Who is the Webmaster?

 
Jim Eagleson

Occupation:        RF Engineer
Hometown:         Watsonville, CA
Home Church:    First Baptist Church, Watsonville

Present Home:   Eastside, San Jose
Present Church: Lighthouse Christian Fellowship, San Jose

Education:          Cabrillo College, Aptos (Electronics Technology)
                           San Jose State College, San Jose (Radio-TV Production)
                           San Jose Bible College, San Jose (Bible & Theology)

Other Background:

I've lived in Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and San Jose, California.

I also spent about 12 years living in Waukesha, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee).

In my youth I was Sound Technician at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center for two Summer Seasons in 1966 and 1968.
Thus I have had exposure to many hours of Bible Teaching from some of the best known Bible teachers in the U.S. and
other English speaking countries.  This included Howard Hendricks, J. Vernon McGee, Stuart Briscoe, John Hunter,
Dick Hillis (Overseas Crusades), Vernon Grounds, various professors from Dallas Theological Seminary and many, many other
well known and some not so well known speakers, preachers and musical performers.

I was fortunate to be at Mount Hermon when John Fischer was also on the staff and I had the privilege of recording his
original audition tape used to gain his first album, "Have You Seen Jesus My Lord".  I only wish I still had a copy of that tape
since John had just gotten a new guitar and the hallway of First Baptist Church in Watsonville provided a great "studio"
reverb effect both of which inspired John to turn in a great performance including some songs he has never recorded.

During this same period I also worked at Christian Station KEAR-fm when it was located in San Francisco on Silver Avenue.
This was during its "progressive" years before Harold Camping took over and retreated into the present music format and
unique "Bible" teachings by Mr. Camping and a few of his friends.  

During the Jesus People era, I was a student at San Jose State College (now SJSU).  Along with the Christian Information
Committee (CIC), I published a Jesus People newspaper called The South Bay FISH. 

At this same time I was attending San Jose Bible College (later San Jose Christian College and now Jessup University).
We had a local Rock group called Don Thomas and the Cloud of Witnesses that performed at various places around the
SF Bay Area including Santa Clara University and the parking lot of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley.

My Church background includes membership at First Baptist Church of Watsonville under Dr. Ralph Kraft who later
became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Los Altos. 

While at SJSC,  I attended First Baptist of San Jose under Dr. Clarence Sands until urban renewal prompted them to move
from their location a few blocks from SJSC to the location now known as The Church on the Hill.

I also attended Westminster Presbyterian Church under pastor Gwilym(sp?) Jones, Alum Rock Covenant Church under
pastor Ernie Hansen, and Lone Hill Christian Church under pastor Willard Black who started the Institute for Christian
Resources (ICR) and who taught Urban Ministries at San Jose Bible College.

After finishing my BA degree at SJBC, my wife, Linda, and I moved to the Santa Cruz area and attended Community
Covenant Church in Scotts Valley during its formative years including the years that we met in The Barn. 

It is interesting to note that The Barn was well known to me as a freshman at San Jose State many years earlier when it
was an infamous "dive" for sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Many of my dorm mates would tell me stories about the
place.  This, of course, was during the wild years in the late '60s at the beginning of the Hippie Movement.

Many years later I learned that four pastors in Scotts Valley put aside their theological differences one day and went to
the four corners of The Barn to pray that the Lord would close the place down.  It wasn't relayed to me exactly what the
time frame was but the Lord ultimately answered that prayer and Community Covenant Church met in the building for
several years before out growing it and building their present building a bit further up the road.

Just prior to leaving the area to go to Wisconsin, we attended Twin Lakes Baptist Church under Dr. Roy Kraft
(Ralph's twin brother) and pastor Roger Moore.  Roger taught an adult Sunday School class that rivaled the size of many
small church congregations... typically running 60-80 people each Sunday.

While in Wisconsin, we attended Elmbrook Church, the largest church in Wisconsin with about 15,000 people I'm told.
However we spent most of our years  in Wisconsin as members of Westbrook Church, which, as the name suggests, was
a spin off from Stuart Briscoe's Elmbrook Church.  We just found a church of 500 or so people was a little more
manageable for us than the larger church.  It was also closer to home than Elmbrook was.

The "Brook Churches", as they are called, include Westbrook, in the Kettle Moraine area 27 miles west of Milwaukee,
Eastbrook, in the mixed race northern part of city of Milwaukee, and Northbrook which served the Northwest suburbs of
Milwaukee.   I believe that more congregations have been added to the mix in the 6 years since we left Wisconsin.

As one might expect, a church drawing 15,000 people will have quite a few coming from a long, long distance so that
it is natural for new churches to be planted in places more convenient to people in communities not close to the location
of the "mother church".  This is especially true in Wisconsin when driving 10-15 miles in the Winter isn't always something
one looks forward to doing!  While none of the "daughter" churches are as big as Elmbrook, many have attendance of
over 300 people.

Linda and I returned to San Jose in 2000 to care for her aging mother.  He mom was 88 at the time and not totally in
tune with the program, so to speak.  So we moved in with her to keep track of things like stoves left on, bills that
weren't getting paid, keeping her from trying to rake leaves in the middle of a very busy Eastside street, and
picking her up when she fell  down and couldn't do it on her own. 

When young "yahoos" tell me that we shouldn't need to protect people when they get old from those who would rip them
off, I just roll my eyes and suggest to them that they, too, will get old someday.  They just don't know what they are saying.

"Mom" passed away early in 2005 at the age of 94 and Linda and I have purchased her home from the estate so that we
plan to be around for a while longer even though caring for her was the primary reason for returning to California. 

Well, this is getting to be more of a Blog than a Bio so I'll just conclude by saying that sfbay-churches is a work in
progress designed primarily to provide a resource for newcomers to the Bay Area through which they can find a good
church.  I have presented both links to general resources as well as a guide to some recommended churches.

The recommended churches, by the way, are generally those that I know about personally or through trusted friends
or acquaintances and represent churches that stick closely to the teachings of the Bible.  I believe that this is a key element
to recommending any Christian church. 

God went to a lot of trouble to have His Word recorded for us and thousands of Christians throughout the centuries have
given their lives to protect its integrity and keep it from being destroyed.  While it's really great to have one's opinions and
various philosophical positions, true Christianity must have its roots in the Bible or it is just another religion out of many.

You will find a significant variation in style and practice among the recommended churches, but primarily they are churches
that preach and teach God's Word and the rest of it is preference.

Your comments are always welcome.  Your input for coming events to be placed on the Events page are also very
welcome. 

Jim Eagleson 
webmaster@sfbay-churches.net

2-6-2006