Peter Lopez

Youth pastor Peter Lopez grew up in Tucson, in a family that went to church but didn’t focus on Jesus. He always seemed to be in a Christian environment, yet he was a young teen who had never made a personal commitment to follow Christ.

When he was 14 years-old, his parents forced him to attend a Calvary Chapel Christian camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. At camp, Peter felt love and acceptance from the other students. Peter had never before seen such genuine love and excitement about God.

One night, Peter heard the message of the gospel explaining that God had sent his son Jesus to make each person clean from their sins. Peter decided to trust Jesus for himself. As he raised his hand and asked Jesus to save him, he remembers feeling white as snow, and as clean as he could possibly feel! He had become a new person because of Christ.

Peter’s faith in God changed his life, and started a chain reaction in his family –first his sister, and then his parents and other siblings began to follow Christ. Peter continues to serve Jesus with confidence because now he knows his life is right with God and he is living the way he is supposed to live. His insecurities about himself are gone, and he is confident that God will continue to grow him into the person God wants him to be, and confident that he will go to heaven.

Similarly, God speaks in Hosea 2:20, “I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” To Peter, this means that God is committed to the one who trusts in Jesus, and pursues people to make Himself known. “I’m starting to see other people through God’s eyes, which makes me realize that above any pastoral duties or ministry calling that my relationships with other people are more important. My relationships with other people are valued by God above what I could ever do for him.”

In the summer of 2008, Peter joined the Calvary Tucson staff as an intern pastor. Today, Peter oversees the Identity Junior High Youth Ministry on Calvary Tucson’s West Campus, organizes missions trips, runs the West Campus Coffee Shop, and oversees the Remnant High School youth at the West Campus. Peter is a talented photographer, studies graphic design, and travels as much as possible. He appreciates the teachings of David Guzik for his practical interpretation of scripture. He appreciates many styles of music and recommends Jon Foreman and Strahan.