September 2023
Welcome
Happy New Year! Praise God for new beginnings!
As the calendar changes from 2024 to 2025, I will begin my appointment as your new pastor and I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself to you.
I am Krista Givens from Claremont, CA, the daughter of teachers and artists, a new resident of Pasadena with my 11 year-old dog named Po. I am the founder and Director of a non-profit organization called Friends of Padhar Schools that supports education in rural India.
In 1994, I earned my Bachelor’s degree from Scripps College with a focus on Studio Art and then was called to the ministry in 1998. After earning my Masters in Divinity from Claremont School of Theology in 2001, I was appointed as an Associate Pastor at Kailua United Methodist Church on the island of Oahu. I was appointed to Southern California in 2004 and, while pastoring with Westchester UMC, I went back to school to study Sexual Ethics for Clergy and earned my Doctor of Ministry degree in 2007. I was then called into mission work and began my work with the General Board of Global Ministries as the pastor of Hamburg’s International UMC in Hamburg, Germany. I returned to the Cal-Pac annual conference in 2012, with an appointment to Kona UMC on the Big Island of Hawaii. In 2016, I moved back to Southern California and was appointed to serve Walnut UMC and ushered the community through the pandemic and the reopening process. I was called back into the mission field in 2022, with an appointment to an international church in Torrevieja, Spain and have just completed my 3-year term as the pastor of La Siesta Evangelical Church.
I have worked in cross-cultural communities for 25+ years, serving churches in Hawaii, Germany, Southern California and Spain and I am looking forward to the diverse community of North Hollywood. Your “Love Thy Neighbor” program excites the missionary within me and demonstrates your commitment to serving those in your community with love and compassion. The active participation of your laity tells me that we are all in this ministry together, to bring the light of Christ to a dark world.
When I am not working on church things or fundraising for kids in India, I like to bake and decorate/redecorate my living spaces, plant flowers in the yard and visit coffee shops to write in my journal. I am thrilled to be living near my parents and my siblings and their families, who live in the Claremont-Upland area and look forward to spending some quality time with them as I transition back to life in the United States.
I thank God for this opportunity to be in ministry with you and I look forward to meeting you in person.
May God bless our ministry together,
Pastor Krista
