Senior Pastor
Stan Freitas (contact)
Stan is a native Californian. His father's parents came to California from Portugal and his mother's family came to California from Oklahoma. Stan grew up in the San Joaquin valley, Santa Cruz (where he fell in love with the beach) and Concord. After the 7th grade Stan's family moved to the oil fields of Taft, California where he played football for Taft High School and Taft Jr. College. Stan has a B.A. from Oklahoma Christian University. Since giving his life over to Jesus Christ, Stan has had a passion for spreading the message of Jesus through inspiring Sunday celebrations, relational small groups, ministries in the community, and church planting. Stan has worked for churches in San Francisco, Oklahoma City, and Portland (Oregon). Stan's teaching about sharing Christ with others has taken him to be a guest speaker at churches and lectures in cities throughout the US, Canada, and Brazil. For several years Stan has been a teacher and trainer for Continent of Great Cities, a ministry in Texas which sends mission teams to key cities in South America. As the founding lead pastor of New Venture Church in Silicon Valley, Stan believes Jesus and His mission is "the mother of all ventures!"
Stan's love of his life next to Jesus is his wife Tracy, who works at The King's Academy and their four children Alison, Brittany, Courtney, Zach and Grandson, Jake. Alison is a PE teacher at King's and her husband, Jeff Schoch is the Spiritual Life Director. She and Jeff volunteer in ministry at Kings and at NVC while raising the amazing Jake. Brittany is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian and has been accepted into the Peace Corps. While awaiting her departure in June, she volunteers in a homeless ministry in OKC. Courtney is attending college in San Diego and has served as a volunteer in our student ministry. Zach is in his senior year at King's and looking at college opportunities where he plans to play football. Zach helps his Dad with prop construction and his Mom with the coffee ministry. Stan coached Jr. Varsity football at King's for four years, three of which were championship seasons. He loves working in his garden, and exploring beaches and main streets around California with his wife, Tracy.
Stan has a love for the ocean, lighthouses, and harbors, and his passion for the church is to be a display of God's glory through love, diversity, and the arts, with a heart for creativity in helping people in need and changing the world with the revolutionary life and teaching of Jesus Christ. It is his dream to see a church planting movement where communities of faith spring up to love God and love people.
Children's Ministry Director
Michele Duncan (contact)
Michele Duncan has been a member of New Venture Church since its launch. Following 14 years at Hunter Douglas as the Marketing Manager of Northern California, Michele joined the staff of NVC as the Children's Ministry Director in June 2004. Prior to that Michele has worked in the Children's Ministry in a teaching capacity since 1998. Michele holds B.A. in Business Management with a minor in Sociology from San Jose State University, and a B.A. in Bible & Theology and Christian Leadership from William Jessup University. Michele lives in Sunnyvale with her husband Alfred, who leads our Benevolence Ministry, and their three children, Amanda, Jordan, & Leroy.
Student Ministry Director
Terren Wise (contact)
Terren Wise is the Director of Student Ministries at New Venture Church overseeing the college, high school and middle school ministries. Terren and his wife Jaimi welcomed the birth of their first child, Jayden Lee Wise in the summer of 2007. Terren lived in Colorado for 12 years before moving to the bay area almost 6 years ago. Terren teaches the High School and Junior High groups on Sunday’s using practical and relevant teachings that meet teens where they are today while showing them the importance of a relationship with Christ. The goals for Terren’s ministry are to develop teens who learn to thrive spiritually on their own once they graduate from the youth ministry and that they would grow up to be strong spiritual leaders.
Terren has many hobbies that he enjoys which include hunting, fishing, photography, scuba diving, surfing and any sport except golf; which isnt a sport anyways. Terrens educational background includes Patten University, William Jessup University as well as Abilene Christian University in Texas.
Worship Leaders
Ryan & Lily Jones (contact)
Ryan and Lily are the directors of the Worship Ministry at New Venture Church. Both are passionately in love with Christ and inhabit an attitude of constantly learning and growing for His Kingdom. During their college careers at San Jose Christian College and William Jessup University, they spent most of their off time together traveling to different churches and leading their main or college services in worship. As of August 2. 2008, Ryan and Lily were married on Carmel River State Beach. They both enjoy numerous hobbies together, including camping, swimming, song writing, kayaking, snowboarding and reading.
Ryan and Lily Jones have been a part of New Venture for the past five years. When they were pursuing degrees at William Jessup University they interned in our worship ministry. Now both are accomplished worship leaders. Ryan has been on staff at New Venture for the last two years, and Lily recently came to us from a growing church in Yuba City, California. They are both passionate about worshiping our Lord. Both Lily and Ryan are song writers, they are sought after recording artists that have a growing following in the Sacramento area. Their passion and heart for seeing God glorified through song and art can be seen lived out in their daily lives.
Elders:
Craig Stuber (Chairman), Jeff Brock, Reny Vanchilyil, Stan Freitas, Randy Ekstedt