My name is Tony Schlegel and I was born in Jacksonville, Florida on April 17th, 1976. My family moved to San Diego in 1977 and I have lived here ever since. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1980. I had been to Sunday school earlier that day and my Sunday school teacher had talked about Jesus coming into my heart and being the king in my life. This sounded like something I wanted and while at 4 years old I couldn’t fully grasp the decision I had made I did understand this was for life! I fell away from God in high school a little bit but God recaptured my heart and I re-dedicated my life to Christ in 1995. I went to Christian High School in El Cajon and graduated from there in 1994. I earned a Bachelors degree from Bethel University in Christian Ministries in 2000, and my Masters of Theological Studies in 2006 from Bethel Seminary both in San Diego.
On January 12, 2002 I got married to Mary Kate Godfrey. We just had our first child, a little boy, Ole Augustus, on April 4th, 2008. We live in Pacific Beach, where we love to ride bikes, go on walks and go to the beach. I am a surfer and have been surfing for about 15 years. I also have the privilege to be an active member of the Torrey Pines Surf Ministry. I served at College Avenue Baptist Church in San Diego from 1994-2002 as an intern for the middle school and college departments. In 2002, I had the opportunity to help out leading worship with a church plant in Carmel Valley called Harbor Presbyterian. In the middle of 2004, I got the call back to College Avenue Baptist Church and served there from 2004-2008 as the middle school pastor, the high school pastor and a worship pastor. My family and I received the call to come to Torrey Pines Christian Church in May of 2008, where I am currently the Youth Director and Worship Leader for the alternative worship service called the bridgeon Sunday mornings at 9:30.
I love working with middle school and high school students! God put a strong calling on my life when I was still in high school to become a youth worker at a church. I have been blessed to be mentored by some amazing men and women who love students just as much as I do. Middle school and high school ages are super critical with regards to Christian foundations. My hope and prayer for the youth who attend TPCC is that their relationship with God will deepen and they will have a solid Christian foundation when they get into college.
