IN THE SPIRIT
-- Michele Marr
Church name: Harbor Christian Fellowship
Address: 740 W. Wilson St., Costa Mesa
Telephone: (949) 631-7730
E-mail: o7 godsveg@soca.comf7
Web site: o7 www.apayne.com/harbor.htm
f7 Denomination: Assemblies of God
Year church established: 1955. Harbor Christian Fellowship is the
oldest Assemblies of God church in Costa Mesa.
Service times: Sunday worship service is at 10 a.m. Small group
meetings are held throughout the week.
Senior pastor: Bill Gartner
Size of congregation: 40
Makeup of congregation: Members come primarily from the local
neighborhoods near the church.
Child care: Provided for Sunday morning service only.
Type of worship: The worship is charismatic and contemporary, with an
emphasis on praise and worship. Services are informal and begin with a
call to worship. Gartner gives a children’s message, then members
participate in a time of sharing stories about their spiritual growth,
their life struggles and their experience of God’s influence in their
lives. Gartner or a guest speaker delivers a message. Although offerings
are always welcome, no offering is taken during the service.
The message: Gartner’s messages are usually part of a series and are
typically expositional, biblical and delivered in a way meant to
challenge people to think about their lives.
Recent message: The current Sunday morning series concerns the
purposes of the church. Discipleship -- with an emphasis on the theme
“Why do I want knowledge of the Bible?” -- is Gartner’s current topic.
Welcome wagon: At 9:30 a.m. each Sunday, doughnuts and coffee are
available in the Fireside Room of the church. Gartner and members of the
congregation aim to welcome visitors without making too much of a fuss
over them and therefore making them uncomfortable. After the service,
everyone is encouraged to stay for refreshments and fellowship in the
church’s outdoor quad area.
Outreach programs: Harbor Christian Fellowship is committed to seeing
the city of Costa Mesa become all that it can be. The church aims to be a
place of refuge for the wounded, a voice of justice for the abused and a
home where the members of the community will always be welcome. Harbor
Christian Fellowship hosts a number of neighborhood programs, including
an annual Fourth of July outreach that includes fireworks and Kids Game
Night, a summer children’s program. Parking lot outreaches invite the
neighborhood to the church site to enjoy free hot dogs, soda and
fellowship. The church’s women’s ministry hosts an annual community
health fair that features free hearing and vision tests provided through
the Lions Club and free mammograms provided through the YWCA and Encore
Plus. The congregation provides for global and local missions with
financial support to missionaries and programs overseas in India,
Colombia, Germany, China, Japan, Mexico, Chile, Palestine, Venezuela and
locally in inner-city Los Angeles and Costa Mesa.
On the second Friday of each month, a food distribution ministry
operated by Orlando Sanchez of Qoheleth Ministries gives out food from
the church parking lot. Every other Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., Gartner
teaches a Bible study at the Regal Club Mobile Home Park in Costa Mesa.
Harbor Christian Fellowship also hosts and facilitates a weekly
Overcomers Outreach Meeting at 740 W. Joann St. The Surrender House
Transitional Shelter is a ministry of Harbor Christian Fellowship that
provides shelter, food, sleeping quarters and guidance for single adult
women while directing its clients toward self-sufficiency.
Harbor Christian Fellowship, in partnership with other local churches,
organizations, businesses, colleges, and neighbors, hopes to open an
after-school learning/computer center on its facilities this year. Its
goal is to provide a safe, alternative environment during crucial
after-school hours.
Partnerships: Recently, the church negotiated a lease with South Coast
Children’s Society that allows this organization to extend the services
of their existing school. The society’s South Coast Priority School gives
community residents access to special education teachers, licensed speech
therapists, school psychologists and other professionals on an as-needed
basis. Most of its students are admitted because emotional problems have
created barriers to their learning process. The school aims to provide
individual instruction for each student. Classroom instruction is
designed to help each pupil achieve personalized goals and objectives.
Church purpose statement: To glorify God by being set apart for his
ministry, to share the good news of Christ, to disciple through
fellowship and to stand firm in God’s love.
Interesting note: The missionary in Palestine to whom Harbor Christian
Fellowship sends financial support is Steve Mashni, former Costa
Mesa-Newport Beach resident and one-time journalist for the Daily Pilot.
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