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Covenant Community Services Staff
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Randy M., CEO
Randy is the founder and CEO of Covenant Community Services Inc.
Randy’s passion is to coach people and organizations for growth
of the Kingdom and in service to King Jesus! Randy’s mission is
transforming communities and generations through services and
supports to foster children, emancipated youth, and families.
Randy has been involved in social services since 1986 and has
served as Kern County’s Royal Family Kids’ Camp Director for 14
years. He serves on several other committees/board of directors
and the Canyon Hills Assembly of God Leadership Team. Randy is
a licensed minister, organizational consultant, and an expert
witness in foster care. Under Randy’s direction, Covenant
currently has 7 diverse programs that serve abused and neglected
children and their families. Randy is married to Kim and they
have two biological children, Zachary and Shelby and a foster
son, Jovan.
Kim M., Manager of Operations
BIO
coming soon!
Leah G., Director of Family Services
Leah has been with Covenant since November 2006 when she and her
husband, Dan, moved to Kern County from Ventura, CA for Dan to
take a position with Kern County Teen Challenge. Leah serves as
the Director of our Family Services which include Foster Care,
Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS), & our THP+ Program. She
has extensive experience working with at risk youth and their
families and has a passion for helping to bring change and hope
to broken youth and families through the love of Christ. Leah
received a B.A. in Psychology from U.C. Berkeley and is
currently attending National University working on her M.A. in
Counseling Psychology. Leah is happy to call Kern County home
and enjoys spending time with her husband – Dan, 3 step-children
– Madison, Dylan & Greta, and raising & showing their 200 lb
Mastiff, Samson.
Mark W., Building Blocks Manager
Mark joined Covenant Community Services on June 1,
2007, and he is very proud to be part of the team. Mark has
gone through teen challenge and the teen challenge institute,
which led him to minister in the Compton, CA area. Eventually,
he and his wife, Stephanie, took over a church/outreach in
Venice Beach, CA. Mark and Stephanie have two children,
Matthias who will be 3 in May and their newest edition Naomi
Elizabeth who is 10 weeks old.
Mark and Stephanie
relocated to Bakersfield 3 years ago and became an active
participant in ministry at Canyon Hills Assembly of God. They
ran a ministry for the homeless at Central Park in Bakersfield
and services Covenant as the Building Blocks Manager. Building
Blocks is a residential program that teaches emancipated foster
youth the skills they need for successful, independent living.
Building Blocks is a 6 unit complex that houses a total of 12
youth. They will learn to search for and maintain a job,
budgeting, home maintenance, personal health and safety—and much
more. They skills they learn will enable them to become
self-sufficient and productive members of society. Building
Blocks was extremely run down and there are many things that
still need to be worked out, but Mark is trusting that the Lord
will provide the resources needed to get these youth the message
that they have a hope and a future—in Jesus Christ! Mark
has recently been recognized by the
Modern Woodmen of America as a "hometown hero" for his work
with Building Blocks!
Jessica C., Community Developer
Jessica comes to Covenant from CSU Bakersfield where she worked
in marketing--graphic design, website management, and public
relations. She received a BA in Communications, with an
emphasis in Computer Imaging, from CSU Bakersfield.
As the Community Developer, Jessica is
responsible for "getting the word out" about CCSI, in an effort
to recruit more volunteers and financial supporters, which will
allow us to serve more children. Jessica is actively
engaged in grant-writing and is committed to finding reliable
funding sources that will allow Covenant to expand its current
programming. Jessica has developed "Covenant Partners"--a
donor program that allows individuals or businesses to pledge a
monthly amount or provide a one-time gift to offset the cost of
our CARE-NET and Jeremiah Mentoring programs. These
programs are offered as community services--they do not generate
any revenue for Covenant, but require a lot of resources to
execute. If you would like to know how you can get
involved as a volunteer or donor, contact Jessica and she will
be happy to get you plugged into one of our ministry
opportunities.
John P., Jeremiah Mentoring Coordinator
John is a Bakersfield Native. He graduated from
Bakersfield High School. For three years he went to school in
Phoenix Arizona. After an encounter with Christ in 1979, he
went back to school and got his undergraduate degree in
Philosophy and religion with a minor is Psychology. He then
went to Fuller Theological Seminary and received his Masters of
Divinity Degree in 1995.
John has been working with children for over two decades. He
started as an intern in Youth Ministry in 1980 at First Baptist
Church in Bakersfield. He has counseled many youth through the
basics of life. He is also a foster parent of two and adopted
one. John and his wife Jennifer have been doing foster care for
nine years. In 2002, after stepping down from church ministry
John came to Covenant Community Services as a social
worker. John has extensive experience with foster children and
the foster care system. He is currently coordinating the
Jeremiah Mentoring Project. John loves the interaction with
families and feels he can help abused and neglected children
find hope a healing in homes that show the love of Christ with
determination and dedication.
John still has his hand is formal church ministry. He is the
worship leader and choir director at University Baptist Church
in Bakersfield. John is an avid Golfer. He says his handicap
is his driver, but he is about a 14. He also plays guitar. He
has been playing since he was in 3rd grade.
Kevin C., Building Blocks Asst. Manager & CARE-NET
Coordinator
Kevin comes to Covenant from Teen
Challenge. He spent over 5 years counseling and discipling
young adults with addiction problems. He has been involved with
ministry for 10 years and has a passion to see the lives of
hopeless and hurting people become transformed by the love of
Jesus Christ. Kevin has been on board at Covenant for a year and
a half, and is a vessel of hope for families and foster youth in
transition.
Jonah L., THP - Plus Case Manager
Jonah is from Bakersfield and a graduate of Centennial High
School. After finishing his bachelors from Western Illinois
University, he moved to Charlotte North Carolina to serve with a
Sports Ministry called Missionary Athletes International (MAI),
while playing professional soccer for the Charlotte Eagles.
After a few years he served in the same capacity overseas with
Ambassadors in Sport (AIS) in Australia, Iceland, and Africa.
This also included short term works all over the world
communicating the message of the gospel through sport to kids
and teammates from all walks of life.
He is one of our CHOICES Transitional Housing Program - Plus (THP+)
case managers that work to enable emancipated foster youth to
establish permanence. His heart is for the emancipated youth of
Kern County to reach a state of wholeness enabling them to
succeed and influence others in a positive manner.
Covenant Board of Directors
Wendell V., Chairman of the Board
Wendell and his wife Lynda have been the Senior
Pastors of Canyon Hills Assembly of God Church since May 1983.
During these years, Canyon Hills has grown from a small group of
people meeting in northeast Bakersfield to one of the leading
churches in the region. Wendell’s passion is to serve with other
pastors in his community to impact the culture of their city.
This has resulted in hundreds of pastors and leaders effectively
working together on strategies for both evangelism and city
transformation.
Supporting this effort, they have carried out a
strategic plan in their congregation. Over these twenty-two
years, Wendell and Lynda have led the Canyon Hills congregation
through a major relocation of the church facilities and numerous
building programs. The design and development of the 42-acre
Canyon Hills Church campus, Florence Gardens Senior Living
Community, and Frazier Woods Conference Center has been driven
by the priority of creating environments that invite and include
the “un-churched”.
Wendell and Lynda serve on numerous local and national boards
for Christian ministries serving to engage the faith community
in reaching beyond the walls of the church. Wendell also serves
or has served as a member of the board of trustees for Vanguard
University (Costa Mesa, CA), We Care America (Washington DC),
Covenant Foundation of California, Convoy of Hope (Springfield,
MO), Covenant Community Services (Kern County, CA), Stand for
Israel (Chicago, IL), and The Jerusalem Prayer Team (Dallas,
TX).
Russ U., Board Treasurer
Russ is the Treasurer on the Board.
Russell G. Unruh is Owner and Broker of The Russell Group, a
real estate company he founded in 1992. Russell oversees the
complete operation of The Russell Group. As owner, broker, and
manager he establishes company direction and policies, while
maintaining a hands-on approach to the management of day-to-day
activities of the company. With over 19 years of extensive
experience in the local real estate industry, Russ understands
the needs of both buyers and sellers of all types of real
estate.
Russell is a native
of Bakersfield and holds a California Real Estate Brokers
License, the Certified New Home Sales Professional (CSP)
designation from the National Association of Home Builders, and
a Bachelor of Science Degree in Real Estate. Russell has been
dedicated to serving foster children and has been a counselor
for Royal Family Kids’ Camp for several years.
Todd G., Board Secretary
Todd is the Secretary of the Board. Todd is a trial
attorney who represents people and businesses when they have
been harmed by others. Todd is a 1995 law school graduate and
has been representing accident victims since 1995. He also
provides legal counsel and advice to non-profit
groups/ministries in the legalities of non-profit formation,
operation, and management. Todd is a member of the California
State Bar, The Kern County Bar Association, The Christian Trial
Lawyers Association, the Consumer Attorneys of California, the
American Trial Lawyer Association, and the Consumer Attorneys of
Los Angeles. Todd was elected by his peers to a leadership
position in the Consumer Attorneys of California as a
representative on the Board of Governors.
Todd and his wife, Heath, have three children. One of their
children was brought to them through Covenant Community Services
as a Foster Child. Todd was a founding board member of Jesus
Shack and served on the Board for the first eight years of that
ministry’s existence. Todd has a passion for serving and
protecting children in foster care. A highlight of Todd’s
community service each year is acting as a counselor at Royal
Family Kid’s Camp, the summer camp for foster children hosted by
Covenant.
Bob C., Director
Bob is a Director on the Board. Bob is a Water Resource Analyst
for three large water districts in Southern California. He holds
three degrees from the Colorado School of Mines: Bachelor of
Science in Engineering, Master of Science in Geology, and a
Ph.D. in Geophysics. Bob has spent his entire career in
energy/mineral exploration and ground water development.
Bob serves Covenant because he believes God has called him to
serve by providing basic gospel outreach to remote parts of the
world, supporting families and children in the community, and
donating his time to teach others.
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