This past Sunday I had the opportunity to visit RockHarbor Church in Costa Mesa, CA. This wasn’t my first visit but RockHarbor has developed quite a bit since 2003. Back in the day RockHarbor was doing something that other churches couldn’t do… they were appealing to the young adults. Back in the day a new generation called GenX was coming of age of course that became the beginning of what is known now as the Postmodern movement. RockHarbor was able to attract this crowd because they understood the fundamental differences between the old way of doing church and the new way of doing church. Perhaps what made RockHarbor most effective was that they were not afraid to change the method but they were not ashamed of the message.
With that brief history out of the way my experience at RockHarbor was pretty good. They have a great parking system set up in their little neck of the industrial complex and the cones and traffic directors make it easy to find your way to a spot. I got there about 10 minutes before the service (later then I wanted) so I had to walk about a block and seating inside their facility was packed. I didn’t mind walking or sitting in the back because walking is good for me and because sitting someplace you don’t usually sit can sometimes give you a different perspective.
The musical worship was energetic and the announcements were brief but relevant. The message was preached by a young guy named Jared Herd. His style of teaching is very casual but the content was anything but shallow. He covered Ephesians 4:17-5:4 pretty well for the time he used. I know some preachers like to preach a lot and some realize that no matter how interesting your topic is 2 hours is just toooo long! The service concluded with communion and a great closing set of worship songs, some of which were new to me.
If I was living in that area RockHarbor would easily be a church I could call home. They are supportive of art in the church, being relevant with culture and unashamed in preaching the true gospel.
