‘A Shepherd’s Heart’ — How Long Beach Rescue Mission CEO Jeff Levine found his calling

From overcoming grief and drug addiction to serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Long Beach Rescue Mission, Jeff Levine is the definition of overcoming challenges. 

Levine has been with the Long Beach Rescue Mission for 21 years, where he helps people escape the cycle of homelessness through a program-first approach. His journey to stability has been marked with plenty of obstacles, ultimately making him a better leader and supporter.

Growing up, Levine said he didn’t have a good relationship with his father, as he often worked long hours.

“He was working 14-15 hours a day to try to get our family out of the financial situation we were in,” Levine said. “Growing up in a slum, it was infested [with] cockroaches and fleas and I remember wearing long socks to cover the flea bites that were all over my legs.”

In his senior year of high school, Levine’s father unexpectedly died of a heart attack. His father left behind $300 in his wallet and, unknown to the family, a mountain of debt with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

“I think my grief at the time is more that he [his father] never got to see me sober, didn’t see me graduate college, didn’t see me married, didn’t meet his granddaughters and I know he would’ve loved them,” Levine said.

When his father passed away, Levine said he had a lot of resentment and anger towards his dad that he needed to heal from and forgive. 

“Everything I’ve experienced in life, from growing up in poverty, to addiction to recovery, my time on staff, my education, my time at the church, has prepared me for the race and there’s a desire to finish well.”

– Jeff Levine

Levine said he spent 12 years of his life addicted to methamphetamine before God spoke to him in 2003. “I got down to my knees and asked Jesus to save me — when I called on Jesus’ name, it changed me and it gave me an incredible amount of hope,” he said. 

Still, he had a long road of recovery ahead of him. 

Levine said Bethany Church in Long Beach was a contributing factor in his sobriety, bringing in the community, accountability and the support he needed when he was coming out of his addiction. 

His involvement with the Long Beach Rescue Mission began a few years later, when he became a volunteer and then a part-time chaplain in 2006. 

“I started to do some mission trips and one of the board members [Will McClung] was on the board here at the Rescue Mission [and] said, ‘You should pray about getting involved with the mission. I think your story would intersect well with the people that are there,’ and I took that very seriously,” Levine said. 

Levine was on staff for 12 years, five as the organization’s program director. He was then called away to be the lead pastor of Bethany Church in 2018, but remained on the Mission’s Board of Directors. In June 2022, Levine says God called him back to the Mission. 

“This is my home and I feel like God has made it clear that this is my last ministry calling,” he said. Since then, he has been the President and CEO of the nonprofit.

“Everything I’ve experienced in life, from growing up in poverty, to addiction to recovery, my time on staff, my education, my time at the church, has prepared me for the race and there’s a desire to finish well.”

Levine was able to build the Long Beach Rescue Mission into something special — taking the owners Wayne and Janet Teuerle’s initial vision and evolving it. From the 40-bed mission in 1972 then 133 beds in 1982, the Mission now has a 215-bed shelter. 

But Levine doesn’t just focus on the numbers. Instead he goes out of his way to connect with people around the mission, creating a culture of trust that spreads to every employee. 

Workers like Chaplain Torie Russell carry the same care in their work, greeting every guest at the Mission and talking to them like family.

“He [Jeff Levine] makes time for the staff. He hears [and he] prays with the staff. He shakes hands with program folks, so he’s someone who is very approachable,” Russell said. 

Though Levine is proud of the connections he makes with the Mission’s guests, it also impacts him more deeply when someone is lost to the cycle of homelessness. He recalled one experience with a man named Taylor Tedesco, someone who he’d banter with during his work in the evenings as a volunteer for the Long Beach Rescue Mission back in 2009. 

The police showed up one night asking if Levine could recognize a body outside the parking lot of the mission.

“Taylor had these piercing blue eyes and his eyes were open and he was looking and it was like he was looking up to heaven being received … and I think at that moment, I know that this is life and death,” he said.

“People don’t talk about it that way. They talk about it as housing or they talk about it as employment and those things are important, but they’re not a silver bullet … every time I come in, I don’t know if it’s going to be my last time that I’ll see this person.”

Tedesco’s death, along with the yearly memorial service for people who have died in Long Beach experiencing homelessness, serves as a reminder to Levine that every life is valuable, as is the work they do at the Mission.

Levine’s experience with addiction, poverty and even losing his father at a young age, have all helped him more deeply understand both members and guests of the Mission. His lived experiences help him build those relationships of trust. 

“I know what it’s like to not be able to get out of bed without getting high,” he said. 

Levine has been an example of dedication to the city’s most vulnerable populations across Long Beach. He was presented with the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership’s Nell and John Wooden Ethics in Leadership Award for his efforts on Nov. 6.

“Man he’s a go-getter,” Russell said. “[He’s] just down to Earth, committed husband, father, pastor. He has a shepherd’s heart.”

Russell brought up the example of when the Lydia house was set on fire on Dec. 23, 2024 as one of many instances of Levine being a leader. He said that they had to get the ladies out and Levine got out of his warm bed to come down to work.

“He’ll jump in the mud with you — he’ll get dirty with you, servant leader man,” Russell said. “Jeff is somebody who attracts the best. He makes time for the staff. He hears, he prays with the staff, he shakes hands with the program folks so he’s someone who is very approachable and he’s very approachable.” 

Levine’s goal for 2026 is simple, to get the Lydia House 60 additional beds and the Timothy House operational.

The mission will have a Christmas Day toy drive for low income neighborhoods, Christmas dinner and Christmas breakfast. You can make financial donations to the Long Beach Rescue Mission on their website. 

A previous version of this story included a misspelled word in the headline. The Signal Tribune regrets this error.