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Photograph by Chad Pilster
Home, Sweet Home: Home Church pastor Jimmy Zien got his start as a volunteer at the church.
Public Citizen
A Tale of Amazing Grace
Jimmy Zien's life has taken him from the mean streets to the pulpit
By Sarah Gaffney
A reluctant Jimmy Zien found salvation at the Home Church on Winchester Avenue.
The tough guy turned pastor and police chaplain grew up on some of the meanest streets of east Oakland. In 1984, his older sister, who lived in Campbell, encouraged Zien to leave the streets and attend nondenominational Home Church, where she worked.
"She'd tell me about church and how it turned her life around, and I'd say, 'Yeah, that's fine for you,' " Zien recalls. "We just didn't have a lot in common."
But Zien, born of Lebanese descent and an avowed church naysayer, agreed to attend a church service. Coincidentally, it was the same day he moved to Campbell.
"The day I walked into the church was the day my whole life changed," Zien says. "I was raised in east Oakland and went through all kinds of different things ... a lot of drinking and stuff. The day I came to the church was the day I quit drinking. I would have been dead had I not changed."
His sister wasn't convinced of his sudden transformation. So, Zien rented a room from a Campbell family that held Bible study in their home. The following Thursday night, a singles Bible study group met at Zien's new home and again, destiny crossed his path. His future wife, Linda, was leader of the study group.
Could it be, I ask the reformed tough guy, that someone or something had finally taken the wheel of his wayward life?
"Definitely," the 48-year-old says. "There's been too many coincidences throughout my life that somebody had to be watching out for me. It has really instilled and encouraged me in my faith."
Zien began volunteering at the 2,000-member church, which led to training as a pastor and then his work as a volunteer chaplain for the Campbell Police Department. As chaplain, he is called upon to accompany police officers when they notify families of deaths and to counsel people threatening suicide. During his more than 80-hour work week for the church, he works with prison ministries and juvenile halls, and he oversees construction and maintenance of the church's buildings.
The hardworking pastor, who enjoys woodworking as a hobby, often counsels in the midst of a building project for the church.
"I love working with my hands and building things," Zien says. "I would much rather counsel someone while we're working together, creating something, than sitting in chairs in an office."
Now that so many years have passed, has the pastor ever returned to the mean streets of his youth?
"Yeah, I've been a back a few times. There's some people that I still know down there. It took me a while to go back ... just to make sure I was strong enough and could maintain my integrity," Zien says. "My whole life changed and that was it. If you were to look at my past, it was pretty shaky. Look at my present, and I don't have a whole lot that I hide."
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Campbell, California
