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Meet Our Staff 

All our staff are friendly and fun-loving people who have a real passion for Jesus.

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DANIEL MATSUDA

Senior Pastor

After attaining an MBA at USC and working four years at Sony Pictures Entertainment, I decided in 1998 to pursue full-time ministry. Since 2005, my wife and I have been actively working with people who face difficulties in marriage, major life changes, and parenting issues.

 

I enjoy hiking and camping in national parks, Thai food and Jamba Juice, and spending quality time with my wife, son, and little Chiweenie dog.

 

My passion is to help people discover that Christ and the Body of Christ are the resources that can bring renewed hope in our broken and imperfect relationships.

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JAMES CHANG

Associate Pastor

I'm a 2nd generation pastor born & raised in an immigrant Taiwanese family that struggled from the ground up to make a home here in America. Prior to GVBC, I graduated from UCLA in math and worked as a local urban high school teacher in order to help transform communities out of vicious cycles of poverty. From there, I graduated Fuller Seminary and, since 2005, God has called me to continue to live and minister and walk around here in Gardena and help our church bring the hope of Jesus Christ locally from our neighborhood out globally into the whole world. 
 

My wife, Yuko, and 4-year old son, Noah, and 1 year old daughter, Hannah, love to go on road trips and Yelp food adventures.

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THEIN DOAN

Associate Pastor

I was originally born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States of America at the age of one. I grew up in a half-Buddhist and half-Catholic family. Difficult childhood experiences led me to find God as a teenager. After experiencing a radical conversion, he entered into ministry. I graduated from Talbot Theological Seminary, Biola University. 

My wife Kerry & I have three children. We are huge Lakers fans and spend many nights yelling at the television together because of how bad the Lakers are doing.

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EIJI OSATO

Associate Pastor Nihongo

I spent 19 years in Thailand to work as a missionary among the Karen hill tribe and joined GVBC as a Japanese pastor in September 2011. I majored in Christian Education at Rikkio University in Tokyo and became a bible teacher at Kanto Gakuin high school.  After 5 years teaching there, God called me to become a missionary.  When I was in Thailand, I was also traveling all over the world to preach and teach at international conferences and seminars as the president of BWA Youth Department.  I earned MA in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2009.

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SUSAN WAKUTA

Children's Director

It is a joy being the Children’s Elementary Director since October 2009. Following 15 years of teaching Sunday School, working 9 years as a paralegal and 10 years as a social worker, God called me to my new position. My passion is for children to know how much God loves them and wants a personal relationship. I look forward to partnering with parents in the spiritual development of their children.

I’m a UCLA Bruin. My husband, Layne, and I are Anaheim Ducks fans and enjoy playing at Disneyland. We’ve been married since 1999 and welcomed our daughter, Kaci, into our family when she was 14.

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TOMMY MORSE

Youth Director

I became a Christian here at GVBC through the youth ministry, and served as a volunteer leader for about 7 years! God then called me to serve in Japan for a year with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (Serve Asia) in 2018. Since coming back to the states, God opened the door to study at Talbot School of Theology, and I am currently working toward an MDiv.


In undergrad, I studied Human Biology before God called me into ministry. But before undergrad, I loved art and graphic design, and those are my favorite hobbies to this day. I think creativity of all kinds is a tool that God uses to connect people!


I speak Japanese and have a passion to share the Gospel with the Japanese community here and abroad. I am blessed to be able to do that together with my wife Yumi, my partner in life and ministry.

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BRAD TOY

College Director

I graduated from UCLA in Engineering in 2000 and currently work full time as an Aerospace Engineer in El Segundo. After serving at GVBC as a layman for several years, the Lord graciously called me to be the Director of the College Ministry at the church I love.

I love spending time with my wife, Grace, and our four kids; Noah, Avery, Isaac and Emma. We enjoy camping, biking, watching movies, sports, and just hanging out together as a family.

 

My passion is to help God’s people deepen their affection for Jesus Christ through the faithful teaching of God’s Word.

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MICHELLE SCHNEIDER

Media Director

In 2017, I graduated from CSULB with a B.A. in Child Development and started a teaching credential program. Towards the end, I felt that I was not meant to be a teacher and decided to take a leave of absence. During that time, the Lord grew me tremendously in learning to trust in His plans and led me to become the Youth and Media Intern in 2018. After serving for two years and graduating from CSUDH with an M.S. in School Counseling, I became the Media Director at the beginning of 2021.

 

I love creativity, whether expressed through photography, videography, editing, writing, movies, etc. Additionally,

I love learning about others, listening to their stories, and just simply spending time with people. I am passionate about using creative arts to worship God. My prayer is that we would use media as a tool to help connect the multiple generations in our church body and to communicate the faithful work God is doing here.

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