Building a Bay Area Family Community

BACC Families Ministry

Every family has a story. Maybe yours is a story of young children with chapters full of the dreams and experiences you hope to share. Maybe yours is a story of adoption, emotional health challenges, or single parenting. Or maybe yours will be the story of a troubled marriage that overcomes the odds and a family that inspires others to overcome the challenges in their lives too.

No matter what your story is, we believe that with God as the foundation, every family can write a story of hope and success. As the Bible says in Proverbs:

the family of the godly stands firm.
Proverbs 12:7

The Pursuit of Bay Area Family Support

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 5:3-5 (NIV)

In the Bay Area Christian Church, our families ministry consists of a diverse group of families. Every family has a story to share that makes them an agent for seeing opportunities rather than limits.

The Motameds’ are a family with an inspiring story. They experienced many successes and had many dreams, but like many families, they faced serious challenges. In 1997, Ali and Margaret Motamed moved to the Bay Area with their son, David, who was entering kindergarten. Two years later they had their second son Nicholas, who was diagnosed with Autism. Over the next eight years, Margaret and Ali would meet the emotional and physical joys and toil of simultaneously raising a teenager and a child with special needs. They were looking for help. They found E-Soccer in 2003, while visiting a friend across the street from the park where the program met.

Margaret began to bring Nicholas to E-Soccer. Over the next several years, the E-Soccer program along with attendance at Hope Technology School, transformed Nicholas from being isolated due to having difficulty communicating, to a boy who can play with others and contribute in the classroom.

The Motameds first heard about The Bay Area Christian Church through a few friends at E-Soccer. They decided to attend with the goal of helping David develop some friends who would be a positive influence. David began attending weekly Friday night activities with other teenagers in the Y-ministry. He developed friendships with other high school students and began to develop his own relationship with God. After visiting a few church services, Ali and Margaret began to study the Bible for themselves.

As they saw and accepted their need for God in their family, their lives and marriage began to change. Through the help of the Bible and the mentor-ship of other families, Ali and Margaret began to work together instead of independently. They learned how to use the Bible to find hope and solutions in the challenges they still face.

Because of the friendship and help they have received, the Motameds now give back. They coordinate the same E-Soccer group on Saturdays in Foster City that they stumbled upon eight years ago. Margaret also co-founded a Parent Support Group to give vision and support to families of kids with special needs in the Bay Area.

Effective Parenting and Building Family

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21 (NIV)

Brian and Stephanie Wheeler are parents who decided they would write their own story, instead of letting life and difficult circumstances write it for them. As parents of three children, they deeply desired their kids to grow up and build their own relationship with God.

Living in an outlying part of the Bay Area, the Wheelers had at least an hour longer commute over most people in the church. Without any single professionals or college students near them to build relationships, Brian and Stephanie made it their conviction that they would do whatever they could to teach their children to love God and be influenced by other men and women trying to make a difference. While it would have been easy to make excuses or weaken their convictions, the Wheelers continually brought people to their home to be inspiration to their children. They sought the truth and guidance from other families raising teenagers.

Despite emotional challenges and health challenges the Wheelers have not only helped their children, but have built a whole ministry around their home. Their children not only seek a relationship with God but are influencing their friends to navigate the teen years. Their daughter Rachel and her husband, Nick mentor other Bay Area professionals to succeed in career and find purpose in a relationship with God. Their son Ben attends the University of California, Berkeley and David is a 4.0 student at Diablo Valley College, working to attend Cal soon.