About Peter Whitelock

Peter grew up in San Diego, his family actively involved at First Presbyterian Church. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in History. Seminary training took him to Fuller Theological Seminary for a Master of Divinity and then to Princeton Theological Seminary for a Master of Theology in Hermeneutics. At Fuller, Peter served as staff intern to High School students at La Cañada Presbyterian Church, where he met his wife, Anne. After graduating from Princeton, they were called to Second Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee where Peter served as Associate Pastor for Evangelism. Their next call was to Ojai, California, where Peter assumed head of staff responsibilities. In 1999, he was called to his current pastorate at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church in Lafayette, California, which is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. While there, he completed a Doctor of Ministry in vision-based board leadership at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Peter has a strong commitment to inclusive outreach and hospitality as basic marks of Christian fellowship. He favors models of church leadership which presuppose a team led, gift based ministry. He is committed to vision based strategic planning and creative resource deployment, resisting the short, quick fix in favor of long-term ministry development. Spiritually, Peter’s paradigm of growth is characterized by a call to a greater love of God and neighbor as the true test of fidelity to Christ. He believes that Christianity is necessarily a joyful response to the redemptive work of Christ on the cross for all humanity.

In addition to serving the particular churches to which he has been called, Peter has led seminars in a variety of settings on worship renewal, postmodernism, evangelism and not-for-profit board leadership. He has served at the Presbytery level on Council, COM, CPM and a variety of task forces. He co-chaired the Mission Council of San Francisco Presbytery. Peter has also served on the Alumni/ae Council of Princeton Theological Seminary and is currently Chair of the Faculty and Curriculum Committee at San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Anne and Peter have three wonderful children: Colleen (24), Evan (21) and Aaron (18). In his spare time, Peter likes to read, travel and ski.