Together, they form a co-leadership team with Ray and Amy Kim to manage the day-to-day ministry and decisions across all BACC campuses. Sam and Tenea also provide direct leadership for BACC’s campus in Pleasant Hill. 

Sam’s path to this leadership is anything but conventional. A Bay Area native who grew up in the East Bay, he began pursuing his dream of playing professional football by playing for Pinole Valley High School, then for Laney College in Oakland and New Mexico State University. Ultimately, his path led him to the San Francisco 49ers under George Seifert—one of the winningest coaches in NFL history—and later to the Denver Broncos under Mike Shanahan, whose back-to-back Super Bowl teams were among the most dominant in NFL history. What Sam absorbed wasn’t just football. It was a front-row education in how elite leaders build culture, develop people, and sustain excellence under pressure.

Throughout those years in the NFL, Sam had begun spending each offseason serving as an intern at BACC. What started as a seasonal commitment quietly became a calling. When his playing career ended, it was clear to him what his next career path should be. Now with over 25 years of ministry experience, Sam and Tenea now bring that same blend of discipline, resilience, and hard-won conviction to the men, women, and families across the East Bay campuses they lead.

Their investment in the next generation goes well beyond Sunday. Sam directs BACC’s summer leadership program in the East Bay, coaches youth sports at schools including California High and Hercules High, and serves as an outreach coordinator for E-Sports, a premier disability inclusive program that bridges social gaps between children of all abilities. He helped launch E-Football in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Cameron Institute to champion disability inclusion through adaptive sports.