LOPC called John Weems to serve as Associate Pastor of Mission and Outreach on August 1, 2006. He lives in Orinda with his wife, Colleen, and their sons, Jacob and Zachary.

John spent the previous 10 years working in business marketing and sales. Though he rarely attended church as a young person, he felt a sense of call to the ministry.    

After finding San Francisco’s Old First Presbyterian Church in the Yellow Pages, John and Colleen became actively involved in mission, including ministries for the homeless and youth from Chinatown. Nearly two decades after first feeling a sense of call, John enrolled in San Francisco Theological Seminary where he earned a Masters of Divinity in 2006. 

He kept one foot in the business world during seminary, working as the community partnership manager for the San Francisco Business Times. There John helped develop an awards program to encourage corporations to balance profitability with responsibility and become more involved in the community.

John also brings ministry experience from service as a chaplain at Marin General Hospital and an intern at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, where he formed the Spirit at Work, a ministry focused on the role of the career in the Christian life. 

John believes that the church is a place where people should be welcomed as they are, given opportunities to deepen faith in Jesus Christ, then invited to follow the Living God to address the world’s needs beyond the pews.

In his role as Associate Pastor, John works with teams to serve needs in the Monument Corridor, East Oakland, the Middle East, Guatemala, and Africa.