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directional team
James Gann is the founder and director of Manna. He lives in Fullerton with his wife, Camila, and their three children, Mikaela, Amelia and Jude.
The seeds of Manna grew out of Life Together Church, a failed church plant that James had led years before. He experienced first-hand the difficulty that planters and pastors experience, especially those that are co-vocational and bi-vocational. His hope was to plant and pastor again one day, but sensed God was asking him to lay it down to get behind and support others with similar hopes. He founded Manna in 2018 as a way to strengthen seedling churches and their pastors in Southern California.
Prior to planting Life Together Church, James had served at Angelus Temple and the LA Dream Center as Small Groups’ Director, Adopt-A-Block Director and provided Congregational Care in many facets in the life of that church.
James is also an entrepreneur. Since 2010, he has started up many successful kingdom-centered businesses mainly in real estate. He loves the exercise of utilizing spaces efficiently. “What can be built?” is a question he loves to explore. James received his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Kansas in 2002.
DIRECTIONAL TEAM
Andrew and Katie Alesso planted Thrive LA Church in the Echo Park neighborhood of LA in September 2017. They are passionate about seeing more people meet Jesus through churches planted across the urban LA area and around the world! In their downtime, they greatly enjoy playing with their two children, Dax and Junia, cheering on the Lakers, competing at nerdy board games, and trying out new brunch spots in the city.
directional team
directional team
Jay is one of the pastors at One Life City Church in Fullerton, overseeing the mobilization and leadership of the church. He serves alongside an amazing team and church community. Together, they are working towards a sustainable and thriving faith and church community. He is married to his wife, Tanya, and together they have three wonderful daughters, Evelyn, Emilie, and Eleanor.
Together they are raising Wesley, Micah, Lucas, and Nora to love Jesus with all they’ve got!
ADVISORY TEAM
Dr. Ray Chang is originally from Southern California where he attended Biola University majoring in Biblical Studies. From Biola, he went to Talbot and Dallas Theological Seminary earning a Masters in Divinity and a Masters in Sacred Theology. He more recently completed his Doctorate in Ministry at Trinity Divinity Evangelical School. In addition to his academic history, Ray has extensive ministry experience in second-generation Korean American and multiethnic ministries.
He began as a youth pastor in Southern California, then moved to an internship at First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton under the pastoral leadership of Chuck Swindoll. It was there that Ray was ordained and received his call to Korean Central Presbyterian Church as their English ministry pastor. He served there for three years from 1993-1996.
Afterward, he planted a multi-ethnic church, Ambassador Bible Church, in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. In 2000, Ray moved back to Southern California to the same church where Ray did his internship, EV Free Fullerton to become the Outreach Pastor. In 2003, Ray planted his second church, Ambassador Church in Anaheim and Brea. Currently, Ray leads a multiethnic ministry called Ambassador Network focused on Church Planting/Leadership Development in the Multiethnic context. As part of Ambassador Network, Ray leads the Mosaix Institute at Wheaton College and runs a small business in Irvine called, FastSigns of Irvine.
Ray is married to Sun, and they have twin daughters, Kristen and Karissa who are both in college.
ADVISORY TEAM
DJ and his wife Crista are southeast LA natives. They got married in 2008 and planted Imago Dei in 2015. Together they have five awesome kids. DJ loves basketball, good coffee, and he eats two bowls of cereal every day. More than anything, DJ loves Jesus and wants to proclaim his glory to the world. He is passionate about preaching the Bible, planting churches, and raising up leaders who will help make Jesus known!
advisory team
Eric has been a pastor in Long Beach for 25 years, serving at Grace LB and Parkcrest Church. While at GraceLB, he started Hope for Long Beach (HfLB), an effort to help churches be more externally focused. Eric also worked with several pastors to create PlantLB, a city-wide church planting collaborative started to encourage the multiplication of Christ-following communities for the good of the city.
Currently, he works half-time at Parkcrest as an associate pastor. Additionally, he directs the Long Beach Church Collective, a collaborative organization that serves local churches and Christian leaders.
Eric grew up in San Diego and met his wife (a proud ex-Texan) at Biola University. Eric and Sarah have five children and make their home in Long Beach (Cal Heights).
Eric likes to read, watch (and sometimes play) baseball, and be silly with his children. He is learning to pray and practice Ephesians 4:2 (growing in humility, gentleness, and patience).
Staff
Charlie serves as the Administrator for Manna SoCal. Charlie has been blessed to serve in different ministry roles in the Long Beach area for over 15 years with much of that in a planter and lead pastor role. He has learned much through his experiences, and has experienced the ups and downs of ministry. He loves the church and really has a heart for church plants. After his church closed its doors at the end of 2020, God provided a job with Manna SoCal that allows him to use his gifts to serve planters and pastors as they seek to expand the Kingdom of Jesus here in southern California.
He moved to California after graduating from The University of Dallas with a degree in History. He loves making videos communicating the Gospel for kids and families in ways that are impactful, memorable, and funny. He also loves all sports, coaching his kids, vacationing with the family, and date nights with his wife. He has been married to his partner in life and ministry, Bridget, since 2004. Together they have 3 children: Leeland, Phoebe, and Gunnar…plus one cat, and two fish.
Staff
