Mickey Stonier grew up in Southern California as the son of a law enforcement officer in Hermosa Beach, California. He moved to San Diego in 1974 to complete his bachelor’s degree at San Diego State University in Child Development and to acquire a California teaching credential. It was during this year that Mickey started inquiring about the Christian faith as an acquaintance had shared the Gospel with him. Mickey Stonier purchased a Bible and began reading the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament to satisfy his questions. It was through the reading of the Scriptures that Mickey came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Soon thereafter, he sought out a church and ended up getting involved in the brand-new work started by Pastor Michael MacIntosh, which is now known as Horizon Christian Fellowship.
Mickey Stonier served as a member of the pastoral team at Horizon Christian Fellowship for over thirty-five years. He served in the areas of Family Ministry Pastor, Superintendent for the Horizon Christian School system, Interim President for Horizon College San Diego, International Outreach Coordinator for the Horizon International Festivals of Life and an instructor for the Youth Development International Crisis Hotline. Dr. Stonier served for two years as a Trainer for Children’s Hospital Child Abuse Prevention “Stop Program” and served the San Diego community schools and churches in educating parents, teachers and children in the Stop Safety curriculum. Since 1974 Mickey has been part of an extensive church planting ministry that has given witness to over 100 church plants, orphanages and parachurch ministries. In addition, Mickey has been very active in the development of numerous chaplaincy programs for the San Diego community and various public service agencies.
In 2009 Dr. Stonier transitioned over to the Rock Church in San Diego as the Pastoral Care and Equip pastor to oversee the pastoral ministries and crisis/disaster response ministries. Mickey Stonier is also the author of the book GODISNOWHERE: Where is God in the Midst of Your Pain? The book provides practical and Biblical guidance to those who are going through a time of crisis. Mickey and his wife, Karen, also just recently published their newest book together entitled: Get Out of Control: Finding Freedom in Letting Go! Both books are available on Amazon.
To take an enrichment course by Dr. Stonier on stress management, trauma recovery or to be equipped as a chaplain, interested groups and/or individuals can acquire information at: www.sdrock.com/ministries/chaplains/trainings
Dr. Stonier serves as Chaplain for the Coronado, Santee and San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments, San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office, San Diego Harbor Police Department, Office of Emergency Services as well as Chaplain for the Spiritual Care Response Team as a member of the National Critical Response Team. This national team provides spiritual care to the victims and families affected by weapons of mass destruction and major airline disasters, in coordination with the American Red Cross. In this role, Mickey was one of eight coordinating chaplains for the SRT team at the New York World Trade Center disaster from September 12-27, 2001. Mickey additionally works with the American Red Cross as a Spiritual Care Assistant Officer Chaplain and was one of the responding chaplains for the Santana and Granite Hills High School Shootings in 2001. In January 2003 Dr. Stonier served as the coordinating chaplain for the Family Justice Center, which serves in the area of domestic violence for the City of San Diego. Mickey regularly teaches at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and San Diego Lifeguards new recruit academies where he provides instruction for wellness and critical incident stress management. Dr. Stonier also developed and provides training for the San Diego Harbor Police Department’s Peer Support Program to support the officers in line-of-duty stress.
Mickey’s educational background includes a Bachelors of Science in Child Development from San Diego State University, a Master of Divinity degree from Azusa Pacific University, Graduate School of Theology, and a PhD in Marriage and Family Studies from the School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Mickey is a member of the San Diego County Critical Incident Stress Management team and has completed many of the courses for Critical Incident Stress Management through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) and has facilitated many Critical Incident Stress Management Debriefings throughout Southern California. Mickey is a Certified Trained Trainer for ICISF with Group Crisis Intervention, Law Enforcement Perspectives for Critical Incident Stress Management, Assisting Individuals in Crisis, Emotional & Spiritual First Aid, as well as, Pastoral Crisis Intervention trainings level 1 & 2. Mickey has been a Certified Emergency Services Specialist with ICISF, as well as, is a Certified Trauma Responder and Certified Trauma Services Specialist with the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS). Mickey is a committee member of the California Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Chaplain’s Curricula Development Project and is a P.O.S.T. certified instructor. In addition, Mickey serves the State of California Office of Emergency Services in its efforts to develop a statewide standard for crisis chaplaincy certification. Mickey also coordinates the Rock Emergency Management system in assistance to the leadership of Miles McPherson. Dr. Stonier regularly provides training in crisis intervention and trauma response for numerous agencies including San Diego Harbor Police, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Trauma Intervention Program, Crisis Response International, 2-1-1 response system and at many churches and disaster response organizations nationally and internationally. In addition, he provides crisis intervention and peer support training for commercial airlines through the CREST IAM (Corporation for Re-Employment and Safety Training by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers). Dr. Stonier is currently an associate professor at Pacific Theological Seminary in San Diego, California and an Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. He has also taught at the doctoral program for Talbot Seminary and is a lecturer for the American Red Cross Spiritual Care Training and International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.
Mickey and his wife Karen live in San Diego and have four children, Shiloh Caffrey, Julia Redlitz, Michael and Madalene and five grandchildren.
He serves as chaplain and instructor for multiple agencies in San Diego including Police, Fire/Rescue Departments, Medical Examiner’s office and Emergency Medical Services. In addition, Mickey serves with the National Critical Response team that provides spiritual care to victims and families affected by weapons of mass destruction and major airline disasters.
Mickey is a member of the San Diego Critical Incident Stress Management organization and certified trained instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation. He authored the book GODISNOWHERE: Where is God in the Midst of Your Pain? that provides practical and Biblical guidance to those going through a time of crisis.
His educational credentials include a Bachelors of Science in Child Development, a Masters of Divinity degree from Azusa Pacific University, and a PHD in Marriage and Family Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Mickey is currently an Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific University Seminary and Bethel Seminary.
He and his wife Karen live in San Diego and have four children and four grandchildren.