Maureen Houtz

Maureen Houtz is a child of God, a wife to Phil, a mother to Emma and Norah and a mother in law to Matt. I am also the middle child of five very Irish, very stubborn and wonderful siblings- three sisters and one brother. I was born in Queens, New York and raised Catholic.

I spend most of my days in the company of dear folks who tell me their sorrows and secrets. As a psychotherapist I feel privileged and blessed to be trusted by my clients and rely on God (most days) to give me guidance and wisdom. When I am not at my office, I spend many hours serving at Eastminster as an elder and as a youth leader. Years ago I was the children’s ministries codirector and I can say I have known many of our kids since they were in the nursery. Both youth leadership and being an elder provide opportunities to be blessed -by my fellow elders and my fellow leaders and of course the kids. I am the elder of social concerns and justice; a ministry that first and foremost desires to educate our congregation about what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Ventura County. The other time I spend is hanging out with great high school kids.

As our older daughter got close to graduating and I realized that my time with our kids is so short, I felt compelled to make the time count since we have one daughter still at home plus I really enjoy our kids at EPC. They are smart and funny and for the most part great friends to each other. Phil, my husband, has been in youth ministry for at least 100 years but I'll let him tell you about himself.
High School youth group for me was a life saver. The year was 1971 and I was brand new to California having come from a very distant land. The culture shock was amazing. I looked funny and sounded even funnier with my very strong” New Yawk” accent. My very first day of high school in Thousand Oaks, a dear girl named Janet befriended me. Our first conversation was about this weird girl reading a bible in school. I'd never seen that before and Janet was gracious and kind to me and didn't point out what a rude comment I made. Instead she invited me to her church and I went. I came to understand God and Jesus in a way that was much more personal and much more integrated than my Catholic upbringing had taught me. Well that began a deeper personal relationship with Jesus and a life long friendship with Janet. My life today is different because my dear friend reached out to me in high school. I consider it an honor to be a part of EPC high school kids' lives and hope I can encourage them to reach out to others at their high schools.