PastorAL TEAM


  • Braven Greenelsh

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  • Robert Cruz


    Robert grew up in Taguig City, Manila, Philippines, and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He did not grow up in a religious home. But when he was 10 years old, he heard the good news from his aunt that Jesus is the only way to be forgiven by God. He believed in Jesus, but he found church boring and disconnected from the rest of his life. Over the next 14 years, he chased satisfaction through worldly things that seemed to make him happy. As a teenager, he sought fulfillment in friendships, even joining a gang in the process. In his early twenties, he focused on finding a career path that would make him rich so he could have more fun, but none of it brought lasting happiness.


    God, in His grace, intervened when Robert felt hopeless, confused, and discontent. In a divine twist, he ended up in a theology class at a church in Boyle Heights that his family attended. As he opened the Word of God, it was like blinders were removed—he saw God’s beauty and wisdom clearly for the first time. From that moment, Robert’s life changed. God revealed His purpose for him. He began sharing Jesus with his friends and diving deeper into learning about God.


    This pursuit led him to attend Eternity Bible College, where he met Josh Buck in 2010. God providentially brought Josh into his life to plant a church in Robert’s neighborhood, Highland Park. That’s how Robert became part of the team that started Antioch Church.


    Robert and his wife Joanna, married for 20 years, have three children—one in college, one in high school, and one in first grade. They have also served as foster parents for several years and continue to partner together in serving the Lord through Antioch Church. As a family, they love going out to eat, especially enjoying Korean BBQ. Robert also loves to drop dimes on the court, drink cold brew, and have ice cream late at night. He serves as the Lead Pastor of Antioch Church. 


    Contact him at: robert@antiochhp.com

Deacon TEAM


  • Bertha Cortez

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  • Connie Mapue

    My connection with Antioch started when my daughter, Missy, invited us to a service. Even though we were active in a church in the Philippines, I didn't fully understand the meaning of the gospel back then.


    In the beginning, my prayers were routine, and my understanding of God's word was limited to Sunday Mass. Life was good until a tough time hit our family. We made some bad choices, relationships broke, and we felt hopeless for two years. Looking back, I saw that my problem with God was because I wanted to be in control of my life. I sought God's help but didn't want to let go of control. This led to mistakes, broken relationships, shame, and guilt.


    During this hard time, Missy turned to Jesus for comfort. I struggled with unanswered prayers and felt distant from God. Thankfully, after two years, my family came back together. Missy kept sharing the gospel with me, talking about God's mercy and forgiveness. But I still felt shame and guilt. In Downtown Los Angeles, where I worked, I met Christian women who became crucial to my spiritual journey. Missy's Antioch Church group also prayed for my salvation.

    On Easter of 2016, God revealed Himself to me during a retreat. That weekend, I decided to follow Jesus, leaving my past sins behind and trusting in the power of the Cross. Realizing I needed healing, I prayed for forgiveness, following James 5:16, which says, "Confess your sins and pray for one another to be healed." Admitting my mistakes and asking for forgiveness helped in the healing process. By sharing my fears, faults, and anger, I found healing.


    My journey continues with daily prayer, Bible study, and building a deep relationship with God. Through life's challenges, I've learned that without God, I'm weak. I made Jesus the manager and center of my life, trusting Him.

    Despite past hurts, I acknowledge God's strength in overcoming my weaknesses.

    Every day, God blesses me with the love of my husband, the joy of my two daughters and my son-in-law, and the happiness brought by our two grandboys. Each member of our family holds a special place. I witness the beauty of God's grace manifested in the warmth and togetherness that defines our family. A true gift and testament to God's continuous and abundant blessings that fill our home with love and happiness.

  • Joanna Cruz

    I was born and raised in the Philippines where I was the oldest among four siblings. My mom exposed us to the Catholic Church's teachings while my dad expressed freedom of choosing your own belief.


    The story of how I came to know the Lord is all about God's grace and Him patiently waiting. At seven, I attended a Baptist church and heard about Jesus and in my childish ways I fell in love with fun activities in the church but not in Him. After some unfortunate events, I stopped attending and lived a life of pursuing other things but Him. At 23, I migrated to Los Angeles to marry Robert whom at that time attended Faith Calvary Baptist Church. A few days before our wedding day, I accepted the Lord but mostly in fear of going to hell. In my new found belief, I started serving the Lord and His ministries. A few years later, the Lord called us to serve Him through the Foster Care and Adoption System; this season of my life opened my heart and my eyes to a deeper understanding of where I stand with the Lord. This made me understand how much I'm scandalously loved by Him. Becoming a foster parent, I realized how much it must have hurt God to give up his Son but then again because of His love for us.


    It was 2011 when we decided to join Antioch. Since then the Lord has been teaching me so many things about Him and about myself through his body of believers, marriage, parenting and life. In every stage and season I'm at, the Lord has been faithfully revealing to me how merciful and gracious He is. I'm excited to see what His plans are for Antioch and for the city.


  • Jose Romero

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  • Paloma Schiffer

    Paloma was born in Morelos, Mexico and migrated to Los Angeles at the age of four. The eldest of four children, Paloma grew up in a Christian household where she found a love of living in service. In her early twenties she questioned her faith and decided for herself that she wanted to live out the Christian faith and get closer to God.  


    At her previous church, Sovereign Grace, she was invited to join them on their missionary trip to Mexico to help them with the language barrier and serve as a translator where they were helping at an orphanage. From this experience, she was led to become an interpreter. It was a perfect fit. She loves talking to people as she serves Christ. She has been an interpreter for 7 years now.


    Paloma loves to watch movies, and she LOVES coffee. She worked at Peet’s Coffee where she dreamt of having her own coffee shop.  


    At Sovereign Grace, she was part of the Coffee Cart Ministry giving her an opportunity to get to know people and share the Word while making coffee for congregants. It’s also where she met her husband, Aaron Schiffer.


    While Antioch is her 5th church, she’s very grateful to her previous churches that molded her into the Christian that she is today. She and her family have held Bible studies every Monday for over a decade. She currently serves at Antioch as Operations Assistant making sure that volunteer slots are filled, that there’s a worship band scheduled and that we have everything we need for Sunday service.  

  • Rocio Romero

    Rocio Romero was born in Morelos, Mexico where she was raised with 5 sisters and 3 brothers. Her brother introduced her and the rest of the family to the gospel. Since then the whole family has been serving the church.


    Her faith in Christ was emboldened while she was pregnant with her first child, Paloma. She was a single mother until 1988 when she married Jose who is currently in pastoral residency for Antioch. They had a child together and then migrated to the United States in 1989. Their family continued to grow, adding two more children in the states.


    Rocio has been part of a church since she arrived to the states and has been involved in helping families who are seeking treatment for their children from different countries. She serves them by bringing them food, but even more by sharing the gospel and having Bible studies every Monday for more than the past 10 years. It brings her incredible joy to be able to serve the Lord in this way.


    Rocio LOVES plants. She loves to nurture them and watch them grow and bloom into beautiful flowers. She also loves to pray in her garden. It’s one of her favorite places to relax. She also loves to cook and feed people. She’s been attending Antioch for 5 years and has been a deacon since 2023. As a deacon, she feels it’s important to pray for the church, the people and to be in service to the church and to Pastor Robert. She is a prayer warrior and a pillar to our church.

  • Will Quay

    Will was born in New York and grew up in Cincinnati from his early childhood up to his college years. He is a “happa” that has been deeply formed by his loving and biracial parents (Caucasian and Korean) as well as two brothers (one being his twin brother). While initially attending a Presbyterian church out of routine and family tradition, he began to wrestle with existential questions related to meaning, purpose, and death as he entered into high school. At the age of 15, he attended a Young Life camp where he heard the gospel and shortly after began a relationship with Jesus Christ. He continued serving in Young Life as a youth leader alongside close friends and mentors that provided discipleship until the end of college.   


    Passionate about “business as ministry,” particular to serve those in poverty, he served as an inner-city missionary and spent four years working with non-profit organizations serving the needs of homeless individuals and families in Los Angeles. He has since worked for World Vision International in various capacities: living in India conducting HIV/AIDS program research with children, audit/consulting, and now with the Global Faith and Development department.


    Will holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Finance from Miami University and an M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Since 2012, he has been a part of the core planting team at Antioch City Church and is deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve Christ and His church as a deacon.