our team

Jonathan Henderson began preaching at the age of 15, and has served as a pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for over 25 years, sharing the gospel globally. Jonathan’s main focus in ministry is to help people understand their worth and purpose by knowing God, and experiencing a lasting relationship with their Creator.  Jonathan is the author of the book Worth Every Drop: God's Relentless Pursuit to Prove YOU MATTER. 

Pastor Aivars Ozolins was born and raised in Latvia, Europe. Aivars felt the call to ministry at an early age and God took he and his family on an unimaginable journey of breathtaking spiritual mountaintops, intermingled with valleys fraught with life challenges. On that journey Aivars discovered the real God and His gospel of grace, and determined with the apostle Paul to “know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He made a promise to God that he will never preach a sermon, or teach a class, without having Jesus at the heart of it.  And so far he has kept that promise.

This is Aivars' second stint at VDC after spending six years in the Philippines, where he taught Applied Theology at the Seminary of the General Conference run University: Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies.  Aivars is married to Juta, a psychiatric clinical social worker. They have three adult sons, who all graduated from Glendale Adventist Academy before proceeding with their further educational goals, and are blessed with five adorable grandchildren.

Ben believes that our journey with Christ is transformational.  One way to experience this transformation is ministering to our surrounding community.  It allows a church family to stretch themselves spiritually and to act compassionately.  "Jesus shows us in Scripture that we are at our best when we care about the least and marginalized in our world."  According to Ben, in modeling Christ in our lives we discover that Christ is relevant today and that the Good News tells us who we are, what our purpose is, and where we are going as children of God.  He is Married to Abigail Garcia and they have a son named Liam Koa.  He has an M.A. in Education, MBA and M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary.  

Pastor Cindy is new to our team!

Pastor Anthony is new to our team!

Helene began her musical studies at age four, and in spite of her love of sports, at age 10 she became the accompanist of her local SDA Church. Never mind that her rhythms were colored by tango or jazz.

It was later at our River Plate University that she completed her Bachelor of Arts requirements as well as those of the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires.
Although her plans were to study medicine, with music at the side, meeting Ariel Quintana, a gifted fellow musician and future husband, changed the trajectory of her life. Thus a Degree in Music became her professional goal. They studied together at the Conservatory of Buenos Aires, where Helene became the accompanist for the large SDA Church in the capital city.

In 1989, married only a few weeks, they arrived to live and work in Glendale for the next 25 years before moving to the mountains of San Bernardino. It was during this time here in the LA area that she worked and achieved her doctoral studies, became a part of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the LAOpera Companies as chorister, and soloist.

Helene & Ariel have a daughter, Antonella, living in Texas, studying at UNT. She is specializing in the training of underprivileged youth as well as Orchestral Conducting. She is a church musician at the First Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.

As the Choral Minister of Music at our church, she inspires her choristers with a spiritual magnetism that demonstrates her passion for the beauty of poetry to be found and shared in the love of God. She does so weekly by inspiring us to “Sing to the Lord a new song! ” Cantate Domino Canticum Novum.

Matt believes worshipping God is a privilege, and in addition to helping us connect to the Creator, it helps us to connect with one another. Matt considers it a great honor to inspire others through music and worship-leading; helping others to see Christ is what matters most. In his own words: “Music is a unique means of accomplishing that ultimate goal of seeing Jesus and I love being a part of that process.”

Leading and creating music in churches is something Matt has been doing since childhood. He later worked on improving his gifts and talents receiving a B.M. and M.M. from the University of Maryland, a M.M. from Yale University, and a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California.

He is married to Kristina Daley. In their spare time you can often find them enjoying CCM and gospel concerts throughout the greater Los Angeles area.

Dr. Haesung Park began her music studies at the age of four in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. She received her musical training at the Korean National University of Arts, her Master of Music degree from Boston University and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with outstanding honors from the University of Southern California where she studied piano and organ with Norman Krieger and Dr. Ladd Thomas, respectively. In 2014, she was the first prize winner of the Los Angeles Liszt Competition. Dr. Park was the resident pianist and teaching artist for the Hollywood Master Chorale, University Campus Choir at UCLA, LA Opera, and Camerata of Los Angeles Chorus. Her notable solo recitals include the Flentrop Organ Recital Series at Harvard University, Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony No. 3 with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Palos Verdes Symphonic Band, and Rising Star Organist for American Guild of Organist at All Saints’ Beverly Hills.  She was the first artist in the United States to master the German composer Julious Reubke's Organ Sonata and Piano Sonata.

Dr. Park is also an adjunct professor of piano and organ at Pepperdine University in Malibu.  She has served as the keyboard collaborator and coaching faculty at California State University, Los Angeles, Scripps College, and Fuller Theological Seminary.  Moreover, she has been a guest organist at Pomona College’s concert series. Dr. Park is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national honor society for musicians.

Anne Leah assists the pastoral staff and church leaders in fulfilling the mission of the gospel. She was born and raised in Los Angeles. Anne Leah graduated from La Sierra University with a BA in Spanish and a BA in Music. She is passionate about ministry, music, Hispanic culture, and serving the community.