Tom Mercer

President, Executive Director

The Oikos Movement

Tom has been in pastoral ministry for almost 50 years. For 38 of those years, he served as the Senior Pastor and primary teacher at the High Desert Church in Southern California. During that time, the church grew from 125 to multiple campuses and thousands of people.

For the past decade, Tom has also been an ambassador for the oikos principle around the world, frequently speaking at conferences, churches, university classrooms, and denominational gatherings, challenging church leaders to become more efficient through simplification.

Tom received his formal education at Biola University and Talbot Seminary. He is the author of three books, 8 to 15—The World is Smaller Than You Think, Not My Church, and Diary of a World Changer. Tom is married to his wife Sheryl, and they have three married children and eleven grandchildren.

Listen in as Pastor Jeremy McGarity has a great conversation with Pastor Tobin Wilkins.

Listen to and learn more about Coach Downer and his story of integrating his faith into his life story.

Last year, Point Loma's men's basketball team went 29-4 overall, winning the PacWest regular season title after becoming the first team in conference history to finish an unbeaten 20-0 in conference play. The Sea Lions also won the PacWest Tournament before earning the No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Regional.
 
PLNU reached the regional championship game, finishing the season ranked No. 7 in the final D2SIDA Media Poll.

Downer inherits a program that has made six consecutive NCAA West Regional appearances, the longest active streak in the region, having won at least the PacWest regular season or tournament title in the past four full seasons.