Elders

Tim Maier
Tim Maier was born and raised in Palos Verdes and currently lives in Torrance. He and his beautiful wife Erin were married here at Peninsula by Pastor Ken. They currently have five children: Brayden who is 10; Jhane, 6; Tristan, 4; Taryn, 2; and Mickey, 1. Tim is passionate about God and finds great joy in serving Him by way of the church, his marriage and raising his family. He hopes to show the love of Christ everywhere he goes and to everyone he meets. In his free time, he loves spending time outdoors and is an avid surfer, skateboarder and snowboarder. For work, he runs the family business with his cousin, manufacturing car care products. 

Dennis Shaffer
Dennis grew up in Hemet, California, and resides in Palos Verdes Estates. He works for California Funding Group as a mortgage broker. Married for 26 years to his wife Sissy, they have a 23 year-old-daughter, Katy. Dennis is an avid golfer and member of Palos Verdes Golf Club. 

The Shaffers have called Peninsula Community Church their home for the last 17 years. Dennis is a member of the Tuesday morning men’s Bible study and Monday night men’s small group, and served on the Deaconate prior to becoming an Elder in 2018. 

Tony Vula
Anthony “Tony” Vula, his wife Demares, and son Calebb have called Peninsula Community Church home since 2008. Prior to living in Rancho Palos Verdes, Tony grew up in Fiji and worked in Australia. He is currently a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer for Qantas Airways, and is a dedicated Children’s Ministry leader for Breakout, Sunday School and VBS.

Bruce McGregor
Bruce McGregor was born at West Point in New York. He has lived in multiple countries as the child of an Air Force Officer, even Palos Verdes in the ’60s. With his beloved wife Lilia, he has four adult children: Jack, John, Katie and Diana. In 2020, he welcomed his son-in-law, Pastor Andrew Staffieri, to the family as Katie’s new husband. Bruce is currently a private defense attorney and delights in showing God’s love and grace to his clients, and mentoring young adults. He particularly enjoys playing his guitar and watching documentaries. In his younger days, he was an avid surfer.   

Rob Sherwin
Robert “Rob” Sherwin grew up on a farm in Indiana. Prior to living in Southern California, he lived in Oak Park, Illinois.  He has two grown children and six grandchildren. Rob is mostly retired but continues to do some consulting in the areas of finance and economics. With his wife, Kristen Willard, he serves on Peninsula’s Mission Support Team. In addition, they have travelled extensively to Africa and Asia to help spread the gospel through humanitarian aid.

Kevin Nicolello
Kevin grew up in San Pedro, CA and resides in Rancho Palos Verdes Kervin is the owner of Peninsula
Maritime Consultants, LLC and has worked in the port for 35 years. Kevin has been married to his wife
Lisa for 33 years. Kevin and Lisa have three children, Bree is 29, Jacob is 27, and Caleb is 25. Kevin loves
traveling to Kauai and cooking at church.

Kevin and Lisa have called Peninsula Community Church home for 23 years and raised all three of their
children at PCC. Kand Lisa, served in the Junior High and High School ministry and served on the
Deaconate Team Kevin and Lisa have a cooking ministry preparing meals for small and large groups.
Kevin is on his second term as an elder

Les Sheckman
I’m originally from the east coast, born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Delaware. I retired from the Air Force in 1990 and moved to the South Bay.  I worked for an aerospace company for over 20 years living both here and Washington, DC. I’ve been married to my wonderful wife Joei for about 50 years.  We have no kids but an amazing cat. In addition to currently being on the elder board, I volunteer at Little Company of Mary in both San Pedro and Torrance. I primarily talk to stroke patients sharing my story, especially sharing with them the part God played both in my recovery and life. I love to travel, eat and almost all sports; but I still like most Philly teams even though I live here.

Jim Welch, Senior Pastor
Jim is married to Christie and the father of three great kids: Jeremy, Lindsey and Danny. He is the Senior Pastor at Peninsula Community Church. He grew up in Downey, and spent four years in Dallas and nine in Rancho Mirage. He has lived in the South Bay for almost 32 years – and loves every cool breeze that blows! He enjoys going to Israel and college football…especially the Trojans.