Kathy attended Canadian Bible College after doing nursing training at Vancouver City College in Canada. At CBC, she received her Bachelor of Christian Education degree with a specialty in Children’s educational ministry. Kathy is the mother of three children (all grown) and one husband Mike (not grown). Kathy has been instrumental at starting three distinct children’s ministry centers in her 31 years of professional children’s ministry. In addition, Kathy founded a pre-school which is still in existence 22 years later. After not being in college for many years, Kathy went back to school and got an advanced nursing degree at Indiana State University this past year.
Kathy loves to do puzzles – both word puzzles and the jigsaw variety. She also loves to travel to exotic places like Hong Kong and Europe. Kathy and Mike started Gateway Fellowship in 1999, moving to California from Montana. Kathy is a whiz at the computer, but if you asked her to turn a television on and off from the remote, she couldn’t do it.
Her philosophy of ministry to children can be summed up in these two statements: Help them grow to their fullest calling and capacity and Keep them Safe while doing so.
In addition to being the Church’s half-time Christian Education director, Kathy is also a District Nurse with the Natomas Unified School District. She personally oversees one-third of the Natomas schools and is often involved in community health-related events. More than anything, Kathy’s desire is to see children come to know God and to live healthy in Him.
Larry never looks this good unless you happen to come to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) headquarters in Sacramento! You’ll usually see him at church in jeans and a nice shirt. “Nice” is subject to the interpretation of the viewer. Larry has been with Gateway since 2004. His passion is small groups (we call them “Networks”) and Restoration Prayer Ministry. He loves to spend time with his wife of 37 years, his adult children (five of them), and his grandkids (three of them). He also loves to cycle (road and mountain), shoot (full-size 1911 45 ACP, 7mm Rem. Mag. tactical bolt action rifle), reload, read, and go to movies.
Larry works full time with the CHP as a legislative analyst (to support his pastoring habit). He gets to hobnob with state legislators and their staff and analyze bills that affect the CHP. (Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? He loves it!) He spent four years as an officer in the 82d Airborne Division, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. He pastored churches in Casey, Alabama, Des Moines, Iowa, Modesto, California, and Calgary, Alberta, Canada (can you say cold?).
His favorite movie is “The Matrix” (first one only).
His favorite actor is Johnny Depp.
His favorite music is silence, but if he must listen to music, it would have to be Celtic. However, his wife makes him listen to a variety of genres. She’s a music fanatic.
His favorite musicians are James Galloway and the Chieftains.
His favorite television show is “NCIS Los Angeles”
His favorite food is sushi.
His favorite book of the Bible is John’s Gospel.
His favorite time of day is between 5 and 10 a.m.
His favorite writer is J. R. R. Tolkien.
I am with the worship team ministry focusing on musical direction as well as worship direction. I enjoy being able to communicate with God with music and I love creating a space in which people can meet and worship God. My goal as a worship leader is to equip other members of the worship team with tools to help create this space and to respond to prompting of the Holy Spirit before during and after or worship experiences.
I have been playing music since the 4th grade and picked up the piano around middle school. I have had the opportunity to lead worship with Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship in the Pacific Region as well as different churches in the area during college. I started attending Gateway in 2006 and became a member of the worship team in 2007.
I enjoy Food, Music and Games and hope to incorporate all of my loves into one pasttime: I call it The Musical Food Game. I can quote the entire Lord of the Rings Movies, love listening to band Future of Forestry, and am a fan of Karaoke.
Favorite Verses are Psalm 139 and Ephesians 2:14
Mike and Heather have been married for 7 ½ years. They quickly found their home at Gateway soon after marrying and moving to Sacramento. Mike is quiet and moderately amusing while Heather is outgoing and adventurous. They LOVE spending time exploring, cuddling and reading with their two boys.
Mike works as a mechanical engineer and is one of the worship directors at Gateway. He’s been one of the leaders of this ministry for 5 years. Mike loves acoustic guitars and has dabbled in playing piano, violin and mandolin as well. What Mike most likes about worship ministry is being involved with a diverse group of people who are trying to figure out what it means to authentically worship Jesus.
Heather’s main roles these days are investing in their two sweet boys, serving in various capacities at The GreenHouse, and directing an urban mission trip ministry for students from Northern California and Northern Nevada through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She has helped with children’s church in the past and will begin helping in the nursery soon.
Mike and Heather like outdoorsy activities like rock climbing, anything related to the ocean, and bike riding. Once their sons are a bit bigger, they look forward to including them in these too. Favorite foods include Thai, Indian, Italian and some down-home German food. Mike’s favorite bands of late are Five Iron Frenzy, Fiction Family and One Sonic Society. His favorite genres of music are acoustic rock and jazz. Heather’s current mp3 faves include: K’Naan, Rodrigo y Gabriela, U2 and Richard Smallwood. Our son’s prefer the soundtrack to the Sound of Music. Favorite authors include Erwin McManus, Shane Claiborne, and Dr. Seuss. Their favorite scripture is the gospel of Mark.
Curtis and Peggy Chapman have served in youth ministry since 1995 and have been encouraged, shaped, and continually transformed as God uses the youth in their life to share with them their creativity, openness, and honesty. They have been privileged to serve alongside passionate people who love God and give freely of their life for the students God put in their paths. They are thankful and blessed for the team He has brought together at Gateway Fellowship and love the passionate call God has placed on the lives of the leaders of FLIPT.
Curtis likes to do anything crazy or extreme. He enjoys snowboarding, paintballing, wrestling, body surfing, and challenging us all to keep up with him! He is most happy spending time with students, his children, and his wife. His favorite thing about youth ministry is seeing lives truly changed and transformed by the relationships they begin with our Lord. He challenges us all to live sold out for the One who bought us with a price. One of his favorite passages can be found in Isaiah 58. He is challenged by the prophet’s unveiling of false worship and describing what true religion would look like. Most recently, he has been inspired by author and teacher, Francis Chan.
Peggy’s motto for ministry and life in general ~ Bring It On! ~ Her favorite thing about youth ministry is the close relationships and discipleship that happens naturally (and intentionally) as lives are shared openly with students. She also loves to teach and encourage students to read God’s Word for themself and to watch the “dots connect” in their minds as they begin to study God’s Word. Besides the Bible, she loves to read biographies of missionaries and was impacted heavily by the life story of Amy Carmichael. One of Peggy’s favorite passages is found in Psalm 4:3-5,
“But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself;
The Lord hears when I call to Him.
Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the Lord.
Cher Ekasala is one of the Worship Directors at Gateway Fellowship. Cher was called to this ministry in 2006 and has served in this capacity since. She has a passion for freedom in worship and desires to see others embrace the love of God so that they will experience freedom also. Cher loves to dance, sing, and spend time with her family; although you might find her at a local coffee shop or book store with a friend enjoying a cup of coffee.
Shawn Ekasala is the bookkeeper at Gateway Fellowship. Shawn has a degree in Accounting and loves to serve Gateway with his bean counting abilities. When he’s not crunching numbers, he likes to play golf, spend time with friends and wrestle with his children.
I serve as the Executive Assistant for our Senior Pastor and the point man for all communications here at Gateway. I work in this area because of my eagle-eye for order and organization as well as my love to help boost others to greater heights in their ministries. Because inside me is a kid who will never grow up I also inject my ministry with a healthy dose of fun, jokes and high-fives, so I also serve in several different ministries with the young people.
My passions are learning, laughing and loving. When I came to Christ I wasn’t exactly, shall I say, a bookworm or enthusiastic about learning. But as I grew in the Lord I became infused with a blazing passion to know the truth about life so learning and books have become one of my primary loves in life. I adore the fields of Christian apologetics, philosophy and worldview studies, but feel equally compelled to balance that diet with other things I love: Beautiful brunettes named Marisa (my wife), three other equally cute ladies in my life (my three young girls), nerf sword fighting with my son, rock music, X-games and Far Side comics. I love to amuse myself and others, daily.
My philosophy for Christian service is similar to St. Augustine’s who said, “Love God and do whatever you want.” He said this because if your whole life is consumed with loving God and others then you really can do “whatever” you want, because all you’ll want to do is lay down your life for the Kingdom in all you do.
I’m also inspired by John Wesley of whom it was written after he died that he left behind him: “A silver spoon, a worn-out clergyman’s coat, a much-abuse reputation and The Methodist Church.” I pray that I will leave this world richer and fuller of the light of the Kingdom of God as well.
And Finally……Lead Pastor Mike Phillips
I wish I had one great passion in life. All those who have one great passion seem to become great and famous and change the world. I love to do too many things. In fact, there are few things in life that are legal and moral that I haven’t tried or wanted to try. I was educated in Canada by good Canadian educators who tried really hard to get me to stay on course. I went to become a doctor and along the way found so much else I was interested in. For instance, I started out pre-med as a math major, a Chemistry major, then a bio-chem and then Marine Biology. All of that in two years. As if to crown all of that off, I went to another school and got a degree in Theology. In graduate work, I took emphases in counseling, theology and writing.
Scratch all of that. I do have an overriding passion. I love my family and I love Jesus.
They call me the Lead Pastor here and that only means I am the place all the blame stops. For good reason: I am usually to blame at some level. I do lots of counseling (between 10-20 hours a week) teaching, preaching and mentoring. I speak at a half dozen Christian conferences a year on the subjects of Hearing God, Counseling, Relationships and Spiritual Formation.
My favorite movie is “The Princess Bride”
My favorite actor is Johnny Depp
My favorite singer is Sara Bareilles
My favorite musician is Yo Yo Ma
My favorite television show is “French Food at Home with Laura Calder”
My favorite food is tuna casserole
My favorite book of the Bible is Ephesians
My favorite time of day is between 7 and 8 a.m.
My favorite writer is Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
I have been a counselor, pastor and writer for 31 years. Selah.
