Orange County Churches Review & Guide

http://www.hopechapelhb.com

Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 4/5
Preaching: Expository
Worship: Choruses
Service times: Sun. 8:45, 10:30 AM

Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 1/5
Site Content: 1/5

Review: I attended a service at Hope Chapel in the summer of 2004. This church is not far from the hub of downtown Huntington Beach. When I walked in I was greeted by all different kinds of people from older men in suits to surfers in shorts and sandals.

The worship in song time was led by an older man on a guitar along with a drummer and some backup singers. We sang a number of older Christian worship choruses mixed with a couple of newer ones.

Apparently the Pastor of the church was gone that day and there was a guest speaker in his place to preach. The guest speaker was very passionate and preached from Mark 4:35-41. He magnified the authority of the Bible and the power of Jesus Christ as the God of the universe. Part of his sermon included a vivid acting out of the scene to help understand the mood of the story and the weight of the words that are spoken in this text. His application focused on encouraging the people to believe in the power and ability of Jesus to work in our lives and their problems.

After the service the college Pastor spoke with me for a little while and told me about a service they have on Friday nights called “Friday Night Live.” He said that worship band at that service plays “a much louder and rock and roll style set.” He also said, “all kinds of people come to this service and that they have been seeing many people getting saved.”

I was impressed with the guest speaker’s reverance for the Bible and the varience of cultures represented by the people present. Hope Chapel seems very evangelical and missional. However, it is part of the Foursquare denomination whose doctrinal statement lacks strong commitment to the convictions of the Reformation and thus I must give it a lower rating on Scriptural View and Beliefs. I spoke with the guest speaker after the service who communicated a mix of theological persuasion regarding Reformed doctrine, which he admitted is somewhat maverick in the Foursquare movement he is licensed in.

http://www.rockharbor.org

Church Review - 3 stars
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 3/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Choruses
Service times: Sat. 6:00; Sun. 9:00, 11:00 am & 7:00 pm

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

Review: I attended a Sunday morning service at Rock Harbor in October of 2004. With huge Rock Harbor banners and other artistic additions, the church converts a senior citizen center in Newport Beach into their meeting place for worship.

Inside, a few hundred college-aged people enthusiastically sang songs while a big video camera at the back recorded the service. After a few songs a guy with dreads shared a brief story about his life and how getting involved at Rock Harbor had really impacted him. He concluded by encouraging everyone to get involved more.

During the time of worship to God through the study of His word, the Pastor, Mike Erre began by reading John 3:16. He said that they were doing a series through the book of John and that this week he was going to focus on just that verse. After reading it he said he wanted to talk about hell. Pastor Mike read several verses which mentioned hell and then summarized them all by saying that God never sends anyone to go to hell but that they choose to go there. Then he read from Genesis and said that the whole point of story of Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is to teach us that God values human free will above all things. He said this is because God wants us to love him and that God cannot make us love him or it is not real love. Mike also said he wanted to emphasize that part of main purpose of his sermon was to answer the question many people have about why God would create people He knew were going to go to hell. At the end of the sermon Pastor Mike read John 3:16 again and concluded in a prayer for people to choose Christ as their savior. After praying he pointed to a few nearly life size crosses placed at different parts of the room. At the crosses anyone could go to pray, take communion, or talk to someone.

At the end of the service there was an offering and a song. In the bulletin there was a card for visitors to fill out and ask any questions if they wanted. I filled out my personal information and asked why Mike did not consider Romans 9:22-23 in his sermon since in it Paul raises the very question Mike raised but answers it extremely different.

Though this church seems to generally be evangelical I cannot recommend it for the lack of emphasis on the actual words of Scripture. Much was said but the handling of Scripture seemed to be very driven by an unorthodox Christian philosophy that does not acknowledging God’s perfect justice or His Sovereignty over human decisions.

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.

www.saddleback.com

Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 3/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Choruses
Service times: Sat. 4:30 & 6:30pm, Sun. 9:00 & 11:00 am, 4:30 & 6:30 pm

Website Review
Site Usability: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 3/5

Review: I attended a service on Father’s Day of June 2004. Going to Saddleback church is an experience not unlike going to a resort on a vacation. As you turn onto “saddleback parkway” you drive up a winding road through a luscious landscape complete with rolling hills of green grass, palm trees, big red rocks and a waterfall. As you follow the signs and the parking attendants, they kindly help you find a place to park among the sea of cars that fill the lot. Sorry, no valet though.

As you walk onto the campus there are a number of large buildings. I wasn’t quite sure where to go so I walked over to a tent covered information booth. The person there explained to me that there were seven different “venues” to choose from. A “venue” is a “worship center” that conducts the service in a varying styles and settings. The “main worship center” is where the pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, speaks in person. His presentation is delivered on a live video feed to a large screen in each of the other six venues. Essentially what is different with each of the venues is the music and the decoration. There is a “rock-n-roll” venue, a “gospel choir” venue, an “island style” venue, a “saddleback with an edge” venue, “intimate younger” venue, a “Spanish” venue, and the “main worship center” venue. I decided to go to the “main worship center” venue because I wanted to see the famous Rick Warren in person.

The building is state of the art. There is a wall of glass that makes up the entrance. It is a good 50-75 yards long, has words and phrases frost-etched all across it and is inset with several glass doors. As you walk into the building there are at least a couple thousand seats to choose from. There is a main level of seating on the ground floor and then huge stadium like section of seating directed behind the ground-level seating. At the front is a huge platform with three large screens, one in the middle, two on each side. The two sides of the building are all windows. I sat down in the ground-level seating area and looked out the windows to see the sun reflecting off the mountains and the clouds hovering in the distance.

The service began with the musicians playing and the worship leader welcoming everyone and we all clapped for some reason. The music was top notch. Superb sound quality just as good if not better than a concert at the Verizon amphitheatre. There were all kinds of musicians, guitar, drums, a trumpet, a trombone, a violin, a keyboard, a group of backup singers and more. It was quite exciting. I kept turning my head to look at the screens and then at the stage and then back to the screens. I finally decided to just watch the screens because here were two guys on stage with these huge video cameras that kept running around filming everyone. But you didn’t see them on the screens. Instead, somehow they compile the live videography in real-time and project it on the screens into what looks a lot like a music video with different shots constantly changing back and forth.

After the music time everyone was quite pumped up! There was this intense sense of excitement in the air as Rick Warren walked out on the stage. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and khakis and as he began to speak it got real quiet in the building. While he was walking up to the microphone a row of men also walked in and sat at a line of seats behind him on the platform.

Pastor Rick began his talk by welcoming all the fathers and then proceeded with his sermon. His sermon consisted of reading a verse or two, usually from the paraphrase of the Bible, The Message and then he would immediately go on to explain how to apply that particular idea to our lives. This would take about three or four minutes for each verse. After each time he did this he had one of the men who were seated behind him come up and share about how they had applied what Rick had just talked to their lives about and how much better they were because of it. All this took about forty-five minutes. After the last guy shared, Rick said a few more words then the worship leader returned to lead everyone in another song and then we were all dismissed.

I cannot recommend this church as a good place for a Christian to grow the goal of becoming God-centered, Christ-saturated and Bible-intoxicated. From beginning to end the philosophy of ministry Rick Warren has written about in His book The Purpose Driven Church and expressed at Saddleback church is extremely man-centered. So much is done according to what people like and what is comfortable rather than focusing on careful exposition of Scripture and following it wherever it leads. I am not convinced that the strong focus on “purpose” from Rick Warren and Saddleback is healthy for Christians. What we need is to find value in making much of God, not Him making much of us.

Church Review
Scriptural View: 4/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 2/5
Preaching: liturgical
Worship: hymns
Service times: 7:30, 9:00, and 11:00 am

Website Review
Site Usability: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 2/5

Review: I attended a service in September. As I drove into the parking lot I found a space among a litter of Mercedes, BMWs, Hummers, and Cadillacs. Everyone was dressed pretty formal and acted very official.

The service was liturgical in format. Episcopal/Anglican churches attempt to take a “middle of the road” position regarding the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrine. This comes out a little bit in their liturgy. The service coupled readings and a time of preaching with a ceremony of the Eucharist. Throughout the service there was a sense of awe and wonder and a focus on the total “otherness” or transcendence of God. Perhaps it was merely the liturgy but there was a stark recognition of mystery and reverence during the church meeting.

The worship in song included singing a couple of hymns accompanied by an organ. Few people sang despite the God-rich words of the songs being sung. There seemed to be little emotion or joy in the singing. The singing was intertwined with segments of standing, sitting, reading outloud, and praying.

The sermon at St. James Episcopol was on Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Apparently St. James had recently broke off from the Episcopal denomination over their embracing of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle both for their members and ministers. So it was stated that this sermon was intended to address the justification for breaking away. The sermon was very passionately delivered with much conviction. It was not expositional but rather focused of trumpeting sola scriptura (belief in the authority of the Bible alone).

The service concluded with some business matters. Due to their breaking off of the Episcopal church, the denomination was requiring that they relinquish their building. Yet, the bishops at St. James were announcing to the parish that they were determined to fight that demand legally since they thought hey owned the building since it was payed for by their church’s tithe. I found this whole reasoning sort of odd since church is not about a building and tithe is not a payment but a gift offering unto God. But perhaps there is more involved than I know.

It is great that St. James Episcopal is taking a strong stance for a confidence in the authority of the Bible! I see this as a great step in the right direction. However, I cannot yet recommend this church because there are many other doctrinal beliefs St. James embraces where this confidence has not yet been applied (the total sinfulness of man, the unmeritorious nature of the sacraments, egalitarianism, veneration of the saints, and inerrancy to name a few). In addition, St. James cultural sensitivity and mission seems pretty limited to the upper class.

Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 2/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Contemporary
Service time: 10:00

Website Review
No Website

Review: I attended the Easter service at Plaza Bible Church in 2004. This church meets in downtown Orange right near the Orange Circle. Plaza Bible Church belongs to the Foursquare denomination (www.foursquare.org), a Pentecostal group born in the early 1900’s out of the Wesleyan Holiness Tradition.

The first thing ones sees as they are walking in the front doors of the church is a sign with a Scripture verse engraved on it: Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory.” The church building seats a few hundred and is decorated with elegant script messages painted on the side walls and a very real looking cross on the back wall behind the stage.

The time of worship in song was composed of contemporary Christian music led with guitar, drums, a piano, and three vocalists. The time of worship in the study of God’s Word consisted of the Pastor, Don Palmer talking about how Easter is a time of new beginnings. He began his sermon by sharing about how he did not start working on his sermon until the night before, but woke up early that morning to discover that his wife had put out Easter candy for his son which really inspired him for the day’s service. Pastor Don said it made him feel like God had something really special for everyone that day and that Jesus love on Easter was like His wife’s. He cried, then very passionately described the death and resurrection of Christ. The passage of Scripture Don referred to was John 21 which describes Jesus appearing to Peter after His resurrection. Then with a big smile he told everyone how we all can have a new beginning just like Peter.

There was a wide range of age groups present and everyone seemed to know each other very well. On the front steps of the platform there were several Easter lily plants they were giving away after the service.

I cannot recommend this church for their lack of solid exegetical preaching. Their denominational affiliation confesses core salvation beliefs but lacks theological depth and consistency. This is evident in their service which chiefly appeals to human emotion and experience rather than Scripture and reason.