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.