These past 10 months have been a difficult time in the life of our family. I can truly say that it has been the most trying time of our Christian lives.
We have been praying and seeking a new church for about 9 months now. It feels as though we have been in limbo all this time, not really fully there with the church we’ve been at for the last 10 years and then visiting other churches looking for the one God would have us join.
It all began last April, when I went to visit Sovereign Grace Church in Pasadena. It’s a relatively small church, probably about two to three hundred members but I was really blessed by what went on at this church. It was a warm church, filled with people who were there for one purpose… to worship and exalt their King. The time we spent worshiping in song was a awesome, God-honoring, Christ-exalting songs filled with the gospel and theologically rich! That day there happened to be a guest speaker so I wasn’t able to hear the pastor preach but what I did hear was the gospel of Christ being rightly proclaimed without hesitation. I one thing I didn’t like what how long the journey was. It’s 30 miles away and so that translates to a 35-40 minute drive on a good day. It was doable but I didn’t want to make any rash decisions. I wanted to check out a few more churches and see what was out there!
The next church I visited was First Baptist Church in Downey. This church is considerably closer, only about 6 miles away so this was definitely not a problem! Initially, something that really popped out at me when I first visited was how many different classes and ministries they has going on throughout the week. I saw they had a class on systematic theology (Wayne Grudem’s book) that was going on every Wednesday night and I decided to attend the class with Sonny (co-contributor here) and another good friend of ours. That was going well for a couple of months until things started getting really busy home and I was not able to attend anymore. As far as the church goes, there were many things that I liked and agreed with and there were some things that I didn’t necessarily approve of. Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to bash any one of these churches for they are all sound churches who are preaching a biblical gospel… I guess it all comes down to our own compatibility with any given church. They are reformed in soteriology but are dispensational with a pre-trib premillenial eschatology. I kept this church in mind as I moved on in our search…
On to Bethel Grace Baptist Church! The wife and I visited this church one time. Let’s see… the time spent in worship that day was different. Not to say it was bad, just not anything we had ever experienced. It started with a small choir singing hymns with the piano. Then a few songs later the choir stepped down and some people with classical instruments went up and played. Finally, they ended with a more contemporary band getting up there to sing a few modern worship songs. To say the least it was interesting, even a little distracting… but maybe it was just us that day. 
The sermon was Christ-centered and biblical, so that was really refreshing. One thing I noticed as I looked around the sanctuary was that probably around 60-70 percent of the saints there were older folks, approx. ages of 50 and above. Not that this was bad… it was actually pretty awesome to see so many older saints in one place worshiping Jesus! We just felt a little out of place, not the right fit for us.
A friend of mine informed me about a new church that she had heard many good things about, one that was uncompromising when it comes to the proclamation of the Gospel and was serious about evangelism so I decided to look into it and pay the church a visit. That church is Kindred Community Church.
The first time I went alone to visit the church and I really enjoyed the service. I met a few really nice people that day and they were very hospitable and helpful. Worship was contemporary with a mixture of modernized hymns and recently written songs. I was blessed as every song exalted God and was rich theologically. The sermon was God-centered and biblical, and the preacher wasn’t pulling any punches. I heard a biblical Gospel presentation that day and I was in awe once again of just how good God was! I did a little research on the pastor and found out that he was a graduate of the Masters Seminary. The next week I visited again and this time had a chance to speak with the pastor. Knowing what they teach (Dispensationalism) at Masters Seminary, I wanted to see if he would have a problem with someone like me who holds to **Covenant Theology in his congregation. (Asterisk indicates my belief in believers baptism rather than infant baptism). He was very gracious about it, indicating that he knows there are people who do not believe everything he believes but that he wouldn’t appreciate me going around trying to “convert” people to covenant theology in which I had no intention. At the end of the day, the distance (32 miles) and the fact that I just didn’t feel right being at a church which holds to a faulty hermeneutic and an erroneous theological view (IMHO) on such an important issue led me to walk away. (Remember… I’m trying to be as biblical as I can possibly be and I would feel convicted knowing that some of what he is preaching is wrong.)
Later that day I decided to get on the computer and look up Acts29 churches in the area. I found that there were only two churches in Los Angeles county where we live. The closest one is New Hope Community Church in West Covina.
My friend and blog partner Sonny agreed to come with me and visit this church. (He was looking for a church also and is still attending New Hope currently…) It’s a very small church but it is a church with a big heart for Jesus! They were extremely hospitable, gracious, friendly, and just plain nice! I visited that church several times and even brought my wife a couple of times. I want to say that there were things that I really liked about that church. I really liked that the church family there went out of their way to make us feel at home numerous times. They were only recently (about 2 years) affiliated with Acts29 Network and so they had a strong heart for the surrounding community… to find ways to reach out to their city with the Gospel. They have some brothers and sisters there that are serious about theology and they understand the importance of it. I was considering attending there but there were a couple of things that we just couldn’t get past (would rather not mention them specifically here) and thus we had to look elsewhere. I will say that I take the input my wife gives seriously and it indirectly influenced our decision to not pursue membership there. Nothing bad about the church, just not the right fit for us.
So I went back to the Sovereign Grace Ministries website, where I had first started! I must have missed it before but I found that the church in Pasadena that I mentioned at the beginning of this post actually had a sister congregation that was a new church plant located in Orange County. It is called Sovereign Grace Church Orange County. So I did a little more digging and found the pastor of the church on Facebook and Twitter. I sent a message to him asking a few questions and telling him a little bit about myself and my family. After a few messages back and forth he graciously invited me to come out and pay the church a visit.
The lead pastor there is Eric Turbedsky. Ever since we started visiting the church back on January 9th of this year he has been extremely gracious to me and my family. I have had quite a few really good conversations with him and since the beginning I’ve always thought, “this guy really loves Jesus and he is filled with a joy that comes from being with Him and so this is a guy that I want to get to know and introduce my family to.” He’s one of those pastors who preaches the Gospel faithfully every week with passion, and you can tell that he truly understands who he is in light of who God is. Not only that but the church family there has been very loving and welcoming as well and for that we are very thankful!
Not only am I a Calvinist and covenantal in my theology, but I am charismatic too. This is also something that was a factor from the onset as well. While all the other churches were reformed in regards to soteriology, Most of them were cessationist when it came to the gifts of the Spirit. All in all, I would say that out of all the churches I’ve visited my theology in all most aspects aligns with the beliefs and practices of this church so far. Most importantly, this church is Gospel-saturated. I love how each week no matter what text of scripture we look at Pastor Eric always brings it around and shows how Jesus Christ is at the center. It’s a small church but I see that the people are there for one primary purpose… to worship and adore King Jesus! I feel at home there. My wife, who is not reformed.. yet, likes the church and sees good things. God is there. The Spirit of God is working. Christ is exalted and magnified! We look forward to what God wants to do with this small body of believers, and with the surrounding community. We are glad to be a part of it!
I want to thank everyone who has prayed for us during this time. To God be the glory! Please pray for us as we continue to get acquainted with the saints there, and pray that we might be used there mightily for the glory of Christ. Pray with us for our new pastor that he would continue to be a faithful shepherd to God’s people and herald of the Gospel, boldly and earnestly proclaiming God’s Truth week to week without compromise. Also, that this church would not merely grow in numbers, but grow in maturity reaching out to the community around us with the Gospel, showing the world that Christ is our treasure!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Roger Servin
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoyed reading of your journey in finding a home church. I rejoice with you in finally finding that church that teaches well from the Bible AND is “Home” to you.
I am in the similiar situations in moving from PA to Charlotte, NC. I am pleased that I have atleast 3 possibilities from my research and emails, phone calls, etc.
You didn’t find the perfect church (humanly speaking it doesn’t exist) but prayerfully you found the place God wants you! AMEN!!!
Isn’t it great to be part of the family of God!
hubby and I in the same boat. Last week we checked out Sovereign Grace Fellowship, affliated with SGM. I pray its our home church
I’m praying for you. How did you like it?
I liked it. My husband not so much. The preaching is awesome but didn’t know of any of the worship music. But that should be expected since we come from a word of faith background. There is a church plant where the pastor was a senior assosiate with John MacArthur that we will check out. But who knows we might end up back at SGF