Leo & Corinne Chick
Innovation Team
Leo Chick
Growing up as a churched kid in the suburbs of LA, the vision of life I had was to do as little as I possibly could while still calling myself a Christian. My vision of life was to live comfortably in the suburbs, attend church on Sundays, and live for myself the rest of the week.
But God had another thing coming! At a youth retreat in middle school, I was convicted of the hypocrisy and sin in my life for the first time, repented, and made a decision to follow Jesus. And that one fateful decision changed the trajectory of my life. Instead of living for myself, God showed me that there was a better way - to live for Him.
Since then, God has led me on an adventure of a lifetime, guiding me to an authentic community in college that reshaped my vision of church, leading me in 2014 to plant a church in sunny Santa Barbara (I know, hardly a sacrifice) and watching it grow in 10 years into a vibrant college ministry. In 2024, I quit my software engineering job to go into full-time ministry.
What makes my heart beat is to see college students come to know Jesus. The first day that I walked onto campus, some of the friendliest guys I’d ever met helped me move in and invited me to play football with them at a nearby field. Years later, it amazes me that I’m still doing the same thing as those guys did for me - welcoming students to campus, sharing the amazing news of Jesus with them, and inviting them to the joy of following Him together as the church.
I’m married to my lovely wife Corinne (who, the first time she met me, prematurely felt sorry for the person who would have to marry me… ask me about it sometime!). We have two (mostly) lovely children Elena and Elijah.
Random facts: I love Switchfoot, playing guitar, being in nature, reading, and watching movies.
Corinne Chick
I went to church my whole life, but I always knew that something was missing. It wasn't until I came to college and I had to share a small dorm room with two other freshmen that I experienced my own selfishness in full force for the first time, and I finally saw myself as a sinner. It was also around that time that I encountered Christians who lived radical lives, generously giving up their time and money to share the Gospel with college students. Because of this combination of factors, I had a renewed hunger to learn God's word and the Gospel message fully clicked. I felt like I had never heard it before, and it wasn't until I found old notes from my youth days that I realized that the message was always there, it was me that was not listening.
Since that moment when I surrendered my life to Christ, I've gotten to experience the joy of sharing the Gospel to other college students, and seeing their lives transformed as they respond to Jesus' invitation. I've found myself going to many different college campuses over the years, primarily at Berkeley and Santa Barbara, but also to many other campuses on various mission and evangelism trips. As a strong homebody who felt like going to college 40 minutes away was just a little too far, it's something that I never would have imagined myself doing. But I've come to see that when I listen, God calls me to "Go" and so I hope to continue to do so, for many years to come!