Christine Beitsch
Christine was born and raised in Fremont, and eventually made it through the Evangelical Free Church doors (now Bridges Community Church) in 1990 where she was drawn to the drama group. She was in her final year of high school and spent a year in the high school group before making a decision that would change the course of her life forever.
Christine began singing in vocal groups, worked two summers at Mount Hermon and was in leadership for a church plant called Graceland in San Leandro with leader Justin Stevens.
During this time she teamed up with Youth With a Mission while attending a discipleship training school in Montana. From there she went to Thailand to work with the Karen people group along the Myanmar/Thailand border. Her team not only brought hope with them, but medical supplies and training to local teachers.
Upon returning to the States, Christine worked as a preschool teacher at Christian Community Schools in Fremont. That is where she met her now boss, dear friend and President of CityServe, Sherman Williams. While she loved this role with the children, she knew the scope of ministry in which she was called was wider.
She began volunteering 30 hours a week as the high school drama leader at Santa Cruz Bible Church under the leadership of Dan Kimball. Dan quickly saw her potential and invited her to join a new launch called Graceland in Santa Cruz. Graceland initially started as a college ministry, but because it connected with a broader age range, it then blossomed into a "young adult" ministry and then eventually became alternative worship gatherings for all ages. After several years, Graceland eventually ceased at Santa Cruz Bible Church, as the dream for launching a new church in Santa Cruz was birthed. Dan was part of the leadership team that launched the first church plant of Santa Cruz Bible Church, Vintage Faith Church, which began in February 2004. Christine's first role as Community Director in 1996 was to take people to coffee. She quickly agreed and helped build this incredible ministry for 7 years.
During this ministry explosion Christine went through a terrible loss as her then fiancé passed away from a rare form of cancer at the age of 25. Through this time of great suffering Christine persevered and threw herself even more into ministry, working toward her BS degree in Christian Leadership from William Jessup University.
Soon after, Christine took on the ministry role of College/Young Adult Director at Santa Cruz Bible Church for a year before leaving to help plant Blue Sky Church in Loveland, Colorado with Joe Schimmels (the former Associate Pastor of Graceland). Christine fulfilled her two-year commitment with Blue Sky Church, which is still thriving, to return to her home in sunny California to help with an international organization Harvest Evangelism. While serving there her heart was longing for more daily ministry to people in need. The tug at her soul was growing when Pastor Sherman Williams (President of CityServe) gave her a call to ask if she would be interested in starting Compassion Network, a branch of CityServe. Christine originally declined in hopes to return to the marketplace where she felt she could be a light to others. But Pastor Sherman's relentless efforts and confirming words "you are the only one I could see doing this for such a time as this." So after meeting and hearing the overall vision it was absolutely clear that this was a very important and vital Kingdom task. Bridging people in need with willing volunteers, getting the Church "out of the church" was just the recipe Christine has been not only trained, but also called to do.
Christine is passionate about Christians taking the time to stop their busyness and care for the disadvantaged. More than that she is convinced that the city church MUST work in an united effort to transform communities. She recognizes that everyone on the planet will be in need at some point in their lives, and each person must work together to care for one another in the name of Jesus.
Even though Christine is very involved with launching Compassion Network, she is often found with a lemonade in hand, salsa dancing, cooking a new dish, taking a speech class, reading or working out. She loves people, loves traveling and LOVES to see people fall in love with Jesus. There is nothing more important to her then watching people fulfill their purpose on the planet and making a difference in the lives of others.
