LINC Bay Area

Bringing Gospel hope and help to every corner of the Bay Area.

Our goal is simple: that everyone in the Bay Area would experience the Gospel in terms they can understand, from someone they know and trust.

Explore the Mission Accelerator Partner with us
Our City

LINC Bay Area

We believe the most impactful person to reach a Bay Area neighborhood is someone who already calls it home.

The Bay Area is a unique place. It attracts and influences the rest of the world, and what starts here shapes hearts and lives across the globe: the good and the innovative, but also the ugly and the exploitative. Seven and a half million people call this region home, and it remains the least churched metro in the United States.

But there are leaders here who see something more: they see Jesus at work, pursuing people with His love. Since 2004, LINC has walked with pastors, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit founders rooted in the neighborhoods they serve as they turn a God-given burden into a Gospel venture. And there’s a place for you in this work too.

2004
Serving the Bay since
36
Leaders we walk with
650+
Hours alongside leaders in 2024
12
Accelerator graduates in 2025
For Leaders

Find your next step

If God has put a business, a nonprofit, or a ministry on your heart, five questions will point you to your next step.

The People

Meet the Bay Area team

Coaches, connectors, and encouragers: the people who make sure every leader in the Bay Area has someone in their corner.

Aaron Putnam
Aaron Putnam
City Director
Dawit Bokre
Dawit Bokre
Director of Mission
Chyna Grieb
Program Admin
Josh Woodrow
Josh Woodrow
Program Specialist
Javier Alexander
Javier Alexander
Communications Specialist
Programs

The Mission Accelerator

Thinking of starting a Gospel-motivated venture? The Mission Accelerator is a multi-week cohort designed to move your God-given dream forward alongside other Bay Area leaders doing the same.

Over seven sessions, you’ll clarify your calling, sharpen your vision, and leave with a Mission Blueprint: a working model for the venture God has put on your heart. This fall the cohort meets in two places at once: a South Bay table at Trinity Lutheran in San Jose and a San Francisco table for leaders from the city and the North Bay.

  1. 1 Orientation
  2. 2 Identifying the Mission
  3. 3 Defining the Mission
  4. 4 Communicating the Mission
  5. 5 Funding the Mission
  6. 6 Organizing the Mission
  7. 7 Celebration
“A venture that started four years ago, is actually coming to fruition… I would not have been able to do that without the Mission Accelerator Program.”
Linda Patel, Aasha Ministries
Now enrolling · Fall 2026

Next Bay Area cohort

Dates
Sept 26 – Oct 31, 2026
Meets
Saturdays, 9:00am–12:00pm
Locations
San Jose & San Francisco
Cost
$230 · $115 early bird
Apply for the Accelerator

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Cost should never be a barrier. Scholarships are available, just ask.

Happening in the Bay Area

Upcoming events

Cohort Saturdays, celebrations, and ways to see the mission up close. Every event lives on our Bay Area calendar below.

14 Nov

LINC Up + Cohort Celebration

One morning to celebrate the fall cohort, hear a Bay Area leader tell their story, and catch where the mission is headed next. Leaders, partners, and friends: everyone’s welcome.

  • Saturday, 10:00am–12:00pm
  • [3 Crosses Church, Castro Valley, venue confirming]
  • Free · RSVP opens by email this fall

Open the full Bay Area calendar →

Partner with us

Support Bay Area leaders

Partnership here is more than a transaction. Pray for Bay Area leaders by name, show up alongside them, and put resources behind their work. Every way in matters.

Join the Prayer Team

Be one of the people praying for Bay Area leaders by name. A short update with real requests from the field, a few times a year.

Join the Prayer Team

Show up

Mentor a leader, host a cohort table in San Jose or San Francisco, or bring your church into partnership. Coffee first. We’ll find your fit together.

Start a conversation

Choose “Bay Area” under city designation and your gift stays close to home.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA; the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Leader Stories

The Gospel at work in the Bay Area

Every venture below started as a burden God placed on a local leader’s heart. This is how the Gospel is moving through the Bay Area, one leader and one neighborhood at a time.

Valerie Skeen
STORY 01 Immigrant Ministry

Valerie Skeen

Hands and Feet Ministries · East Bay

The women Valerie serves come from everywhere: some from Asia, some from Latin America; some already Christian, some Muslim; some with families, some here alone. What they share is the need for real, safe relationships where the help and hope of Jesus is offered right now, in the middle of ordinary life.

That’s what Hands and Feet is: not a program but a presence, little seeds cracking open spaces for the love of Jesus. Through LINC’s Accelerator, Valerie found her people too. “Everyone was so friendly… these are my people,” she says.

[XX][Women walked with]
[X][Countries represented]
Pastor Muluneh Taye
STORY 02 Church Planting

Pastor Muluneh Taye

Redeeming Grace Lutheran · South Bay

Muluneh came to the Accelerator carrying a vision for his Ethiopian community in the South Bay. He left with a blueprint, and he kept going into the Builder phase, where vision becomes a working church plant.

This fall the story comes full circle: Muluneh is helping lead the new South Bay cohort at Trinity Lutheran in San Jose, walking five or six emerging leaders through the same road he traveled. “The mentorship, resources, and community have been instrumental in shaping my path,” he says.

[XX][Gathering weekly]
5–6Leaders he now mentors
Linda Patel
STORY 03 Community Ministry

Linda Patel

Aasha Ministries · East Bay

Linda carried her vision for Aasha for four years, close to her heart but stuck on the shelf. The Accelerator put structure, coaching, and a cohort of peers around it.

Today Aasha, a word that means hope, is no longer an idea waiting its turn. It’s a living ministry, and Linda is building it with the blueprint she left the cohort holding.

4Years from burden to launch
[XX][Families reached]

Want to Partner with LINC?

Join the mission

Want to join LINC?

Apply here

800 Houston Ave,
Houston TX 77007
713-426-2451

About

About LINCOur TeamContact Us

For Leaders

Mission AcceleratorOther ServicesJoin LINC

Impact

Success Stories

Partner

Support LINC

Resources

Self-LearningPodcastBlog

2025 LINC Ministries Int’l, Inc. | A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization