Karen
Karen was born in San Diego, California, on July 22, 1976. Her family had always attended church, so Karen was able to hear about Jesus from a young age, and made a decision fairly early on to follow Him. Karen attended college at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, where she studied Spanish. While at Puget Sound, she joined InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and after graduation spent a year as a volunteer staff member with IVCF at Eastern Washington University. In 1999, Karen moved to Los Angeles to do an internship with Servant Partners, an urban ministry organization, which is how she ended up in Boyle Heights, the community where she still lives. In 2003, Karen went to grad school to get a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and was hired as a librarian in 2006 by LA County Library. Her current position with the library system involves selecting and purchasing the adult and teen fiction for all 88 library locations. Karen came to New City in the summer of 2016 and joined the Acts 2 small group that fall. She was drawn to the diversity and fellowship of New City, and the way the church really digs into the hard and joyful and messy business of figuring out how to love God and love each other. She is now one of the Huddle leaders of Acts 2, a volunteer on the finance team, and helps Pastor Tracey coordinate the Grow and Serve groups.