Meet Frances
Frances Lin was born in Taiwan, raised as a Buddhist, and immigrated to the United States when she was 14. She decided to dedicate her life to Christ at age 17. Frances held a degree in Mathematics from Indiana University, Bloomington. She also received a degree of Master in Divinity from Bethel Seminary and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. She received a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2025. Her research focused on adaptive leadership in the Missional Movement.
Frances was ordained as a Ruling Elder in 2008 and as a Minister of Word and Sacrament of PCUSA in 2023. She has served as the Vice Moderator of the Middle East Committee at the General Assembly 2016 in Portland and the Moderator for the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee at the General Assembly 2022 in Louisville. She is also a member of the Unification Commission tasked to unify the Office of General Assembly and Presbyterian Mission Agency. Frances had served as the Executive Director at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church with 1400 members before COVID. She also served as the Stated Clerk for San Diego Presbytery from 2018 to 2023.
She is currently serving as the Presbytery Leader of Riverside Presbytery in Southern California. Frances is passionate about connecting with people from different backgrounds and drafting God's story through those interactions. She enjoys playing the harp and hanging out with friends and family in her spare time.
Meet Sean
Sean’s most inner desire is to be a part of a God driven movement that impacts the world for God’s glory. His aim is to prepare, equip, and sustain leaders to do the work in which God calls them.
Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Presbytery of San Diego. For the last three years he has been bringing to fruition the strategic plan that the Presbytery has developed focusing on church vitalization, church planting, and being missionally aligned.
Prior to serving in San Diego Presbytery, he served as the Associate for 1001 New Worshiping Communities for Training and Leadership Cohorts for the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The focus of his work has been to develop resources, workshops, and curriculum that empowers pastors and leaders to live faithfully into their communities. His role was to resource and consult with regional denomination bodies, churches, and church plants as they launch new creative expressions of church.
Sean has served as a Commissioned Lay Pastor at First Presbyterian Church (Oxnard, CA) and Word of Life Presbyterian Church (Port Hueneme, CA) prior to becoming a Minister of Word and Sacrament. His first ordained call was in the West Jersey Presbytery where he served as the Associate Pastor of Family Life at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Laurel Springs, NJ. It was there that he developed a New Worshiping Community called Refresh that actively engaged the community through a series of house churches.
He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University (2005), Master of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary (2009) and a Doctor of Ministry at New York Theological Seminary (2022). Sean’s doctoral work was published by Cyclical Publishing. It is entitled “Rediscovering Vitality: A Handbook for Church Missioning and Visioning” (2022). Through this he has become a frequent speaker to churches, committees, gatherings, and conferences.
Sean has served the denomination through several roles. On the Presbytery level for both West Jersey Presbytery and Santa Barbara Presbytery he has served on the Committee on Ministry, Chair of the Designated General Presbyter Search Committee, New Church Development Committee, Presbytery Council, Nominating Committee, Presbytery Moderator, and Commissioner for General Assembly. Nationally, Sean has served on a variety of planning committees, workshop leader, reviewer for the Mission Development Resource Committee, and more. Currently, he serves on the Board of Ukirk College Ministries and on the Task Force for the Theology and Practice of Ordination.
Sean and his wife Jennifer have been married twenty-nine years. They have four children: Rianne (28), Lauren (26), Hunter (20), and Daniel (15). Sean can often be found on the tennis court and searching for the best dim-sum and street tacos in the neighborhood.