WESTGATE STAFF:

Lisa Averill
Children's Ministry Pastor

lisa@westgatechurch.org

Vitals

Lisa was born and raised in Bellingham, WA. It wasn’t until she moved to California that she realized you could wake up more than 3 days in a row and the sun could still be shining. When Lisa was 5, she informed her mom one evening that she wanted to be a Christian when she grew up. After explaining she didn’t have to wait until she was grow to be a Christian, Lisa’s mom lead her to Christ and she hasn’t looked back since. Some of her favorite memories growing up were the summers she spent in high school working at a Christian Camp in Oregon.

After high school, Lisa attended Multnomah Bible College where she received a Bachelor’s in Biblical Studies. It was there that she met and feel “head over heals” in love with her husband Mark. She and Mark were married 4 years later. While they were engaged Mark got his first job in ministry as a Worship Pastor in Portland, OR. They’ve been in ministry every since. Lisa has been involved in ministry as well over the years. She has worked in Children’s ministries as a teacher for the past 15 years and has also been involved in Women’s ministries extensively as well. Before having children, Lisa worked for Multnomah as their Public Relations Coordinator.

Mark is currently the Worship Pastor at Westgate Church and they have 2 awesome teenage boys Grant and Taylor and an adorable dog named Reese.

Prior to coming to work for Westgate, Lisa worked for Union School District as the Kid Connections facilitator at Alta Vista Elementary School.(A program designed to help children develop their social skills.) Before that, she was a substitute teacher at Los Gatos Christian and San Jose Christian Schools.




A Few of My Favorite Things

Sports – “I’ve been an avid runner for a number of years. I actually trained for and finished a marathon a few years back and continue to run ½ marathons yearly. Right now I’m enjoying my off season and running shorter distances just for fun. I also enjoy tennis and ping pong (My boys would say I’m a little to competitive with the ping pong!)”

Movies - “I love the first half of most movies I’ve seen. (I just can’t seem to stay awake to see the endings.) I think my favorite movie of all times is The Count of Monte Cristo. What About Bob is also a family favorite.”

Books - Do magazines count as books? Actually, this past summer I read 9 books (making up for the rest of the years slacking off). Two of my favorites were “Sacred Rhythms" by Ruth Haley Barton and “Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis.


What If"s

What if you weren't in ministry?

"If I weren’t in ministry I’d probably be a volunteer at the center for illegalization of cilantro."



What famous historical person would you like to meet and why?
"I would love to spend time with the sisters Mary & Martha. Being a twin, I know what it’s like to be compared with someone else on a regular basis. I would love to just hang with them and see if Martha’s getting a bad rap and then see what Mary was like when Jesus wasn’t around. "