Senior Pastor Bio
Biography for Dr. Alan Stones
Interim Senior Pastor
Dr. Alan G. Stones, the Interim Senior Pastor at Church of the Valley, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA. and has been with the Apple Valley congregation since March, 2003. Over the past 17 years he has served full-time as Interim Pastor and Head of Staff with six congregations in California. Prior to these ministries he was Assistant Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, serving as Director of Field Education and teaching New Testament and Pastoral Theology.
In his preaching and teaching Pastor Alan likes to appeal both to the heart and the mind by blending the truths of Scripture with the issues that engage contemporary believers and urging them to apply what they have learned in their discipleship to Christ among their daily contacts who are struggling to find meaning, purpose and hope in these challenging times.
Dr. Stones earned his Doctor of Theology degree at the University of Basel,
Switzerland in 1988, his Doctor of Ministry at Fuller Seminary in 1976, and an M.Div. degree at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1971. Before entering the full-time ministry, he was a Planning Associate at the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission and a Lecturer in Geography at U.C.L.A., where he earned his M.A. He served as Protestant Chaplain at Georgetown University (1971-72), Pastor of Single Adult and College Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, CA (1972-77), Pastor of the Black Forest Christian Fellowship in Germany (1978-81), Chaplain to Students at the University of Basel and Prison Chaplain through the Swiss-Evangelical Church of Basel Canton, Switzerland (1981-88).