Orange County Churches Review & Guide

http://www.fefcful.org

Church Review
Scriptural View: 5/5
Beliefs: 4/5
Community: 3/5
Preaching: Exegetical
Worship: Hymns and Choruses
Service times: 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 am

Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 2/5

Review: I attended a Sunday morning service at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton on memorial day of 2004. As I drove into the parking lot some men in orange vests helped direct me and the rest of the traffic to open parking spaces. I followed the other people getting out of their cars and walking into a large building with a cross on top of it. I walked into the dimly lit building and found a seat in one of many pews that filled the building .

The service was composed of four main segments. It began with some opening words about it being a day to remember those who have died. This led into the first segment of the service which was a audio-video presentation of several pictures and short clips of people who had died in the church in the past years. The second segment of the service was a time of singing, wherein we all sang a couple hymns and a couple choruses. The third segment was an interpretive dance by a young lady dressed in a white ballet dress. With a smoke machine blowing smoke across the stage and with colored lights changing back and forth she danced across the stage for several minutes to the song, “I Can Only Imagine” by the band, Mercy Me.

The last segment of the service consisted of a somewhat rigorous Bible study led by the Senior Pastor, Dale Burke. The primary passage of Scripture he was dealing with was 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, though we did look up several other verses. The main thrust of his message was that we as Christians do not “grieve as the rest who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13).” Pastor Burke attempted to demonstrate why we have hope by using other passages to present a case for a physical and spiritual death and the nature of the time that we live in as being a “time between the times.” He argued that the kingdom of God is both “now and not yet” and that Jesus will physically return in body, prior to a significant period of tribulation the church will undergo. In addition, he also explained that there will be a period after this tribulation when Jesus will reign on earth for 1,000 years as a king.

Fullerton Evangelical Free Church prescribes to a very particular type of eschatology, which may not be completely substantiatable biblically. However, the Bible does appear to be highly esteemed there since the Pastor cared very much to demonstrate that what he said was biblical. To grow in your faith at this church one would need to reach out to one of their many Bible study groups or ministries in order to get involved. It is unclear what their position is regarding our protestant reformation heritage.