In 2007, God lead ROCKHARBOR to a facility at 3080 Airway Ave. in Costa Mesa. The space was conveniently located directly across from 345 Fischer Ave., where we gathered 5 times each weekend to worship together. Beyond using the building as an office space for our staff, we considered the possibility of creating a larger meeting room that would increase the capacity at a weekend service from 1,000 to 2,000 people. As our leadership team prayed and wrestled through this question, they quickly felt that was not the kind of church God was growing RH to be. Our call was not just to gather people, it was to send them back into the very cities of our county. We were to use our resources to raise up, equip, and ultimately send out communities to live out the Gospel in unique contexts across Southern California.
By now, we know the story…for the past 3 years, RH has helped equip 7 different communities to live out the Gospel in Long Beach, Mission Viejo, Fullerton, Hollywood, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, & Orange. Raising up and sending out communities is now part of who we are. And our office space at 3080 Airway played an integral role in allowing that happen. From meetings to trainings to prayer gatherings and beyond, 3080 Airway became a launching pad for these communities.
Fast-forward to 2011 and again a facility move is helping us take the next step in becoming the kind of church God wants us to be. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we began to search for a facility that could replace 3080 Airway as our office building. That search brought us to 3095 Red Hill Ave., just a couple hundred yards from our Central campus. It’s smaller and less expensive, but still an exciting place to launch ministries and communities from. So, starting on Thursday, November 3, RH’s staff will begin to office out of this new building.
One of the things we are most excited about with this move is how it aligns to our vision. Based on current figures, we project that we’ll be able to save upwards of $40,000 per month by moving to 3095 Red Hill. That’s nearly $1 million that will be freed up in just two years [moving expenses not included]. As we have become a church that is spread out over 5 campuses, we are now able to take this considerable savings and consider how to re-deploy these resources back into the very campuses and cities where God has positioned us. In dreaming about how to live out the Gospel and see our cities transformed by Jesus, it makes a lot of sense to arrange our finances to this vision as best we know how.
Together, we are excited about taking this next step in becoming a church that exists for the sake of our county.
To learn more about this move, watch a quick video from our elders: http://vimeo.com/30408392
For an FAQ on this move that includes opportunities on how you can help, click here.
Sermon Recap: The Story of God
Contributed by Christina Darling
As children, we go to school because…well, we don’t have a choice. As adults, many people go to college because they want to learn about their major. And others pursue further education because they need it in order to do their job well.
Many people fit into these types of categories when asked why they go to church. Some may go because they feel obligated to go. Others go because they want to be fed and learn something. Finally, some people go because they want to learn and hear God’s voice, so they can share their knowledge.
Of course, there may be groups of people who don’t fit into either of these categories, but the sad reality is that not all of us go to church because we feel it is our responsibility to understand God’s story in order to share it. And we should! We should want to understand scripture not so we can boast how many biblical facts we know, but rather in order to speak to others and share His story. We are all meant to hear and know God’s story.
I have come to church many times thinking, Lord, please speak to my heart. Sometimes I need some encouragement, and I hope that going to church will help. Other times I need some comfort, and I hope that whatever the service is about that it will feel like it is directed right at me. It’s selfish. I am sometimes selfish. But why?
It’s because I can get distracted from my true purpose—to learn and share. And others can get distracted too. Even when God is speaking, we can be distracted. In Genesis we read that Adam and Eve are instructed not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and when the serpent appears in Genesis 3:1-2 and asks Eve if they really can’t eat from any of the trees, she replies that that isn’t true because they can eat from any tree, just not one tree. Here she also adds that they cannot touch it, but never did God say that they could not touch the tree. She didn’t properly hear God’s instructions. She was distracted.
It is incredibly easy to be distracted today. It is easy to say that we are going to read our bible’s at home regularly, but how often do we get distracted. How often are you reading something when you get interrupted and forget where you left off? This happens to me all too often. The bible is a text that is God breathed. He wanted us to know His story and His love. He spoke things into existence, and he could have easily turned his back on Adam and Eve and destroyed them, but he didn’t. His grace saves us, and it is by His grace that we can hear his voice whenever and wherever. The bible wasn’t written about us; it was written about Him. He is the centerpiece, and we need to remember that because we need to make sure to share His story to further His kingdom. We shouldn’t read scripture simply for our own gain, but we should it do it because we are supposed to learn about God’s story and share it with others.
As for me, I will be working on how to think less selfishly and act less selfishly because no distraction should pull me away from God’s voice.