WESTGATE STAFF:

Dave Lopes
Elder

dave_lopes@hotmail.com

Vitals

Dave is a Bay Area native who was raised in Castro Valley and moved to Sunnyvale after graduating from UC Berkeley with degrees in Physics and Materials Science Engineering. He was blessed to be born into a Christian family and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord during Vacation Bible School as a child. Another blessing was meeting Laura while in high school and getting married 5 years later while completing college. Dave and Laura have been married for more than 26 years and have two daughters, Leanne and Carolyn. Dave works as an Operations Manager at Applied Materials and holds five patents. Dave and Laura have attended WestGate for 11+ years and have been involved in community group leadership, shepherding, prayer ministry, and the Explore/Discovery class. Dave has been on the Elder Board since September 2003 and serves as Secretary.



A Few of My Favorite Things
Taking walks with my wife – “Laura and I enjoy taking a two mile walk in our neighborhood in the evening for exercise and to connect with each other.”

Outdoors – “I enjoy hiking with my family at Rancho San Antonio and in the Sierras each year on our vacation in Graeagle. We also love to camp at New Brighton State Beach. I have a “secret” backpacking spot that I try to go to each year where we catch trout for dinner and leave the freeze dried stuff in the pack.”

Sports - “I play tennis and golf. I played on an undefeated tennis team in high school and spent one summer teaching tennis to kids and adults of all skill levels. I started playing golf later in life and am still trying to figure out how to break 90.”

Books - “My favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, Earl Palmer, Philip Yancey, and, OK, Tom Clancy. I start more books than I finish, I am usually reading several books at once, and I own more books than I’ll ever read.”

Movies - “My favorite movie is Field of Dreams.”

Music – “My favorite recording artists are The Eagles, Yes, Rush, Windham Hill folks (like William Ackerman, Michael Hedges, and Shadowfax), and in the CCM world, Out of the Grey and Mercy Me.”

What Ifs?
What if you weren’t in ministry?
“I was wondering if this question applies to Elders who, as Steve likes to remind us, ‘Are not paid to be good but are good for nothing.’ But all of us at WestGate are in ministry together! I continue to follow God’s calling to be salt and light in the technical workplace. But if I needed to make a change, I might attempt to go back to my long ago job of teaching tennis – that was fun!”

What if you could spend time with any famous historical person?
“Aside from numerous Biblical characters, I’d like to spend some time with Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the amazing Russian author of The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot.”