Pastor Chris Woodard is an Arizona soul. Whether up at his family’s cabin in Pinetop or his in-law’s house in Yuma, from visiting his parents and siblings in Tucson or at his house in South Scottsdale, Chris is at home in the Grand Canyon State.
Raised in Tucson, educated at the University of Arizona, and serving on staff at Valley Presbyterian Church since 2007, he has spent his life building community in his family, city, and church. His ability to foster meaningful relationships, strengthen community, and bring people together is one of the many reasons the Pastor Nominating Committee has nominated Pastor Chris Woodard to be the sixth Senior Pastor at VPC.
Pastor Chris grew up at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson, attending ski trips to Sunrise Ski Resort and summer camps at Montlure Camp, both in Greer, AZ. Most formative, though, were mission trips to Los Angeles and Mexico. Often encouraged to pursue a career in ministry from mentors and other Pastors, Chris instead had dreams of being a scientist. Enrolling at the UofA , he sought out community, volunteering in various philanthropic organizations and honor societies. He volunteered with Student Ministry at his church, coached basketball and baseball at a local elementary school, and was a research assistant at the Lung Injury Lab. Chris graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a Minor in Chemistry and an emphasis in Comprehensive Mathematics.
This degree led him straight to Huntington Beach, CA, where he worked at golf courses and restaurants to support his habit of trying to be a surfer. Although Chris connected with the Young Adult community at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Newport Beach and enjoyed his time in the surf and sand, his roots as a true desert rat moved him back to Tucson to be closer to family. Returning to his home church of St. Andrew’s, Chris was again encouraged to pursue ministry full-time from an incredible mentor. This time he listened, leaving a bank job and taking the reins for Student and College Ministry, along with managing an emergent worship service at St. Andrew’s.
After moving to the Valley in the Spring of 2007, Chris joined the VPC staff that summer as one of two new Student Ministry Directors, where he served for seven years. There he was blessed to take part in camps, retreats, Bible studies, prayer times, mission trips, and his first of many trips to Malawi. He then shifted to work with Mission and Men’s Ministry while also completing his Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary and begin the ordination process. Ordained in 2019, Chris added leadership of Discipleship and Spiritual Growth at VPC while serving on the board at Family Promise of Greater Phoenix and Villages in Partnership. In 2025 he began to oversee Congregational Care. He volunteers with MentorKids USA and has a heart for mission, leading multiple trips to Malawi and the Yucatan.
It was during a Yucatan trip in 2013 that Chris met Brianna. While building houses in the jungle they started talking and haven’t stopped talking since. They both left that mission trip knowing that they would marry each other, which they did on Palm Sunday in 2015.
They love to hike, having backpacked in places like Olympic National Forest in Washington and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. Brianna, a second-grade public school teacher in South Scottsdale, can periodically be found playing violin at the 10:30AM service. They have two sons, Maxwell, born in 2020, with Oliver arriving in 2022. You can find them eating lunch at Awaken Plaza on Sundays, the soccer field on Saturdays, and playing Lego on the living room floor every day.
