Antioch City Church | Our Leadership

Leadership

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.
Ki-Lee Pupchik

I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and was adopted at 6 months. I grew up in New Jersey in a Christian home, and prayed a prayer of salvation at 6. I struggled growing up with identity, loss, and guilt issues, mainly due to not understanding where I came from or why I was here. I grew up in a multi-cultural environment, which I am extremely grateful for. My parents separated when I was 10-11 and I rebelled in middle, high school and college, but am grateful for God's unending grace.

In 2014 I moved to LA and became a part of Antioch. I was drawn by the sense of family and the willingness of other guys to disciple and invest in my life. The fact that Antioch stressed racial reconciliation, adoption, multiculturalism, and grace was very important to me. I am amazed at God's daily forgiveness and grace through His Gospel, and His faithfulness throughout my life as evident in Phil 1:6- "And I am sure of this that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

I am love being a member of Antioch as a servant leader and to work with LAUSD as an 8th grade teacher. I am beyond blessed to be happily married to Missy (1 John 4:19) and a father to John Immanuel!
Robert Cruz

Robert was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He moved to L.A. as a teen and became involved in a Filipino gang downtown. He continued living a defiant lifestyle, moving back and forth from L.A. to Manila. After eight years of wandering through life he moved back to L.A. to marry the love of his life Joanna. This is when God grabbed ahold of his heart. He has been following the Lord ever since studying His word, serving in the local church, and telling people about Jesus. Robert loves seeing people understand who God is and begin to follow Him. He also loves the Lakers. He met Josh in 2010 and found out that he's planting a church in his own neighborhood. He knew right away that God crossed their paths for a reason and after much prayer and deliberation, Robert & Joanna joined Antioch.

Contact him at: robert@antiochhp.com
Jeannette Martinez

Jeannette was born and raised in Los Angeles. She comes from a Latin family that was “culturally catholic”, as she likes to call them. Her and her older sister went to a catholic elementary school and followed all of the catholic traditions, but was never introduced to God. When the family moved to the Downtown/Silverlake area of Los Angeles, the family underwent some very difficult times as they lost the baby of the family, at 3 years of age, to leukemia. This changed the course of all of their lives… however, through the years, unbeknownst to them, God kept them together, because He had a greater plan…

As she got older, Jeannette started to feel a desire for something/someone greater than herself. She believed in God but didn’t have a relationship with Him and didn’t know that she could. Her search went on for many years, she read books on other religions and beliefs and decided she was just going to be “spiritual” not “religious”. But that didn’t last for long, she found herself attending Catholic mass in the hopes of hearing or receiving what she was missing but couldn’t quite put her finger on. Sunday morning mass was the closest she was getting but it wasn’t enough. Her older sister came to the Lord first and ultimately God used their closeness and love to bring Jeannette to Him. Jeannette attended service one day at the church her sister was attending and felt like God was waiting for her, right there, in that theater building. She was saved the following Sunday!

Jeannette came to Antioch through a coworker & friend 3 years after being saved! She later found out that that friend and other members of Antioch Church had been praying for her salvation years before as well as her sister and her sister’s in-laws had been. Now she is part of the Leadership team serving as a Deacon and works full-time as a Medical Interpreter at our very own Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. God continues to work in her life and on her heart.
Missy Mapue Pupchik

Missy grew up in the Philippines with a close-knit, loving, Catholic family. Despite being in church almost every Sunday, her faith was all based on tradition and her relationship with the Lord was practically non-existent.

In 2008, her family immigrated to the US to start a new life. To her dismay, in the same year her parents separated due to unforeseen events. But God in his wisdom and mercy, used something that may seem tragic to bring her to faith and knowledge of the one true God. Through her local church in the Bay Area, she grew in faith and served in their youth ministry.

By God's grace her parents reconciled and in 2012 she decided to live with them in Los Angeles. It was difficult leaving her first church but she knew God would provide a new family of believers in LA. In the following year, God answered that prayer through Antioch City Church.

Through the humble, wise and God-centered leadership of Antioch, Missy gained a fuller understanding of the Gospel and fell more in love with Jesus. She started working on staff for Antioch in 2015 and currently serves as Operations Director, while also as a co-founder and board member for the non-profit PAX. She lives in NELA with her loving husband Ki & sweet baby boy John.

Her prayer is to see the local church equipped with God's Word, humbled by his Spirit, using their gifts to build up one another and serve the community.

Contact her at: missy@antiochhp.com
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.

STAFF

Moises Martinez

Hi! My name is Moises Martinez, I am twenty six years old, was born and raised in Los Angeles, and serving here at Antioch City Church. I started attending Antioch in the fall of 2016, and fully joined the church in April 2017. My church background involves working with the worship team and audio team; which is what I am currently involved with at Antioch.

Aside from helping out at church, I also participate with AMP Los Angeles, the mentor program started by our pastor Josh Buck. Working as the Site Director for AMP Studios, I take care of any booking inquiries, and sub lease inquiries we may have.

Thanks for stopping by our site and would love to have you join us on a Sunday morning to worship together!
Edgar Flores

Edgar was born and raised in Boyle Heights, California. Raised in a Catholic home, God took a hold of his life at the age of 7, after his parents lives and marriage were destroyed by drug addiction. God used one of his aunts to introduce the Gospel and find a faith based recovery program for them to break their addiction and nourish their new faith in Jesus Christ.

At the age of 9 he met Krisel in Sunday school. He knew that would be the person he married and prayed fervently for that to take place. By twelve years old, Edgar was very self conscious. Being part of a charismatic church he struggled to participate in corporate worship so he became obsessed with learning to play piano due to his desire to express his affection for Christ through music.

Edgar and Krisel began dating at the age of 14 and attended Roosevelt High School together. After several years, they became parents at a very young age and married at the age of 18.

He served in the worship ministry at his local church since the age of 13, where he later became Music Director and served for 5 years on staff. During this time he attended Bible college where he received his associates degree in religious studies.

After several years of wrestling and prayer, Edgar and Krisel decided to part ways with the church they grew up in. During this transition period they began to write songs and started a band called Unscripted, composed of a few of their closest family and friends.

Edgar and his family began attending Antioch in March of 2017 after receiving an invitation to lead worship. The experience was very different from anything they were used to but it was everything they had hoped for finding in a covenant group of believers. Edgar now serves at Antioch as Music Director alongside his wife Krisel.

Contact him at: edgarkrisel@antiochhp.com
Krisel Flores

Krisel was born and raised in Boyle Heights, CA in a single parent home. Her father passed away when she was just 3 years old and she is the second eldest of four sisters. She grew up in a Christian home going to church every Sunday.

She recalls going to church as a child thinking it was fun and it was what everyone did on Sundays. There she met her husband Edgar while they both attended the children's ministry class. As she came into her teenage years, never really knowing God, she began to find interest in what her friends were doing and found herself in a place where actions she'd taken led her and Edgar to become teen parents at the young age of 16. With the responsibility to care for another life, she soon realized she had to become an adult. After their daughter was born, her thinking changed and with that came the desire to know God. It was not until the age of 17 that she really began her walk with God and her desire to know him grew more and more. At the age of 18 her desire to sing led her to join the worship team at the church she attended. She recalls praying constantly asking God to allow her to be an instrument He could use to lead others to encounter God and know him. Soon after she began leading worship. As she grew in her ability, her relationship with God also grew.

Time went by and she and her husband found themselves making a difficult decision of leaving the church they had known for most of their lives. After continuous prayer, they left the church and trusted God with what He placed in their hearts. After a couple years of attending their new church they were invited to Antioch by a family member to lead worship as guests. She soon realized that was the place where God was leading and preparing them for during their period of transition and waiting. She recalls many times growing frustrated, not seeing any results in the decision they had made to leave the church they had grew up in. She loves the simplicity of Antioch and the focus it has on family, community, and most of all the teaching of the Word of God.

Krisel currently works in the medical field as an Ophthalmic assistant to multiple physicians for one of the largest eye groups in Southern California and is a full time mom to three Children Sara 14, Malachi 10, and Judah 5. She also serves on staff at Antioch alongside her husband as Music Directors. She enjoys spending time with her family the most and her dog Duke.

Contact her at: edgarkrisel@antiochhp.com
Robert Cruz
Missy Mapue