Aaron Peterson: Student Spotlight Bio Story
Aaron Peterson
Who is Aaron?
Aaron is a working priest. Working priests are men and women throughout the world who pastor churches and hold jobs and receive an income outside of the church. This photograph explains that. Taken in Uganda while on a visit to bond with his 18 year old son, train church planters, deepen friendships, catalog and encourage Ugandan Vineyards, and conduct research for his doctoral program in Global Leadership, this picture truly is worth a whole bucket full of words. This picture happened because of who Aaron is, husband, father, pastor, teacher, student, and friend of Jesus.
Because he believes the biggest miracle in this life is marriage, Aaron is most passionate about his wife Lisa and their 22 years of matrimony. He is also preoccupied with his and Lisa’s four adolescent children whom they are raising in Los Angeles, California. It is from the fountain of marriage and family that Aaron planted and pastors the Hub Vineyard Church, teaches History at the local public high school, heads up the Uganda Partnership for the Vineyard, and is pursuing a doctorate at George Fox Seminary. Aaron enjoys playing in the dirt with his english and antique roses, discovering new things in the local mountains while walking the family Bernese Mountain Dog, DJ-ing partes, and traveling. Aaron is slowly getting in touch with his bird watching side and when the weather is warm, you can most likely find him at the beach.
Aaron pastors The Hub Vineyard Church which he and some friends planted in 2003. Armed with a desire for authentic, holistic and fully integrated spirituality, Aaron’s vision is to see all those around him become friends with Jesus. Aaron leads the Hub with a strong commitment to emotionally healthy spirituality. Besides preaching, creating new ministries, and connecting with people, Aaron loves to organize and facilitate marriage and spiritual formation retreats and activities. The Hub is part of the Association of Vineyard Churches, USA and Aaron has been part of the Vineyard movement since he was 11 years old.
As a teacher at Verdugo Hills High School for over 20 years, Aaron is enmeshed in the local community. Maybe it’s because Verdugo is the school he graduated from, or maybe because it’s the school his parents’ graduated from, but either way, Aaron fits the “local boy” persona perfectly. Besides teaching Government, Economics, U.S. History and World History, Aaron is the Work Experience Education teacher and gets to visit and connect with many of the local businesses around the town. Aaron is also a master teacher and supervises and mentors student-teachers who are earning their teaching credential through local universities. The best thing about teaching teens and adults for him is that moment when something new is discovered. So many people consider education a science that can be commenced via formulas, but Aaron considers education, like pastoring, to be an art form.
As the leader of the Uganda Partnership, Aaron wants to plant a self-sustaining indigenous network of Vineyard Churches throughout Uganda. He’s been working on this since 2005 and makes annual journeys to Uganda to teach, encourage, and build relationship. He also works nationally and internationally with other Vineyard churches and associations to support church planting in Uganda. There were no Vineyard Churches in Uganda in 2005 and now 10 years later, there are six self-sustaining legitimate churches pastored by Ugandans.
Aaron is attempting to make sense of all this by learning how to blog at www.workingpriest.com.
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