November 5, 2025
When a Plan Comes Together
A sermon should be long enough to adequately exegete and apply the main point of the passage, but short enough to leave mature Christians willing to listen a few minutes longer.
Articles for tag: Southern California
July 15, 2022
An Invitation: Beer Parties or Bible Bowl?
As a young teen, I thought that value would come from being popular among my peers. The popular kids went to beer parties, so I wanted an invitation. . . . The invitation I ultimately received, however, was to join Bible Bowl. It changed my life forever.
May 1, 2021
SPOTLIGHT: ONE&ALL Church (San Dimas, CA, and International)
More Than Just a Name Change Until recently, ONE&ALL Church was known as Christ’s Church of the Valley. The church changed its name when it began expanding its multisite model outside of Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley. Today, ONE&ALL Church has campuses as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, and Pakistan. Its worship services are also broadcast daily on Christian radio into many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Indonesia. Through partnerships with various Christian radio networks, ONE&ALL Church is transmitting the gospel to remote parts of the globe—what senior pastor Jeff Vines calls “unreachable places.” Vines explained
Pastoring a Church in a Diverse, Left-Leaning State: Three Principles That Guide Us
By Dudley Rutherford It’s no secret that California, where I live and pastor, is a blue state when it comes to the voting majority. However, not everyone leans to the left. Here you’ll find not only Democrats, but also Republicans, independents, and everything in between. Our church, Shepherd Church, is located in Southern California and is a reflection of our city’s great diversity. When I stand up to preach each weekend, we have people from every political persuasion, race, socioeconomic status, and background sitting in the audience of our worship center. Unlike many other churches across the country, every political
March 25, 2019
SPOTLIGHT: Real Life Church, Valencia, California
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
November 2, 2018
Poverty Encounter
Immersive Environment Tells Poverty’s True Story By Mel McGowan This December, the world will have the opportunity to understand poverty in a whole new light. When Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF) first told me about their idea for a walk-through attraction about poverty, I knew it would be a project like no other. Born in the mind of CHF president and founder Dave Phillips years earlier, the project had already taken shape to some degree. He and his team had brought the idea to friends within Walt Disney Imagineering for help conceptualizing the project. Then, they brought those ideas to
February 19, 2016
NACC 2016: California, Here We Come!
By Dave Stone It”s the right place and the right time for all of us to discover “A Better Story.” Several years ago the North American Christian Convention called to ask me a two-part question: “Would you be willing to serve as the president in 2016 AND would you be willing to have the conference in California (where it hasn”t been in 24 years)?” Before I answered, I asked for some time to pray about it and talk with various pastors in the Southern California area. The next couple of months became a time of incredible discovery. I heard story after
July 10, 2014
Better Leadership, Healthy Churches, Money Matters
By Ben Merold (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received.”) The best advice I ever received came after I moved to Southern California in 1969, during the peak of a Pentecostal movement in that area. The movement was very sophisticated in its approach and seemed to touch every segment of that society. There were many good things about this, but there were also things that became very divisive to the work of a New Testament church. As a result, I went through a lengthy period of pressure and frustration in my ministry. One morning I accepted
September 9, 2012
Spreading the Gospel, Unleashing Compassion
By Justin Horey This summer, as Eastside Christian Church celebrated five decades of dynamic ministry in Southern California, senior pastor Gene Appel emphasized “Eastside”s second 50 years” as much as its first. Later this year, Eastside is scheduled to complete one of the largest, most expensive, and most ambitious relocation projects ever undertaken by a Christian church””with a total project cost of more than $50 million. The church”s leaders believe the project will “carry forward the congregation”s spiritual passion by positioning Eastside for exponential impact in its second 50 years.” Shortly after Eastside Christian Church began meeting in 1962, the
April 11, 2010
Megachurches: The First 100 Days
By Kent Fillinger In business and in politics, much is made of a leader”s first 100 days in a new role. With 25 years of ministry experience, Gene Appel had a plan as he transitioned from Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago to Eastside Christian Church in Southern California on October 1, 2008. Appel”s plan was simple: focus on getting to know his new staff, their strengths, and the key influencers in the church; preach well; and prepare for a fantastic Christmas. Catalytic Appel really wanted Eastside”s Christmas services to be a catalytic energizer for the church. In those
March 26, 2008
Stability Through Paralysis: posted 3/26/2008
When I first entered the world of “church extension” back in the 1980s, there was a young buck named Rick Warren in Southern California who had seen his church grow to 250 overnight. He coined a more organic description for our work””church planting. We flocked to Pasadena and put up with Pete Wagner talking about having been healed of his leg-length discrepancy, just to hear Warren fire us up with the new methods he employed. When I got back to New York, weathered veterans cast weary glances. “So, church planting huh? I guess that means you”ll be buying a riding
October 30, 2005
INTO A MOVEMENT: Surviving the Game
A Long Island church planter moves from skepticism to confidence after attending a church planting assessment and connecting with the Orchard Group—discovering coaching, authenticity, and a movement that feels “priceless.”
July 27, 2005
Different
A Central Park conversation reveals how stereotypes distort our view of unfamiliar communities. This reflection urges Christians to learn from and support those sharing the gospel in neighborhoods unlike their own.
