City Life Church is your place to explore the Christian Faith. 
Whether you are reconnecting with God or feeling a spiritual stirring for the first time, we invite you to take all the time you need to absorb the message of God’s grace from the Scriptures. Our worship services are designed to give you a full and balanced diet of Christian teachings, but also the space you need to be in process with the rich claims those teachings make on your life and our world.

The women and men of our Leadership Team are eyeing a 5-year vision of becoming a more and more inclusive and diverse community. This has and will continue to bring us to many hard conversations and decisions. We invite your input, questions, and participation in being spiritually formed with us. We recognize our need to listen to and learn from all of our neighbors from many cultural backgrounds, in order to be a true expression of God's beautifully inclusive family. This is part of our commitment to seeking God's justice by walking in solidarity with oppressed people near and far.

City Life began in Marc and Lisa Holland's living room in 2005, and launched Sunday worship services as a new church start of the Christian Reformed Church in 2007. During the next eighteen years,  City Life became a space where people  with different beliefs were welcomed. Meanwhile, City Life's own teachings and beliefs flow out of the Christian scriptures, and the three creeds adopted by the worldwide church centuries ago: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. (Read more...) In 2022, Pastor Marc retired from pastoral ministry. God provided for our community during this season of transition, through 2023 with interim pastoral care and thoughtful servant leadership.

Pastor Mark Allen has come on board in 2024 to lead our community into our next chapter of ministry. We look forward to deepening our knowledge of Scripture as we learn from his decades of Biblical education and scholarship. Mark and his wife Vanessa already feel like  City Life family members - a blessing to them as the put down new roots in Sacramento and a great encouragement to our members. God's provision has given us a sense of renewed hope as we cast vision for our future together.

City Life Staff

Mark Allen

Lead Pastor
Mark was born and raised in Southwest Iowa. He has a varied and unique professional, academic and ministry background. He worked his way through college as a radio announcer, has been a successful small business entrepreneur, a Fortune 500 Division Sales Manager, and an adjunct professor for graduate theology and divinity students. He earned his Master of Divinity in Church Leadership from Denver Seminary and his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Fuller. He has also served as a volunteer chaplain for nearly three decades. His hobbies are: weight lifting, chess, researching, traveling through wine country with his lovely wife Vanessa and hanging out with his 12 year old English Basset Hound Watson.

Dixie Briseno

Communications Director

Dixie Briseno effortlessly weaves a tapestry of connection and faith, driven by a lifelong devotion to Jesus Christ. Her commitment to excellence and balanced approach in both life and ministry positions her not only as an expert in business and personal branding, with specialties in marketing strategies, media, and brand development, but also as a mentor in the journey towards faith and abundance. With a knack for pioneering cutting-edge marketing strategies, integrating mindset, spiritual awareness, and a love for Jesus Christ, Dixie empowers individuals and brands to reach new heights.

Rebecca Frazee

Rebecca "Becca" Frazee has been the bookkeeper for City Life Church since 2016 and a member of the Finance Team for over 10 years.  She worked in the finance industry in San Francisco and New York City before settling down in Sacramento where she currently works as a freelance bookkeeper for a number of non-profit organizations.  The East Coast native is a mother to three teenage boys (the picture is very old) and wife to James Frazee.  When not crunching numbers, she enjoys being out in nature or attending the many, many school and athletic events for her boys.

Chris Fischer

Chris has been an teacher, administrator, mentor and specialist during her 20+ years as an educator.  She's been a member of City Life for over a decade.  She has three wonderful children and has been happily married for 23 years.  She loves reading, being in nature, and helping people in her community.  She has taught Kindergarten to High School, and has even managed to teach her two virtually untrainable dogs (at least some) new tricks.

Jarrod Fischer

Project Manager
Jarrod is blessed to be a stay-at-home father of three and proud to be married to Christina (of City Life Kids!) for almost 23 years.  He’s been a founder and director of local non-profit organizations in Sacramento for about a dozen years, and before that was in vocational youth ministry. He loves being outdoors (especially near water), reading, doing the crossword, and hanging out with his family.  

City Life Leadership Team

Lori Roos 

Deacon
Lori has had the privilege to be a part of City Life Church for about 18 years. She has  served in set up, hospitality, children’s ministry, leadership and Bible study. Lori is  honored to use the gifts God has blessed her with being a caregiver and nanny for a wonderful family. In her free time, she enjoys catching up with friends and family, gardening, and traveling. Soli Deo Gloria. 

Zack Thompson

Deacon
Zack lives in north Sacramento with his wife, daughter, son, two hens named Mr. Snake and Mr. Piranha, and a betta fish named Rain. He spends as much time as he can on scooter rides around the neighborhood, pillow fighting, and reading stories. In his spare time he plays ultimate frisbee and works as a research attorney for an appellate court.

Star Costello

Elder
Dorisa ‘Star’ Costello is an Elder at City Life Church. She is an Associate Professor of English and creative writing at Jessup University, and when she is not grading papers, she loves to read, write fiction and poetry, and geek out on science fiction and fantasy books and films. She served as a missionary in Lithuania for almost eight years, teaching English, but now she and her two cats enjoying being closer to family.