Beautiful Mind, and As Good As It Gets.

What are your hobbies?
I'm not sure they qualify as hobbies, but I spend a lot of time reading and hiking, sometimes at the same time.

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I read the complete works of John Steinbeck in about one year, with my wife.

What is the last good book you read?
Non-fiction: The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, by Scot McKnight Fiction: Restless: A Novel, by William Boyd

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
The Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our favorite place is Wildyrie Resort, a rustic lodge located on Lake Mamie in Mammoth Lakes.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in San Jose, California, in Cambrian Park, near Los Gatos. I attended Willow Glen Baptist Church, a BGC church, where I met my wife, Marci (Anderson).

What is your favorite dessert?
Without a doubt, my mom's cheesecake! It's a family favorite, too.

Hal Lentz

Lead Pastor of Development and New Horizons
Email: hal@wacc.net
562.945.4500 x157

How did you come to WACC?
I met Pastor Bill as I served with Converge World Wide/BGC. Over the years we have worked together on boards and initiatives in Generosity. When an invitation was extended to join the team of lead pastors the decision to come to WACC was an easy one.

What do you love the most about your job?
That generosity is not about what you have but who you are. Some of the most generous people I know are of modest means. I love being around generous people. Generous people are constantly looking to bring blessing into life of another. I get to encourage generous people to be generous and believe that generosity is the most prolific gift in the body of Christ.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
My purpose is to develop the financial resources in current gifts, major gifts and planned gifts for WACC in becoming a Legacy Church - a church with an enduring impact locally, regionally and globally. I'll also be working with New Horizons building into the lives of men and women 55+.

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
Directly to the patio with a carafe of fresh coffee, newspaper or latest issue of one of the food magazines that I subscribe to. Then to Trader Joes or a produce market . . . and Bon Appetite.

What are your hobbies?
I love to do things around the house. Household projects, yard work, anything. My true passion is being the family chef. I loved it when the kids asked, "Dad, what's for dinner?"

What would we be surprised to know about you?
As a Boy Scout I earned the rank of Eagle Scout with 42 merit badges and climbed Mt. Fuji during the 13th World Jamboree.

Where did you grow up?
Santa Ana, California

Don Mortenson

Lead Pastor of Congregational Care
Email: mort@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x119

How did you come to WACC?
Pastor Bill and the Holy Spirit - I'm not sure who influenced who the most

What do you love the most about your job?
Getting to meet all of the wonderful people at WACC - what a great community of loving, caring brothers and sisters. Thanks for being so welcoming to our entire family.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
My role at WACC and my wiring as a person is caring for others. I hope to continue the great tradition of care in our church community. I will also be involved with the care of our missionaries. Our goal is to begin a recovery program shortly for those struggling with addictive and compulsive behaviors. Another dream in the works is to begin an Institute for Leadership Development. What an exciting place to work.

What is your favorite movie?
Princess Bride

What are your hobbies?
I love the outdoors, I love to hike, fish enjoy nature.

What would we be surprised to know about you?
Though my graduate work is in counseling, my undergraduate degree is in Forest Management. I also worked as the Assistant Dean for the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

What is the last good book you read?
To Know and Love God by David K Clark

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
The Grand Caymans

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Racine Wisconsin - on Lake Michigan just 60 miles north of Chicago

John Riley

Lead Pastor of Student Ministries
Email: johnr@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x174
How did you come to WACC?
I was brought as a baby.

What do you love the most about your job?
The students who teach me.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
Loving and being there for one student at a time. s

What is the last book you read?
Hurt by Chap Clark

What is your favorite movie?
Return of the King

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
I run.

What are your hobbies?
Being with my wife and daughter.

Sherry Coats

Lead Pastor of Global Contextual Ministries
Email: sherry@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x124
How did you come to WACC?
Through the encouragement of the Baimas

What do you love the most about your job?
Seeing people develop bigger world views.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
We encourage them to engage in the Cause of Christ, globally.

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
Any golf course or chair with a book in hand.

What is your favorite movie?
Schindler's List

What is the last good book you read?
Sacred Romance by John Eldredge

Where did you grow up?
Whittier

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I am a twin.

Sherry Mortenson

Lead Pastor of Spiritual Formation
Email: sherrymort@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x118
How did you come to WACC?
Both Mort and I felt God's call on our life to leave Minnesota (a life we loved - ministries we loved, a home we loved, friends and family we love, because we felt the Lord was calling us to trust Him and leaving everything to serve Him here at WACC. We believe that God was calling us to serve Him and others here at WACC and also serve as permanent part time faculty at Bethel Seminary of the West in San Diego)

What do you love the most about your job?
I love helping others experience God's presence and power in their life in new and deeper ways. I love sharing the truth and reality of Jesus Christ with people who have given up on God or feel that faith is irrelevant for their life.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
My title is lead pastor of Spiritual Formation. What that means is I am here to help the body of Christ grow in loving God and loving others. I am also here to serve on the teaching team on weekends and oversee the women's ministries.

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
I would sit in my living room back in Minnesota and look out onto a little pond next to our house. That is where I would go to pray, read, write my sermons, and encounter God. It was my holy ground. I am still waiting for that new place here in CA.

What is your favorite movie?
My Big Fat Greek Wedding

What is the last good book you read?
I can't pick just one!

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a small town, Redwood Falls, Minnesota (population 6,000!)

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I am friends with the former president of the Minnesota Atheists. When I was on the teaching staff at Calvary, I interviewed him as part of a message I did one Sunday on "I have a friend that doesn't believe that God exists". Two out of his three reasons he doesn't believe in God is because of how he watched Christians treat others - the Church needs to hear this.

Todd Molter

Lead Pastor of Family Ministries
Email: todd@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x137
How did you come to WACC?
Invited by my parents. Met my future wife on the first Sunday I visited and thought this was a pretty cool church.

What do you love the most about your job?
Working with people, teaching and preaching God's word.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
Support and encourage marriage, minister to men by understanding their needs, train, educate and relate to growing families, teach and preach God's word, hopefully inspiring others to seek God, meet with and council those in need.

What is your favorite movie?
Family Man

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
Mountains, Beach, Golf Courses, anywhere with our trailer.

What is the last good book you read?
The Great Omission by Dallas Willard

Where did you grow up?
Whittier

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I'm color blind

Chad Miller

College/Young Adult Pastor
Email: chad@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x126
How did you come to WACC?
I was hired 8 years ago as a worship leader for the current college ministry. That job literally changed the course of my entire life.

What do you love the most about your job?
My job assumes that people are ready to talk about more than sports and politics. What makes life worth living is what seems to be just under the surface of the mundane details of our lives. I love talking with people who are willing to start there.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
I'm involved in college ministry and prayer. So with prayer, we pray for a lot of people each week. When people fill out prayer requests and put them in the plate on Sunday morning, every one of those really does get prayed for. With College ministry (Illuminate), I love training the next generation of church leadership. They inspire me.

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
I love playing with my kids. I'm getting into golf too. Paradise is reading sitting on the porch in the morning with a cup of black coffee, reading the paper. It makes me feel like a grown up!

What is your favorite movie?
About a Boy. It's about finding the courage to do the hard things in life. It's about not just living safely.

What are your hobbies?
Sports. Reading. Long walks on the beach. Submarine maintenance. Training for the annual Mr. Universe competition. Helping Tiger Woods with his long game. I'm also Roger Clemens new strength coach. The usual.

What is the last good book you read?
Thomas Keating's, The Human Condition

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I have a lot of hobbies.

Colleen Marks

Community Pastor
Email: colleen@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x122
What do you love the most about your job?
I love communicating God's love to people. I also enjoy supporting people to use their gifts to serve God and others and love opportunities to touch lives in our community.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
I have the privilege of mobilizing our congregation to meet needs in our community, oversee our Connections ministry, which is our ushers, greeters, connections volunteers and parking lot attendants, oversee our church-wide special events, support our communications department and assist in women's ministries.

How did you come to WACC?
At the end of high school, my good friend, Mary Pickett, invited me to the youth group at WACC. I've not left since!

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
San Clemente beach. The ocean does a lot for me.

What are your hobbies
I love spending quality time with my friends and family, laughing with my roommates and learning new things. I enjoy being outdoors, going to the movies, going out to eat, exercising and listening to music.

What is the last good book you read?
Just Walk Across the Room, by Bill Hybels

Where did you grow up?
Whittier

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
Hawaii. ALOHA!

What is your favorite dessert?
Baskins Robbins Cappuccino Blasts, no doubt!

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I used to do field reporting for a jazz station in Long Beach called KKJZ, 88.1 FM. Growing up, I wanted to be a broadcast journalist.

Jacob Kenagy

Technical/Video Arts Pastor
Email: jacob@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x145
How did you come to WACC?
Moved here with my family when I was 8 years old, and started working here in 2002 as a temporary maintenance guy.

What do you love the most about your job?
Being creative, and using my skills in a ministry setting.

What do you do or where do you go to relax?
Watching movies at home, experimenting with still photography, venturing into nature by myself.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
Add light, amplify sound, and project multimedia to our congregation to enhance their worship experience. In other words, make things look and sound neat.

What is the last good book you read?
"His Needs, Her Needs"

What is your favorite movie?
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Where did you grow up?
Atascadero in Central Coastal California, and here in Whittier 10.

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
Joshua Tree, Owens Valley, and the Eastern Sierra Mountain Range

What is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate Thunder from Down Under

Jared Powell

Assistant Student Ministries Pastor
Email: jpowell@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x133
How did you come to WACC?
With my parents as a kid in the early 80's.

What do you love the most about your job?
I get to have fun all the time.

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
We hang out with the craziest people in the church.

What are your hobbies?
Surf, TV, and eating good food.

What is the last good book you read?
Ben Hogan's Five Lessons of the Modern Fundamentals of Golf.

What is your favorite movie?
The Goonies

Where did you grow up?
Whittier

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
The next place I have never been.

What is your favorite dessert?
More dinner. I don't eat much sugar.

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I love talk radio.

Kelly Warner

Pastor of Sports and Recreation Outreach Ministries
Email: kelly@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x142
Rondalyn Roach

Children's Pastor
Email: rondalyn@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x138
How did you come to WACC?
I was a new stay at home mom with a 6 month old baby and no friends my age since we hadn't lived in Whittier long. We came to WACC to find friends our age and a great place for our kids. It's now a 28 year success story!

What do you love the most about your job?
Kids! They never cease to amaze me, challenge me, and keep me honest. They're the best!

How do you and your ministry serve the congregation?
We love to make church fun and relevant for kids while providing a chance for 'grown-ups' to learn and grow at their own level.

What is your favorite movie?
The Little Princess among many others! (The newer version - not Shirley Temple)

What is the last good book you read?
Blue Like Jazz

Where did you grow up?
Burbank, California. It was fun because Disney, Warner Brothers and NBC studios were all in my backyard!

Where is your favorite place to vacation?
Lake Powell or Lake Tahoe on a houseboat; Hawaii; or anywhere my husband and children are!

What is your favorite dessert?
Ice Cream!

What would we be surprised to know about you?
I played a tightrope walker in the musical 'Carnival' in High School where I met my husband who played a gypsy!

Tim Gunther

Technical/Video Arts Pastor
Email: timothy@wacc.net
Telephone: 562.945.4500 x139
  FITNESS @ WACC
Get In Shape WACC!
Three fitness classes to choose from. Check it out!
ZUMBA!, Body Blast and Kore Krazy Classes

Find Out More
 
DAUGHTER DATE NIGHT
Friday, February 10
7pm in the Worship Center
$15/per person
Contact: John Riley
johnr@wacc.net x174

Find Out More
 
POSTCOLLEGE CONNECT
Come talk, snack and connect.
Sunday, Feb. 12 and 26 at 12:30pm.
In March we'll meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month at
7pm, Rm 20.

Find Out More
 
CORE VAULES
The pastors, staff, and church board are excited to launch our Core Values series with the church starting February 18 & 19! We'll be offering small groups at 5:30pm and 7pm on Tuesdays at WACC and in-home studies. Sign up to host or join a group at the Info Center this weekend.
 
8100 Colima Road, Whittier, CA 90605 • 562.945.4500 • Contact UsServicesMail BoxFacebook Twitter WACC 2011, all rights reserved