IN THE SPIRIT

-- Michele Marr

Church name: Harbor Trinity Church

Address: 1230 W. Baker St., Costa Mesa

Telephone: (714) 556-7787

Web site: https://www.harbor-trinity.org

Denomination: North American Baptist

Year church established: 1955

Service times: 8:30 and 10 a.m. Sunday. Life-development courses for

adults and a study hall for children through sixth grade meet at the

church at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed! (AWANA) and

other youth programs are held from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. On

Thursday night, Ric Olsen leads a worship service called “One: One God,

One Hope, One Faith.” All activities are open to the public.

Senior pastor: Bruce Merrifield

Pastoral staff: Rod Randall, senior associate pastor of youth

ministries; Lynn Snyder, children’s minister; Tony Miller, pastor of high

school ministries; Joe Broesanle, pastor of junior high school

ministries; Ric Olsen, pastor of college ministries and missions; Gary

Pierce, member care; Bill Waddell, pastor of prayer ministries.

Size of congregation: 375

Makeup of congregation: The church has very large and very active

children and youth programs. The church is home to arapidly growing

segment of families, parents 25 to 45 years old with children at home.

Eighty-two percent of the church’s members live within three miles of

the campus.

Child care: Professional child care is provided for all services and

activities. The church is family-oriented.

Type of worship: Down-to-earth, Bible-centered and practical. The

music and order of service follow a contemporary format. Worship is led

by a worship team.

Type of sermon: Biblically-based with practical life application

Recent and upcoming sermons: An 11-week series on the Ten

Commandments: “Divine Design for Living”

Welcome wagon: Those who are interested in becoming members take a

four-seminar series, which equips them to take part in the church’s

mission. Each seminar meets for four hours on a Sunday afternoon and

includes dinner.

The first seminar of the series provides information about the church

and its mission. The second seminar emphasizes the development of

spiritual disciplines, such as prayer and giving. The third seminar leads

each person to discover and understand his or her spiritual gifts. The

final seminar teaches participants how to talk to others about God and to

introduce Jesus to their friends.

The series takes six months to a year to complete.

Outreach programs: Eighty-five percent of the church’s membership is

actively involved in some form of ministry, so the church’s programs and

outreach are numerous. Women’s ministries provide retreats, banquets,

support groups and Bible studies for women of all ages. Men’s ministries

are involved in Promise Keepers groups, retreats and fellowships. Youth

ministries for junior high, high and college-age members include

student-led discipleship groups, a newsletter, camps, field trips,

mission trips and many other community activities.

Kids in second through sixth grades may join the Kids Kwire. An

assortment of small groups seek to connect people with God and people

with each other as a way to provide care for church members and the

community at large. AWANA is for children 3 years up to sixth grade. The

program offers games, Bible memorization and achievement awards for the

kids.

Small groups, such as 2/7 discipleship courses, which focus on

learning how to pray, and Crown Ministries, a Bible-based financial

management program, target specific, personal needs.

The church also supports LivingWell Medical Clinics and FISH/Harbor

Area, and many local and global missions. Several church members are

active in the Costa Mesa police chaplains program, which Merrifield

helped to establish.

Harbor Trinity Church is host to a biweekly pastors prayer breakfast,

in which 15 to 20 pastors from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach communities

meet to pray for the needs of the cities.

The church also runs a preschool and day-care center that has a

voucher program to help single parents with their child-care needs. A new

program for the church this year is SoCal Central 2001, a Southern

California leadership movement focused on identifying and training

leaders for the work of the church. The program is interdenominational.

Dress: Casual

Mission statement: Harbor Trinity Church develops dynamic disciples

who help people find and follow Jesus.

Interesting notes: Harbor Trinity Church believes it takes the “whole

church, with the whole Gospel to reach the whole community,” so they

actively seek partnership opportunities within the community and

worldwide. In doing this, members take part in many diverse activities.

Some have worked together at community campuses to clean up and paint the

public educational facilities. Others provide their time and expertise to

lead the life-development classes. Members participate in local Habitat

for Humanity projects and organize mission trips to other countries. One

group of members, including teenage and college-age members, participates

in yearly summer mission trips to Romania, where they conduct a weeklong

summer camp.

On Jan. 1, 2000, Harbor Trinity Church established a newchurch, Palm

Harvest, which meets a Costa Mesa High School. Mike Decker is pastor at

Palm Harvest. He can be reached at (714) 751-5397.