CRM - Empowering Leaders
John and Jude
John and Jude Tiersma Watson have lived and worked together in the Westlake neighborhood of LA since they married in 1995. They share their vision for reaching the next generation of urban youth through long-term mentoring and discipleship.
John is a poet and artist originally from Princeton, New Jersey who through the mentoring of Dr. and Mrs. Loder, chose a path of service with InnerCHANGE. In InnerCHANGE John shares his passion for character development rooted in 2 Peter 1:3-11 and Ephesians 3:14-21.
Jude has lived in Westlake since 1988 and believes it is one of the best neighborhoods in LA. Her favorite metaphor for life in the city is “finding flowers in the sidewalk.”
Born in the Netherlands, Jude immigrated as a child with her family to the United States. Before moving to LA, she worked as a missionary under YWAM, in counseling and rehabilitation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Katmandu, Nepal. Jude is an Associate Professor of Urban Mission in the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena.
Paul Smith
Paul Smith joined the Los Angeles team in 1990. Since the beginning he has ministered to children and youth through tutoring, sports, and outings. He currently leads the team’s Mentoring Initiative, and enjoys working with college students from the neighborhood. Paul lives in the Cambria Apartments where he joined the other tenants in organizing to confront slum conditions. The tenants eventually formed their own non-profit corporation which bought and rehabilitated the building.
Paul has a wide range of interests and a contemplative temperament. He particularly likes to hike and watch birds. He values community, and his passion is to “comfort those in trouble with the comfort you have received.”
Julio, Melanie & Samaya
We long to see our neighbors come to the Lord and flourish in their identity in him. We have a special passion for the marginalized children and youth that surround us in our community, as well as around the world. We pray and hope to be a source of encouragement, hope and love to our community.
Our three new apprentices
Esther Knicely, 22, just graduated from Wheaton College (IL), this past May with a B.A. in Spanish and a minor in photography. She is from the historic town of Williamsburg, Virginia, and has recently made the move from the east coast to the west as she has joined the Los Angeles InnerCHANGE team.
Esther first heard about InnerCHANGE at an annual missions conference at Wheaton a few years ago. After considering a summer internship that never worked out, she has now decided to do an apprentice year with the team in LA.
Her passions lie in working with the Hispanic people groups and youth in the areas of art, education, community development and relational evangelism. She is currently investigating connecting the IC LA team to non-profit organizations in the greater Los Angeles area to bring about more effective community change. She is also focusing on being a positive influence in the lives of the neighborhood youth, hoping to demonstrate to them the great power that the Gospel has, through the way it has transformed her own life.
Elizabeth Corey, 22, also a recent graduate of Wheaton College (IL), is originally from upstate New York. She is the youngest of five kids, and her siblings are spaced around the country from New York City to Los Angeles. Music is a great passion of her life - she likes folk, jazz, and hip-hop music, and she's played the bass for 12 years in numerous orchestras, jazz ensembles, and bands.
Elizabeth's passion for urban ministry began early, as her dad was a pastor of an inner-city church in Philadelphia. Her heart for ministry among the poor was developed further through experiences with short-term missions trips to Washington D.C. and Cuba. She learned about InnerCHANGE through connections at Wheaton, where she graduated with a degree in Theology in December '06.
Currently she is working with CLUE, an organization that works with religious leaders in the community for social and economic justice. She enjoys the weekly tutoring sessions, something she did at her time in D.C., and she is also hoping to use her music as a way to reach out and integrate into the community.
Jonathan McCracken is the third apprentice, originally from North Carolina, but has lived the last four years in Pasadena, California where he attended Fuller Seminary. Since finishing his degree, he has been substitute teaching and building relationships with Hispanic youth, while searching for the next step in God's calling on his life. Jonathan heard about InnerCHANGE when he was invited to a friend's home for a Submerge book signing event where John Hayes spoke. He found himself drawn to the vision and commitments of InnerCHANGE, and followed up with conversations with Jon Moore and Tim Lockie.
Jonathan has now moved into the Cambria apartment building in LA, where he is a roommate to Paul Smith. He is already connecting well with the youth in Cambria, in hopes of reaching out to them. He is also looking to start a church group or a small bible study, as the Lord leads.