Elder Board

Brett Banner

I was raised in a Christian home in Southern Colorado as the youngest of three siblings. We would visit extended family in Southern California every summer and I knew it was where I wanted to end up. I went to Azusa Pacific University to pursue my degree in business and to develop as a young adult in that faith-based setting. I regularly attended Rock Harbor Costa Mesa since 2000 and have called Branches my home since the Huntington Beach beginnings. 

I've been happily married to the love of my life Mariah for 16 years and we are on the adventure of raising four amazing children in Huntington Beach. Our life is centered around our faith and our family - I work in the corporate world in the software industry and Mariah homeschools our children and manages our household. We are actively involved in our Branches community group, various local ministries, multiple homeschool communities, and local youth sports programs. Our hobbies often involve the outdoors including surfing, beaching, camping, hiking, traveling, or just hanging out in our backyard. 

I have followed Christ my entire life and often look back and reflect on how gracious, patient, and loving our God is. God is so good and we are so thankful for the work He is continually doing in our lives. He has given me a heart for people and a willingness to use my abilities to play a part in what God is doing in and and through His church. It's an honor to serve as a member of the Elder Board and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for our church family in this season. 

Yousef Bittar

I was born in Kuwait and I am originally from Syria. I grew up as a Roman Orthodox Christian. After graduating from high school, I studied in Egypt for one semester then moved to the United States. I graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a Master’s in Electrical Engineering and currently work as a Senior Development Engineer for Daimler Mercedes Benz.

I met the Lord when I was 14 at a Christian conference in the Middle East and was called to worship the Lord with all of my heart. I started with an Arabic worship band here in California and traveled to the East Coast to minister to our Muslim friends. We went on trips to worship and evangelize in Jersey City, Manhattan, and Harvard Square every summer before I started attending RockHarbor Church.

My wife Myrna and I met at a Christian youth gathering for the Middle Eastern church in Downey in 2003. We got married after we both graduated in 2011, the same weekend our church started! Elijah is our oldest, Samuel our middle son, and Jeremiah will be born this June 2022. We love our church community and our community group that we have been in for 12 years! We now have five families and 16 children in our group and it is amazing for our children to grow up in a family that is an extension of our church.

In our house, we serve the Lord with all of our heart and soul, and we raise our boys to serve and be humble in a broken world that needs the love, mercy, peace and grace of God through Jesus. We don’t hold back anything when it comes to serving the Lord because we know we are servants of God as Jesus did and is still doing today! Our prayer for our community is straight out of Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Danny Bradley

I was raised in a Christian home in Orange County with amazing parents and brothers. I began following Jesus in high school and got married to Laurie 33 years ago. I am so thankful for her and blessed to be her husband. We have 4 kids, 3 son-in-laws, 1 daughter-in-law, and 6 grandkids that make us laugh and thank God continuously.

Being raised to love the outdoors hasn’t changed a bit 56 years later. We love the beach, mountains, and the desert. We love to surf, hike, fish, and camp anywhere, anytime we can.

Laurie and I love following the ways of Jesus and encouraging others to do the same through individual and marriage discipleship. We have had the opportunity to serve in the children’s ministry, lead marriage classes, and work with our ministry partners for 10 years now.

We are so thankful to be a part of a church community that values serving and loving God’s people and excited to be a small part of what God is doing in Huntington Beach.

Mike Cox

Being raised in Huntington Beach has been a huge blessing. After high school, I got involved in the field of sales and currently work as a real estate broker with a residential firm here in HB.

My wife Kim and I have been married 26 years. We were set up on a blind date and married within eight months of meeting each other. We have two wonderful daughters, Taylor and Lauren, who have brought us so much joy. Kim is an elementary school teacher and a professor at a local junior college. We are recent empty nesters and look forward to what the future will bring us.

Kim and I have been involved with Branches since 2017. We have loved this church’s heart for Jesus and the Gospel teaching along with the desire to reach the unreached here in the Huntington community. I have been involved with local churches here in HB since Junior High where I came to know the Lord at Evangelical Free Church of Huntington Beach as a youth. 

Kim and I have been a part of the Branches Community Groups and have many great brothers and sisters in Christ who have become like family to us.  I am involved with the setup team along with Prison Ministry, Christian book club, FUEL Christian Ministries and others, and Kim is involved with the Children’s Ministry with a heart to seeing Children grow in Christ.

We look forward to serving and growing with Branches Church. Our desire is that all will find salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Pete Duenes

I grew up in a Christian home and was baptized at the age of 5 years old. I don’t remember ever being without the Lord Jesus Christ in my life. I met my wife Nichol in High School and we got married and had our children Aiden, Wyatt, and Stella at a young age. We began attending Rock Harbor main campus early in our marriage, going on 20 years ago now, and after some time became life group leaders. Our life group was meeting at our home in Seal Beach and many people in the group attended what is now Branches and invited us to a beach service. This was in the days of meeting at the old senior center, at which time the Lord confirmed that we should attend this church.

We continued leading the life group until we eventually moved to Oregon for business purposes. I am a business owner of a nutraceutical manufacturing operation. While in Oregon, we stayed connected with our Branches family and after about four years we relocated back to Orange County, as intended. Even though we moved to Laguna Beach, the Lord laid it on our hearts to attend and get plugged back in at Branches. We were welcomed back into the flock of the Branches community very warmly and graciously and it was as if we had never left.

We love the Branches church community and are glad to be a part of what God is doing through His people. Nichol and I are privileged to serve in Kids Ministry for 1st and 2nd graders. Nichol uses her God-given creative gifts - she is a painter - to serve the Lord. She also serves in YoungLives ministry regularly. A few years ago, I earned a Masters in Christian Apologetics from Talbot Seminary at Biola University. I feel a strong calling on my life to pursue the intellectual aspects of the Christian faith including apologetics ministry. Some of my particular interests are in the areas of science and Christianity, theistic arguments and refuting the cultural lies that keep people from hearing the Gospel. I recently had a great time teaching a series along with Jimmy Wallace at Branches on the historical evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. He is risen!

After prayerfully consideration of the acceptance of this role as an elder, the Lord confirmed to me that I should. This more than any other reason is why I am looking forward to serving Branches in this capacity. I recognize and praise God for the great things he has already accomplished through Branches and I look forward to being part of and seeing Him continue to work through His people and by His Spirit in powerful ways. All glory to God.

Kevin Karkut

I was born and raised in Seal Beach, graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1976, and went on to attend Orange Coast College and then California Lutheran University. I met my partner for life, Carrie, at the end of my senior year in college.  After dating for ten months, we were married and will celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary in March 2022. We moved to Huntington Beach in 1981 and have lived here ever since. We are blessed with two amazing boys (now men), Brandon and Cameron, both living in the Huntington/Seal Beach area.

I grew up in the Lutheran church, and in my early 20’s I learned what it meant to have a relationship with God and I trusted Christ as the Savior and Lord of my life. Carrie and I had the opportunity to be baptized together shortly after we were married, and my passion is to know Him better and to love and trust Him more.

Most of my working career has been in the Finance area for two Orange County corporations. I currently work in a Finance role for a Home Care company in Cypress, and Carrie primarily teaches 11th grade English at Calvary Chapel High School.

Carrie and I have been a part of the Branches HB community since the old Senior Center days. I have had the opportunity to serve on the setup team and participate in the Men’s Friday fellowship, and Carrie serves on the ministry care team. We have been blessed to “do life” with a core group of people who attend Branches HB, many of them in our current Community Group.

It is an honor for me to have the privilege to serve this Branches HB community as a member of the Elder Board. We are excited to see how God is going to continue to use this church to impact the city of Huntington Beach and beyond for Jesus.  

Former Elders

Jeff Barnes

John Birkhauser

Chris Cho

Robert Collins

Mark Friend

Andrew Galbreath

Zane Hall

Joe Laning

Barry Martinez

Mike Nelson

Sean Vargas

Jim Worthy

James Yoon