GRACE PRES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Communications Coordinator
Annabel grew up as a ‘Third Culture Kid,' living in seven different countries before her 21st birthday. She eventually landed in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2015. Here, she intended to start Veterinary school, though instead joined her Church team, working in Home Groups ministry - a decision she is very pleased with! In Florida, she met the love of her life - her husband James.
In 2020 they moved to Palo Alto for James to carry out his post-doctorate at Stanford. Annabel writes stories for fun in hopes that they will make people laugh, connect with the reader, and be a sliding door into a new perspective. She joined the Grace Pres team in 2023 in the communications role. Her mission is to ensure our congregation feels truly at home, establishing effective communications and fostering a welcoming atmosphere within our church community.
When she is not at Church, you can find her climbing up rock walls, pitching a tent in the Santa Cruz mountains, or splashing in fountains with her family.
Elsie embraces her tri-cultural background as a Chinese American who lived and raised her three daughters in Basel, Switzerland with her Swiss husband, Daniel, of 31 years. Prior to joining Grace, Elsie was actively involved at PBC Cupertino for 24 years, serving alongside her pastor at Psalms and educational conferences throughout Europe. She has a deep passion for Hebrew and a heart for hospitality, having hosted innumerable guests for dinners, neighborhood children for Back Yard Bible Clubs, young women for cooking classes, and coordinated a variety of celebrations and weddings. Some of her favorite activities are walking her dog Milly while chatting with a girlfriend, spending an entire day cooking in the kitchen, sitting at the beach for hours doing absolutely nothing, making vacation memories with her daughters and sons-in-law, and babysitting her grandson, Kai.
Jim grew up in Palo Alto, attended Stanford as both an undergrad and business executive, and spent 40+ years working globally in the Services and Support Organizations of Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Cisco. Jim also spent the majority of the past 20 years in Bible Study Fellowship, serving as either a Group or Children's Leader. For fun, Jim loves hiking with his wife Kathy, running, playing golf, and playing almost any song from the 60's and 70's on guitar.
Job Titles:
- Director of Women 's Ministries Congregational Care
Kathy grew up roaming the orchards and surrounding hills of San Jose, but encountered Jesus while living in Hong Kong with her husband Jim and their three children in the late 1990s. She returned to the United States with a hunger to learn more and enrolled in Bible Study Fellowship. A few years later, she served as a Teaching Leader for BSF, then on staff of Women's Bible Study at Central Peninsula Church. In 2018, she became Grace Church's first Director of Women's Ministries and Congregational Care.
Alongside her role at Grace, Kathy is pursuing a Master's of Counseling degree with Westminster Online Learning. Her favorite ways to unwind are laughing, hiking and spending time with family and friends, but especially with her one-year-old grandson.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Operations
A native Texan, Kristyn moved to the Bay Area in 2006 to attend Stanford, and a few months later, started getting rides to Grace through RUF. After college, she worked as a management consultant at McKinsey in Dallas before coming back to Stanford in 2012 for her MBA. From 2014-2019, Kristyn worked as a senior financial analyst for the CFO of Stanford, where she performed financial analysis and managed strategic projects for senior leadership and the Board of Trustees. In 2020, Kristyn came on staff at Grace as Executive Director of Operations to manage the church's finances and other administrative aspects of the ministry. She lives in Menlo Park with her husband, Jack, and their three kids. Her happy place is watching college football on Saturday mornings in the Fall.
David (aka "DJ") has been a Pastor at Grace since 2011, having previously served as the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) Campus Minister at Stanford University. He and his wife, Mindi, have 3 delightful children - Kylie, Jaden, and Averly - who keep life exciting and unmanageable. Their favorite family ritual is exploring the Bay Area to "see something beautiful" and "eat something delicious." While both David and Mindi share a common love for Crossfit, Mindi is the real athlete in the family. She's also an insanely good cook, with remarkable gifts of hospitality.
David also loves finding new places to eat, cycling, college football, snow skiing, live music, and great coffee - especially when these things are shared with others. His heart is for Grace to always feel like a place where you are "free to struggle" instead of "struggling to be free."
Since 2014, Iron has been serving as a pastor at Grace. Iron is a native of Korea who immigrated to the US at age six and grew up in and around New York City. He graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (BA) in 1990 and from Westminster Theological Seminary (M.Div.) in Philadelphia, PA in 1994. He also earned a M.Th. from New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1997. Iron was a High School Youth Pastor and Director of Christian Education at Korean United Church in Philadelphia, Assistant Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, Associate Pastor at City Church of San Francisco, and Senior Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Orange County.
Iron likes to spend time with his family, learn obscure facts, and follow his beloved New York Yankees. He is married to his wife Grace, and they have one daughter, Charlotte.