Our Leadership

Pastor / Shepherd

Christopher Gee

Chris was born in Oakland, California and raised in the nearby city of Castro Valley. In 2004, he made the trek down to Southern California to attend UCLA where he studied mass communication and English.

Chris is currently working toward earning his Master of Divinity degree from The Master’s Seminary. Once he has that degree in hand, he will begin the seminary’s Master of Theology program.

As GOC’s shepherd, Chris preaches on Friday nights and provides the general direction and vision for the Bible study. In addition to preaching, he disciples small group leaders, leads a small group for sophomore men, teaches the Small Group Leadership Training Seminar, trains and equips men interested in full-time ministry, and meets individually with students for counseling when he visits campus for Gee Chat on Mondays.

Undershepherds

Jim Ayres

Jim has been involved in college ministry at UCLA since 1994. He graduated from UCLA (BS, MS) and currently works as a satellite systems engineer. He is also working on his MDiv and ThM concurrently at the Master’s Seminary.

As an undershepherd, Jim helps oversee the ministry, develops and equips leaders, disciples and counsels students, and teaches classes.

Jim and his wife, Bethany, have two sons and one daughter.

Amos Yang

Amos was born in Taiwan but grew up in Illinois. He was saved by God's grace at the age of 13 and during college found himself unable to decide between going to medical school or going to seminary. His solution was to pursue both paths, and currently Amos works full-time as an anesthesiologist and will be completing his Masters of Divinity at The Masters Seminary this December. Amos loves many different things about GOC, but without a doubt Amos most appreciates the fact that he met his now wife Emily at GOC. In his free time Amos enjoys running, reading, and sleeping. His favorite foods are essentially anything Asian, especially anything Taiwanese or Chinese.

Alvin Varughese

Alvin’s most passionate desire is to know and love God in an ever-increasing nature. He works toward this goal by investing his time and energy in studying God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible and exhorting younger men to do likewise. Alvin’s view of the Gospel is summarized in Matthew 13:44, in which a man finds a treasure so precious in a field that he sells all he has with joy to purchase the field and obtain this treasure. Knowing this joy, Alvin is prepared to be on call to proclaim this Gospel to the nations.

Raised in Zambia, Alvin came to a saving knowledge of Christ between the age of 9 and 11. A 3rd generation engineer (earning a BSc and MSc in electrical engineering), Alvin is currently a 1st-year ThM candidate at The Master’s Seminary. Upon joining staff at GOC in 2009, Alvin provides oversight for the counseling of young men at UCLA. In addition, Alvin’s role as undershepherd provides him the opportunity to disciple small group leaders, teach classes (primarily on theology), and preach. He is especially passionate in leading others to recognize God’s sovereignty and to realize this through prayer.

Other hobbies that bring Alvin joy include soccer, telling Irish jokes one Irish joke, imitating different accents (specializing in the Irish accent), eating anything except okra (Alvin pronounces okra as “awk-ruh”), and exercising dependency on God through sleeping. Ask him about his favorite childhood toys: his BMX and a stick (requires imagination to operate).

Senior Staff

Tim Peters

Tim loves to train students to live out the Christian life comprehensively, to see that God and His Word matter in every facet of everyday life. He has been doing college ministry since 2004 and has served in Children’s and Junior High ministries and as an elder at Grace Community Church. He has since retired from his job as a sheriff. His hobbies include fly fishing and photography.

As senior staff, Tim provides insight and wisdom for crucial ministry decisions, helping Justin as they discuss shepherding issues and the direction for the ministry. He also works with small group leaders, meeting with them, helping them grow in applying the Word of God to their daily lives, and counseling them through life’s big decisions.

Tim graduated from CSUN (BA) and USC (MPA). He and his wife, Patti, have one son and one daughter.

Paul Ushijima

The greatest passion of Paul’s life is to equip students to live out the Christian life without the need for hands to guide them, so that they might seek God through reading the Bible, praying, and evangelism without anyone telling them to do so. Paul is also passionate about Biblical discipleship, and thus a verse he lives by is 2 Timothy 2:2: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” He has been involved in college ministry since 2002 and has previously served in Children’s ministry and as an elder at Grace Community Church.

As senior staff, Paul provides insight and wisdom for crucial ministry decisions, helping Justin as they discuss shepherding issues and the direction for the ministry. He also works with small group leaders, equipping them to more effectively disciple their students in the Christian life and in evangelism.

Paul graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (BS) and currently sells insurance for a living. He and his wife, Peggy, have three daughters and one son.

Andrew Williamson

Andrew desires to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to live for the will of God in his life. He is passionate about his wife Judy, and their four children, studying and knowing God’s Word, and serving at Grace Community Church and Grace on Campus at UCLA. He and Judy have been actively involved in college ministry at UCLA since 2000. Andrew is also a teacher of the Fundamentals of the Faith Bible class at Grace Community Church.

As senior staff, Andrew provides insight and wisdom for crucial ministry decisions, helping Justin as they discuss shepherding issues and the direction for the ministry. He meets and works with small group leaders seeking to encourage and equip them to better disciple students in becoming more like Jesus Christ.

Andrew graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelors of Commerce and also received a MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. He is presently a Director of a merchant banking firm based in Los Angeles.

Phil Haw