Born and raised in Azusa, CA, Tim grew up attending a small Dutch-Indonesian immigrant church in El Monte, went to college at Cal State Long Beach, and now lives in Glendale with his wife and son.

As a child, Tim simply believed what he was told about Jesus, until his early teens when he began to wonder if he ever would have become a Christian had he been raised differently. But by the grace of God, Tim eventually experienced so many answered prayers, so much joy in worship, and so much truth in Scripture that he developed a deep intimacy with Jesus and his Word.

Tim first heard of Reality LA through an ultimate frisbee teammate, but didn’t visit until years later when an overseas cousin moved to LA and Tim wanted to connect her with a multicultural but non-immigrant church. Tim met his wife, Annalisa, when he served at the Covenant House Christmas gift table, then they grew to know each other through joint community group events. Even though his education was in child development, Tim volunteered in parking, ushering, stage management, choir, and prayer team before joining our kids ministry, which has easily been one of the best decisions of his life.

The ways Tim connects with God vary with circumstance—when he’s calm, it’s Scripture; when he’s flustered, it’s music; when he’s confused, it’s prayer. He loves how people from every state and every country bring their culture to LA, where it all combines to create new community, art, and foods that would have been impossible in almost any other city. One day he hopes to visit every NBA arena, write a child development textbook, and play in a legit band with his now one-year-old son!