On Dec. 11, Malibu Pacific Church—formerly Malibu Presbyterian—officially announced it had chosen the congregation’s new senior pastor and head of staff, effective Jan. 3, 2021. The new pastor will be Andy VomSteeg. The church’s previous pastor for nearly 20 years, Rev. Greg Hughes, conducted his final service for the church last February before retiring from the position.
The church’s pastor nominating committee spent an exhaustive five months looking for a replacement—nearly 400 hours of meetings and interviews with almost two dozen candidates. Finally, after a unanimous vote at a congregational meeting in November, VomSteeg was selected.
“Pastor Andy,” as he is being called, spent most of his youth in Brazil until his missionary parents decided to return to the U.S. He later became a graduate of Asbury University and Asbury Seminary, a private Christian university in Wilmore, Ky.
He has been the solo or lead pastor in three congregations that experienced significant growth. In two of those churches, he led the congregations in reaching out to people of different ethnicities and cultures, thereby increasing diversity.
His most recent lead pastor role was in the Northern California community of Santa Rosa, where he spent 20 years at the New Vintage Church, growing the congregation from 70 to more than 900. For the past year, he’s been director of creative production and marketing at the mega Menlo Church in the Bay Area.
Andy has been married to his high school sweetheart Kelli for 32 years and the couple has three adult children, all residing in Southern California. Kelli has utilized her background in elementary education to serve children’s ministries and direct a pre-school.
Andy told the nominating committee that he could see himself at Malibu Pacific for the next 15-20 years. His ministry philosophy is to “create a congregation where unchurched people engage with believers and… can ask honest questions and express doubts.”