Zachary Benjamin Pyzer was born in Lakeport, CA on February 19, 1970. It was evident immediately that there was something seriously wrong with his little lungs and enlarged heart. He transported to Oakland Children’s Hospital where his parents were told to not even bother naming him because his chances of survival were minimal at best. If, by some small chance he survived, he would at best be in an iron lung for his life, or at worst be a persistent vegetative state. However, his parents believed in the God of miracles. They rallied their friends and prayer partners and one of the women, “Grandma Maggie” began to intercede and pray for a name for the tiny baby. God gave the name “Zachary” which means “whom God remembered”. Meanwhile, something miraculous was occurring. The physicians at Oakland Children’s were running tests on his enlarged heart and small lungs but the tests were registering something unusual. The heart had become a normal size, and the lungs were expanding as they were supposed to. It was documented in the Oakland Tribune as a “inexplicable, miraculous healing”. This would be the first of many miracles in Zach’s life.
He was called to ministry at a young age, and while he didn’t follow the typical trajectory for pursuing ministry, he found himself in rural Nebraska leading a growing and thriving youth group and yet also feeling called back to California. He moved back to serve as the Youth Pastor at Lakeport Christian Center in the 1990’s and led that group from a handful of young adults to a thriving youth group that outgrew the sanctuary and had to rent out the fairgrounds to accommodate all the youth. God moved mightily and revival began to erupt among the youth of Lake County, CA.
Zach was able to participate in many mission trips during this season, including being blessed to go to Macedonia, Greece, Scotland, Costa Rica, and several trips to Mexico. In 2001 Zach met and married LeAnne Sheddan and became an immediate father to her three little girls.
The next year they added a son to the mix and continued serving as Youth/Associate Pastors. In 2004 they accepted the Youth Pastor position at a church closer to their home in Hidden Valley Lake. They served there for several years before accepting the lead pastor position at Redwood Valley Assembly of God, a small home missions church in Redwood Valley, CA. While there, they encountered supernatural provision on many levels and learned a new depth of trusting God for everything. Again, God worked a miracle and healed Zach of bladder cancer.
In March of 2015 Zach received a call from the board of Hidden Valley Community Church asking if he would consider moving back to lead the church as the current pastor was retiring. Zach and LeAnne drove out to the church at dusk and sat in the parking lot and prayed over the property and sought the Lord’s direction. Zach felt led to call the founding pastor of the church and his long-time mentor and friend, Pastor Dave McQueen. As they spoke on the phone the power of God fell, and David relayed a vision of a wildfire consuming the whole community. At this time, they interpreted it as a spiritual fire and saw it as both confirmation and as a promise of revival. Zach let the board know that he would move back.
This move would allow him to serve his parents who were advanced in years and allow the children to spend time with their cousins and extended family. Zach and LeAnne moved into his parents’ home while they determined the best place to live and find their footing in the community again. Three months after they moved back, they were driving home from a ministers meeting in Ukiah where LeAnne had led worship, and as they came into town they were greeted by billowing smoke and flames on nearby Cobb Mountain. Within two hours, the church building, their home, and much of the community was engulfed in flames.
Again, God miraculously spared their lives, providing a way out through the congested highway. He continued to provide for the recovery efforts and beyond. It became evident quickly that God had prepared them not just spiritually with the vision Pastor David had shared, but also physically for what was to come. The Pyzers had no way of knowing that three months later Zach would be diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinsons Disease, that it would take 9 years to gain the occupancy permit for the rebuilt church, or that a global pandemic would challenge the way we would do church and community. And yet, God continued to work miracles in the lives of the Pyzer family, and also in Hidden Valley Community Church.
In 2023 LeAnne awakened one morning feeling “off”. She couldn’t explain why, but something was wrong. Within 48 hours she went from being at work, fully independent, to being unable to walk, see, speak, or do anything on her own. She had contracted a very rare variant of a very rare autoimmune disease that paralyzed her body from the inside out. Zach once again found himself in need of miraculous intervention, and, as he selflessly served by caring for LeAnne, God answered. The neurological team prepared them that if she survived, she would need at minimum 12 weeks of inpatient therapy to relearn how to speak, eat, and move again with a probable year or more of outpatient physical and occupational therapy. However, within 5 days LeAnne walked out of the hospital, unassisted and without a walker, cane, or any devices, and was in church that Sunday worshipping and praising the God of miracles who continues to come to the rescue.
Zach has been in full time ministry for 30+ years, and in that time knows what it is to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, through fire, and through loss. Yet he also knows what it is to serve a miracle working, life giving, and constant God. Zach preaches from the Word, he lives the Word, and desires earnestly that none would perish but all would have everlasting life.
Zach and LeAnne have 4 adult children and 8 grandchildren (so far).
Zach loves watching the Mets, the Buccaneers, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He enjoys dates with LeAnne to Calistoga or their fave mexican restaurant in Finley, and plays golf on his day off. While they enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren in Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, and Texas- Zach and LeAnne are called to California where they enjoy a solid game of pickleball and golf cart drives with their goldendoodle, Duke.
