Bob Stebe
Bob Stebe was born and lived
until age 10 in Brentwood, New York. He moved to California in the summer of
1963, which is why he considers himself growing up in California. His family
moved to the growing area of Thousand Oaks. He graduated from Thousand Oaks
High School in 1971, where he concentrated on football, baseball, and guitar.
After graduation, Bob attended Moorpark College where he continued with football
and started to become a student.
It was during Bob's latter part of high school that he was invited by a friend to attend the Presbyterian Church and Campus Life (Youth for Christ). Through these groups and their leaders Bob was helped to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior during his senior year. That is when he began to explore his calling with guitar and youth ministry. During his first two years of college he was a youth leader at the Thousand Oaks Presbyterian Church.
In the fall of 1973 he went up the coast to Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo where he pursued a major in physical education with a teaching and coaching emphasis. While at Cal Poly, Bob attended the First Presbyterian Church, leading music and attending the college group. It was there that he became the Youth Director, taking the part time position to full time within one year. After graduating with honors in 1976 and while still working at the church, Bob continued his studies to complete his teaching credentials and work toward a Masters Degree in Counseling and Guidance.
While the director for a Santa Barbara Presbytery weeklong junior high camp on Catalina, he met Lisa, who came as a counselor from the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara. She was also attending Cal Poly, so he asked if she would help as a youth leader at the church in San Luis Obispo. What began as a good friendship, grounded in the church, became a 23-year marriage.
After they were wed in the summer of 1979, Bob and Lisa left San Luis Obispo as Bob took on teaching and coaching at Lee Vining High School in the eastern Sierras. It only took a year for them to see that God was calling Bob to pursue pastoral ministry. They moved to the campus of San Francisco Theological Seminary in the fall of 1980. Bob thoroughly enjoyed campus life and grew tremendously from his studies. They spent six months in Tigard, Oregon on an internship where Bob filled the position of an associate pastor. Then just before graduation in 1983, their first daughter Katharyn was born.
Bob's first pastoral call was to Orangewood Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Arizona to be an Associate Pastor for an innovative Youth Ministry Pilot Project *. While at Orangewood he experienced team ministry within a large church, incorporating guitar into a blended service, and the beauty of spring in the desert when major league baseball teams come for spring training. It was in Phoenix where their second girl, Elizabeth, was born. Then in 1989 God called Bob to serve in a solo pastorate, and opened the way to come to Jerome, Idaho.
Bob served for 13 years in the longest pastorate of the church's 90-year history. It was in Jerome where their third daughter, Celeste, was born. At the First Presbyterian Church of Jerome, Bob helped bring many younger families into the life of the church with inspiring and creative worship experiences. He grew a youth ministry with Lisa’s partnership that traveled in mission from Tijuana to San Francisco to Seattle to the Navajo Reservation. He, with Lisa, taught five sessions of the two-year Crossways Bible Study along with many other courses, led Kendall Presbytery in various positions including Moderator and General Assembly Commissioner, and has been a significant leader with ecumenical associations and community service.
In June of 2002 Bob was called to begin a new calling to Northminster Presbyterian Church in Diamond Bar, California. After being in a church manse in Idaho, the Stebe’s own a home in an area called Phillips Ranch, located between Diamond Bar and Pomona. He is now in the role of Head of Staff in an active medium size church that recently celebrated it’s 40th anniversary. He is enjoying the new challenges of serving a multicultural/multiracial congregation and sharing in partnership and leadership with a gifted staff. Lisa continues to work as a stay-at-home mom, volunteering at the church teaching Crossways and singing in the choir; Katharyn is attending Mt. San Antonio College with plans to transfer to Azusa Pacific University, and she serves on the Youth Leadership Team with Jr Hi students; Elizabeth is a junior at Diamond Ranch High School in the National Honor Society, Academic Decathlon Team, and the Track Team; Celeste is in 6th grade, enjoying math, playing fast-pitch softball, and getting involved in youth activities at the church.
