Senior Pastor – Nancy Berwid

Pastor Berwid came to know Christ at 14 years old. She was raised in an abusive, atheistic home so her conversion was profound and life changing. Because of this she has always been passionate about serving God and his son Jesus Christ. She has been actively involved in ministry for the past 35 years.

She established Searchlight Fellowship in 1991. At that time it was known as Monte Sereno Home Church. It began as a gang ministry reaching out to the Norteno and Sureno gangs in San Jose. The early years of being involved in gang ministry helped her understanding of God’s unconditional love and mercy. It began to evolve into a more diverse church serving people of more varied walks of life about 10 years later.

In her desire to understand how to help those young people in those early days she searched for ways to learn more about growth and healing. She was introduced to the books and materials by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend which had a large influence in developing the programs in the church today that help support people in their spiritual journeys.

She has been happily married to her husband Adam for the past 8 years. He is a paramedic and also active in the church.

Associate Pastor – Patty Vazquez

Patty has been a member of searchlight fellowship since the age of eleven. She was invited by a dear friend she is now eternally thankful for. She also is thankful to have met her amazing friend and minister Nancy Berwid. She has vigorously fought for her spiritual growth and healing since the beginning. The major changes in Patty’s life have also come via the Ambassador program. She didn’t know how much seeking Christ within a community was going to change her thinking and ability to feel for others.

Patty is now twenty seven years old and has spent the last ten years trying to give back to others the grace and love that has been given to her. Having been around since the beginning of Searchlight, she has seen many changes, but her desire to grow and seek truth has never stopped.

Deacon – Chris Beaudry

Chris Beaudry was born into a generation of a catholic family which for the most part left organized
religion behind as part of their young adult life. As was the times in the 70’s and 80’s, he was raised free from exposure to spirituality in any organized way.

In 2000, he started attending Searchlight as a curios agnostic with a strong belief that there must be more to life. There must be a higher power that created such a complex and beautiful world, yet having first no hand knowledge of God couldn’t reconcile the despair and suffering observed everyday with the concept of a loving God that gives us unconditional love and free will. He was saved in 2001 by witnessing unexplainable healing in those around him.

He continued to sporadically attend the fellowship until early 2007 when he experienced a loss in his life that he could not bear alone. Through personal counseling and the truth and love of Searchlight Fellowship he gained unimaginable clarity and healing in his co-dependent recovery and gaining his own identity as a deep, loving, and spiritual man.

He committed to and served in the first men’s ambassador program in 2008 and was commissioned as a deacon in March 2009.

Deacon – Susan Chung Beaudry

Susan Chung has been attending Searchlight Fellowship since late autumn of 2005. Ten months later she committed to doing the Ambassador program in its second term.

Susan was born and raised Korean Catholic where she received a foundation for her relationship with God, but it was Searchlight and its emphasis on spiritual growth through a reconciling with Christ and through open, honest, and safe relationships with others that she came to find a place to serve and give back as much as she believed she has received.

After graduating from the Ambassador program in September of 2006, Susan was asked to serve as a deacon of the church and to continue to run the San Francisco branch of Searchlight fellowship, which she plans to do as long as God sees fit. This fellowship is held every Tuesday night at 7:30pm in San Francisco’s Richmond District.

“Looking back it feels like it was just yesterday when I was prayed over and for the first time in my life that I could remember when I felt God’s love in all its truth and warmth. That did it. God showed me that night that it was time for me to know Him as He really was which was love and not a hurtful God that I had grown bitter and angry towards. I see now that also repairing my relation ship with His son, Jesus, also accelerated my growth. And how may you ask? It is through the new friendships I have made with people who are seeking the same thing, growth through service.

It was not easy to commit and there are struggles everyday, but in the end I am thankful that I have people who fight for me as Christ and God fight for me. It is truly a blessing to know that we are all in this together, this living thing, and that it is certainly a joy to know that none of us are perfect but God is and He’s for us. What peace washes over me whenever I trust in that.”

Susan, a San Francisco native, is an aspiring film and television actress and writer who currently resides in the city and manages her parents’ small business. She also deems herself a “foodie” and is currently working through her “bucket-list” of restaurants in the Bay.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2