October 23, 2023
Rusty George was welcomed as the new lead pastor of Crossroads Christian Church, Grand Prairie, Texas, on Oct. 15. He had served with Real Life Church in Valencia, Calif., for the past 20 years . . .
February 22, 2020
By Rusty George “Church online isn’t church.” Yep, that’s what I used to say. Of course, I also thought texting would never last and Facebook was a fad. But hey, what do I know? I guess you might call me a late adopter. Needless to say, starting an online campus wasn’t at the top of my list. But six years ago we decided to add an online option at our church, and I’ve changed my mind about its importance. The First Question: Why Mess with It? It sounds like a lot of work when a simple website with service times
February 19, 2020
By Rusty George “Church online isn’t church.” Yep, that’s what I used to say. Of course, I also thought texting would never last and Facebook was a fad. But hey, what do I know? I guess you might call me a late adopter. Needless to say, starting an online campus wasn’t at the top of my list. But six years ago we decided to add an online option at our church, and I’ve changed my mind about its importance. The First Question: Why Mess with It? It sounds like a lot of work when a simple website with service times
February 11, 2020
Several Restoration Movement churches held “Night to Shine” proms for people with special needs this past weekend. The proms are sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. More than 700 events were held this year. Here are some of the ones we heard about. In California, Real Life Church in Valencia partnered with the Tim Tebow Foundation for the first time this year—although this was the fifth consecutive year the church has held a prom for people with special needs. “When they walk off the bus, and their eyes light up and their parents burst into tears, that’s coming close to
November 20, 2019
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Real Life Church in Valencia, Calif., dedicated its worship services this past Thursday and Sunday to Saugus High School following a school shooting there last week that killed two and injured three. One of those killed, Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, and two girls that were injured were part of a high school ministry at Real Life, senior pastor Rusty George told the Los Angeles Times. “People further away from the situation wonder ‘Why?’ and might even blame God,” George told the Times. “But the people who have been directly affected don’t blame God.
March 25, 2019
Multisite in a New Light By Justin Horey The multisite model has been gaining momentum for years among large churches and megachurches nationwide. But when Real Life Church in Valencia, California, embraced the multisite model of ministry, it did so differently than many other churches. Real Life launched two new campuses in 2018, both in nontraditional ways: one campus was created through a merger/acquisition, and one campus was designed to reach people online. For more than a decade, Real Life Church had a close relationship with Discovery Church in nearby Simi Valley, California. Both churches were planted by Shepherd of
February 13, 2019
A few weeks after losing one of his pastors to suicide, Rusty George of Real Life Church in Valencia, Calif., spoke on radio station KHTS’s “Aging With Power” program about coping with the suicide of a loved one. “It was shocking for all of us, and it was devastating,” George said of campus pastor Jim Howard’s suicide Jan. 23. George said Howard had struggled with a mental health issue and was on and off medication for years. “We react the way everyone reacts with something like this—with sadness, with a bit of anger, a bit of guilt. And we just
August 16, 2016
By Mark A. Taylor Here”s one more indication that Christian churches and their leaders are having an impact on America: many today are sought-after book authors. I remember a conversation with a Standard Publishing salesman two or three decades ago who said this would never happen. Christian church preachers and professors just would not be accepted in the general Evangelical world, he explained. I don”t remember all his reasons, but I thought of him when I skimmed through the latest edition of a little catalog called Pastor Resources. The 62-page digest-size booklet contains ads for everything from Christian camps to
March 2, 2015
By Jennifer Johnson According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, churches spent close to $9 billion on new construction in 2002 and $3.5 billion in 2013. (Thanks, Great Recession.) Organizations analyzing church spending report congregations that own or rent existing buildings spend 20-30 percent or more of their budgets on loan payments, maintenance, and related expenses. For most churches in the U.S., buildings are necessary for building ministry, and the process isn”t cheap. I”m not interested in the tired debate about whether a church should have a nice building that costs a lot of money when so many
March 2, 2015
By Jennifer Johnson A few years ago, Rusty George had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with the mayor and local business leaders to discuss area needs. “A local car dealer mentioned how nice it would be if nonprofits could work together and share costs,” says George, lead pastor of Real Life Church in Valencia, CA. “We were just getting ready to open a second site, and I thought how great it would be to have a church building that didn”t sit empty during the week and, instead, housed a variety of nonprofits that could share coffee pots and
February 20, 2015
By Mike Baker 2015 NACC President God is a talker. In the beginning, he thundered the creatively explosive words, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and everything we know and see came into being. And he didn”t stop there. He spoke throughout the history of his chosen people: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). But God had more to say, so he reiterated his Word to the world through the person of Jesus. According to the apostle John, “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1),
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