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Gavin Ortlund,

Youth Pastor


Gavin Ortlund moved to SMCC in October 2010 after living in St. Louis and Washington D.C. He is married to his best friend, Esther, and they think California beats the pants off any other place to live! Much of their free time together is spent at the beach, hiking, or playing with their mini-dachshund, Sophia (she weighs 10 pounds and is super cute). Gavin struggles with pride because he regularly destroys all of the SMCC youth at Halo 2 and Octa-ball (especially Daniel Balsam). Getting to be a part of the SMCC family and serve the students of this church is one of the highlights of his life.  

  

 
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Abel Burke
Junior High Director
Abel Burke grew up with his parents and seven siblings in Glendora, California. Shortly after high
school, in August 2010, he became a junior high intern at Christ Community Church of Laguna Hills. While praying and seeking the Lord’s will during this time, his passion and love for ministry increased. He will be graduating with his Bachelors degree by the end of summer 2012. He plans to start attending Talbot Theological Seminary in spring of 2013 with the intent of earning his Masters of Divinity. Abel looks with great anticipation to the unfolding of God's plan for his life and how he might serve the Lord in the future. He enjoys teaching, working with youth, skateboarding, off-roading, and working on cars.




 
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Jessie Sanders, 
Girls Discipleship Coordinator
Jessie Sanders was born at 4:44 on October 8th, 1992 in room 32 of Arcadia Methodist Hospital. She has grown up at SMCC her whole life and has made many great friendships. She is a student at Pasadena City College, leads at Pasadena High School Young Life, and is the Girls' Discipleship Coordinator at SMCC's youth group. She has really appreciated and enjoyed the experience of working at SMCC and is excited to use the things learned for ministry in everyday life.



 
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Lainey Cray, 
Junior High Intern
Lainey is originally from Northern California, but has also lived in the Chicago suburbs. She currently resides in La Mirada, CA while studying psychology at Biola University. Lainey enjoys reading, ping pong, eating and traveling (especially the last two together). Her favorite trip was to Turkey where she was able to visit ancient Biblical sites like Ephesus, Smyrna and Antioch where they were first called Christians. In her spare time, she also loves outdoor activities like hiking, canoeing, sand soccer and skiing. Lainey is excited about junior high ministry because it is a transformational time, and it was at this age that she first began to make faith her own.



 
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Bryan Valko, 
Coram Deo Coordinator
Bryan Valko was born and raised in San Jose. After graduating high school in 2007 he attended his local community college for a year. Discouraged and struggling to perform well academically he took a year off to attend a nine month discipleship program called the Joshua Wilderness Institute. Upon finishing the program he moved in October of 2008 to study guitar at the LA Music Academy in Pasadena. Bryan feels blessed to have found a community at SMCC and is excited to be a part of the youth ministry. In his spare time he can be found writing his own music, and spending time with his friends. He still has two of his baby teeth, has been on the sea of galilee, can do a kick-flip on a skateboard, and his favorite time of year is the fall.