Michael Miller
I was born at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara and have lived in the Bay Area ever since. My bride Karen is a math teacher, and we live in Santa Clara with our children, Calvin and Naomi.
I spent a lot of time at church as a child, but I did not find community there as an adolescent; I found that in my high school speech and debate crowd. Studying at UC Berkeley, I did not seek out a church until my life became unmanageable. I was proficient in compartmentalizing my thoughts, words, and behavior, and I had something more like belief than a living faith.
The breakdown of that compartmentalization is not yet complete, but God pursued me through his people. A church planter in Berkeley befriended me, and he modeled a kind and lively faith I had not seen before. A couple who led a large Bible study in Sunnyvale for young adults invited me to help, and they showed me partnership in ministry I had not experienced before. The people of a church in Sunnyvale gave me opportunities to teach and lead in circumstances I had never imagined navigating.
I started off in an editorial department before working in IT for 25 years, including 14 years at a startup company. When that company was acquired, I started my seminary degree, and worked through it part-time while continuing to work in tech. As an elder of a church, an employee of companies, a manager of employees, a husband of a wife, a son to a father, and a father to children, I have learned to share some of the grace God has given me in Christ. As a pastor, it is my desire to continue to express that grace out of gratitude for what God, who pursued me, has done to make me whole.