How did you find Community and what are you involved in?

Bob: In 2006, we were looking for a child care place for our granddaughter and at the time Community Lutheran Church was the only preschool that would accept kids that were still in diapers. Our granddaughter never ended up going to the preschool, but we got involved with the church and we liked it. Right now I limit myself to helping with the audio at church and I participate in the car show.

Cherie: I’ve been the president of LWML. I am taking over the board of education this January. We’ve participated in soup suppers, bible studies at our home, and many other activities throughout the years. We’ve said I don’t know how many times that we know if anything ever happened we could call on anybody at the church and they would be there in a split second.

Would you tell me about your family?

Cherie: We have three children. Our oldest daughter, Este, goes to church at Community. She and her daughter we baptized there. Our middle daughter lives in Saint Louis with her husband. Our son is the brew master here at the brewery. We’ve lived in Valley Center for 18 years now. Our middle daughter was part of the first graduating class at Valley Center High School.

What did you do before you opened a brewery?

Cherie: I’ve been a teacher for 25 years and I still teach at Escondido Christian School. I’ve taught mostly 4^th grade and moved to 5^th grade this year. Fourth grade is a really great year because they are not babies anymore. They start to become more responsible and they haven’t turned into little monsters yet. It is my favorite age group. I especially love teaching history.

Bob: I worked in Aerospace since I got out of the Army (1981). I worked as a mechanic on North Island for a while and then started doing Aerospace work for various companies. The last company was Northrup Grumman. I worked there for 10 years and got an early retirement from them and started the brewing business a couple years ago.

Tell me about Valley Center Brewery.

Bob: We did all our home brewing with the goal that we were going to start a business. After two years we started the licensing process and obtained our license in August of 2013. We quickly realized we needed to find a place where we could serve the beer. We opened up here on Lilac on October 10^th. I want to keep building this location up so that my son can take over. We want to be able to employ people in Valley Center.

Really what we are trying to build here is not as much of a brewery as a community gathering place. That’s why we added the kid’s area and made it dog friendly. We have potluck Wednesdays, two patios and games out side, and we are the only brewery in San Diego with a pool table. We want this to be a place where people can come and gather as a community.

Our tasting pallet is larger than most places and we’ve brewed a few beers especially for wine drinkers. I think the beer that catches the most attention right now is the Bear Valley Grisly IPA. It is our hoppiest IPA and is 200 IBU which is about twice as much as most beers in San Diego County. The most surprising and the one we will most likely brew the most of is our Apple Tree Lane Farmhouse Ale.

What are your hobbies, Cherie?

Cherie: I really like to travel so hopefully Bob can work out his schedule so that we can go places together. This past summer I went to England but he couldn’t go so I went by myself. I did a couple of different tours every day and got to see everything I wanted to see. I went to places like Downton Abby and Stonehenge. I had a great time. I’m thinking about another trip to Scotland. We also want to go to Normandy, France and Germany.

WHAT IS THE COMMUNITY TREE PROJECT? 

Community Lutheran Church is a growing congregation worshiping 550 people between two campuses each week. As we continue grow, it is important that our relationships with one another continue to grow as well.  Over the coming months, our church website and Facebook page will be introducing you to a member of Community that you may or may not know yet. You’ll have the opportunity to learn a little about each member and delight in the different personalities and lifestyles that come together each week to worship our Savior.

When you join us for worship on Sunday mornings or events throughout the week, we encourage you to reach out and connect with someone you don’t normally talk to. As Pastor Vogelsang so eloquently reminds us, we are all “dear Christian friends.” We just don’t know each other yet! I’d like to change that one photo at a time.

"So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." - 1 Corinthians 12:25-27