Posts tagged: RockHarbor Fullerton
The city of Fullerton is getting an epic, amazing teacher to lead Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton.
I love RockHarbor and when RockHarbor Fullerton launched we all knew God was up to something special. Then Mike Erre announced God was calling him out of RockHarbor - it was sad, but we longed to give away our best.
Now as it turns out, Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton gets this man to lead God’s community there. This is only good things for the community and for the city of Fullerton. As a proud family member of RockHarbor Fullerton - this excites me for my city.
Welcome to Fullerton Erre!
Yesterday when I woke up, I began to reflect on a single question. It haunted me every step I took from the moment my foot hit the ground. It followed me to the two morning services at ROCKHARBOR Fullerton. I ignored it while I studied in the afternoon; then at the 7pm service I couldn’t get the nagging question out of my head.
“How do you love the bride of Christ (the Church)?”
Maybe, before you can answer that question you need to ask - do you love the bride?
I ask this, because yesterday was a day of self-sacrifice - of dying first. It was a normal Sunday for myself, yet, it is one where I was haunted by this question. I would have rather slept then attend the morning services and serve the Bride like I do every Sunday morning. I wanted to choose my bed, over the Bride.
Every Sunday morning, I do not do the flashy service. There is no reward or pat on the back. There is no glamor, in a way this makes me glad. It happens at all three services. Sometimes people notice you and smile, other times they just ignore you. Yet, at the 9, 11 and 7, I lead the parking team.
See, our parking lot is impacted. It can become utter chaos - a merry-go-round - with cars just driving aimlessly. So, there’s a team of us who make it easy for our people to park - stress free - so they can gather together with the Saints and worship. It is nothing special. It is something which must be done.
I love the Bride.
I park cars.
I did not set out for this eight months ago. There was a hole and a need.
I love the Bride.
So I filled the hole.
Days like this Sunday beat me. There is no applause (I am thankful for that). At times, it is very, very tiring. By the time the last service comes around, I would rather not park cars. I want to sit through an entire service, be at home sleeping or hanging out in community.
I love the Bride.
So I sacrifice. I die first and surrender my desires for the sake of the Bride.
I park cars. Glamorous, I know. Then, after they are all parked, I joyfully exit into the background and find a seat on the floor or in the back room.
I love the Bride. This is how I show it.
So I ask again, how do you love the Bride?
This video sums up why I’m glad to call RockHarbor home. I am so excited to know this community is my family.
It will be so hard to leave RockHarbor Fullerton when God says it’s time to be sent out.
Found this video on RockHarbor’s Vimeo page. The Fullerton update brought so many memories. So much joy. So many stories. So many God stories.
I love my community. So thankful to have been with it from before the beginning even started.
RockHarbor Fullerton you are my family. I am so excited for our next season. 3 services and so much more.
May it be in Fullerton as it is in heaven.
The community of ROCKHARBOR Fullerton has been walking an adventure together for two years. It has been a powerfully exciting two years. God has been faithful and granted us tremendous favor inside His city of Fullerton. It has been more then the crew of people who walked together, dreaming about this campus, could have imagined.
It takes breath away, inspiring awe and wonder.
Yesterday, I sat with this community at both of our services as we announced a shift to three services - two in the morning, one at night. I remember dreaming about our first prayer gathering; then there was Sex, Love, God; then we dreamed about February 28, 2010 - our first service; we longed to have a service where families could come and not just be a community of twentysomethings. I remember dreaming big dreams - dreams birthed by God, for His city of Fullerton and North Orange County, which only He could usher into existence.
Now, there are three services. We have wandered for two years, using multiple locations for Sunday gatherings and countless venues for midweek gatherings. Now, we have a home - sharing a building with a Korean Seventh Day Adventist church on the border of Fullerton and Placentia.
We have a location of development and opportunity - Sunday through Thursday.
A more permanent location does not mean we have “arrived” as a church. We have a building; the building is not important because we, ROCKHARBOR Fullerton is not a building. The location, allows us to create oppurtunities for development and engagement, for equipping and unleashing.
Exciting.
Our young community has changed greatly in the span of two years; I cannot wait to see how God shapes our community in the season to come. As one of our leaders put it Sunday morning, we enter into “the year of the terrible twos”. There is a Holy Spirit feeling inside of me saying the terribleness is not going to be bad for our community - it is going to shape the foundation and makeup of our community for years to come.
Year three is going to be one we can look back on years from now and say: “God started this here. Who could have imagined?”
