In The Spirit

CHURCH NAME: Goldenwest Vineyard Christian Fellowship

ADDRESS: Golden West College Community Center Building (entrance at

Gothard and Center streets)

TELEPHONE: (714) 897-1577

WEB SITE: o7 https://www.goldenwestvineyard.orgf7

DENOMINATION: Association of Vineyard Churches USA

YEAR ESTABLISHED: The church began in May of 1993 and began to meet at

the Golden West College community center building in September of 1994.

SERVICE TIMES: Sunday worship is at 10 a.m. Sunday school meets during

the service, after the announcements.

SENIOR PASTOR: Judy Secor, M. Div., Fuller Theological Seminary,

Pasadena.

PASTORAL STAFF: Karen McLucas, women’s ministry pastor, McLucas also

oversees the church’s Alpha introduction to the Christianity program;

Aline Doignon, children ministry director.

SIZE OF CONGREGATION: 30 committed adult members

MAKEUP OF CONGREGATION: Highly cosmopolitan, with many

multigenerational mother-daughter and father-son members along with

single parents who have their children with them every other weekend.

Most member’s ages range form junior-high-school age through age 50.

CHILD CARE: Provided for infants and toddlers by a professionally

trained staff.

TYPE OF WORSHIP: Gentle and sweet-spirited praise and worship song,

interspersed with prayer and scripture. Services celebrate God’s manifest

and inspiring presence with peace, joy and reverence, preaching God’s

word from the Bible. The congregation places a high value on the counsel

of scripture. The service begins with praise and worship in song,

followed by Communion, tithes, offerings and announcements, the message

of the day and ends with the Benediction and dismissal.

TYPE OF MESSAGE: Teaching is expository. It “unpacks a biblical text.”

It is sometimes interactive with members forming small groups to pray for

one another. Secor follows a rotating schedule of themes for her

messages: Goldenwest Vineyard Church 101, “We are God’s Family, Army,

Hospital, School”; Christianity 101, “Understanding and applying the

gospel and all Christian doctrines to our own lives”; Leadership Training

101, “Church Organization, Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry”; Christian

Life and Discipleship Skills 101, “Fulfilling Our Lives in Christ,

Fantastic Marriages, Christian Parenting and Life in the Spirit

Seminars”; Vision Casting 101, “Celebrating What God Is Calling Us To,

Where We Have Been, Who and What We are Now, and Where We Are Going

Together.”

RECENT MESSAGES: Focused on Jesus’ teachings commonly known as the

“Sermon on the Mount”

UPCOMING MESSAGE: Brush up on Christian basics of the gospel. What it

means to be a Christian -- hands on and practical.

DRESS: Members and visitors are free to wear casual and comfortable

clothing or to dress up whenever they feel like it.

VISITOR INFORMATION: The newcomer sitting in the pew does not have to

do anything except listen and observe. The service format is casual.

Refreshments are provided and coffee and doughnuts can be brought into

the service. There is a newcomers welcome after the service. The privacy

of all visitors is respected and church staff or members do not contact

them until they request such contact. Information about the church is

available along with free Bibles (one per person) and sermon tapes.

Visitors are invited to meet the pastor after the service and to request

a professionally produced, complimentary Vineyard music sampler of seven

praise and worship songs on compact disc.

CHURCH PROGRAMS: A Women’s Ministry group meets every Saturday at a

local home, park, or sometimes at the beach. The church provides ministry

and services for Baptism, weddings and funerals; hospital visitation

(visit and flowers); prison visitation; a diversity of prayer ministry

including private personal prayer, intercessory prayer and “soaking”

prayer for major prayer needs. Home fellowship groups, kinship groups,

Bible studies, worship teams, and prayer groups, meet throughout the week

in various local homes. Each Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., an

intercessory prayer fellowship meets at the home of Judy Secor.

OUTREACH PROGRAMS: The church tithes 10% of its income to missions and

outreach in addition to those it has founded itself. The church is small,

but it does a lot. Alpha courses, 10 weekly evening meetings of

fellowship around dinner, meet on Friday evenings, except during the

summer months. The evenings include short videos that explore questions

of life and relationship followed by small group discussions. Any sincere

questions are welcome. The evenings are ideal for anyone wishing to

investigate Christianity, those who are new to the church and/or faith

and for anyone who would like to brush up on the basics of the faith

while meeting and making new friends. A “Good News Club” for children

meets after school in a nearby neighborhood. The church provides food for

the hungry, the frail and elderly, single parents and poverty income

level residents in Orange County. Through WADY -- We Ain’t Dead Yet --

church members and volunteer retirees provide 40-pound boxes of food to

the frail and elderly at Pacific Terrace in Midway City once a month.

Church members and volunteers also minister, spiritually and materially,

to the disabled at Mariposa Villa, to shut-ins at Pacific Royale and to

women at risk housed at the YMCA in Santa Ana. Goldenwest Vineyard

Fellowship partners with its sister church Homeless Christian Fellowship

to provide a Sunday service to the homeless population. The service, and

the hot dinner that follows, is held in McFarland Hall, provided by the

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana, from 1:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Between 40 -- 90 homeless are served each Sunday. Clothes, counseling,

Bibles, advocacy and networking back into productive society are also

provided. The church focuses on friendship evangelism -- “being there for

people when they need you” -- in order to save, disciple, train and equip

people for God’s ministry. The church also supports a number of

missionaries abroad.

DESIGN: Secor calls it “church in a box.” The congregation does not

have its own office building or sanctuary, so each week Secor loads up a

trailer with all the equipment needed for worship and Sunday school and

hauls the “church in a box” to the rented facilities of the Golden West

College Community Center. The small congregation is praying for the means

and provision for full-time facilities of its own in the high rent

environment of Orange County.

VISION: To win the lost by bringing the love of God to our Community.

MISSION: To develop our personal Christian integrity and spirituality

toward maturity.

PURPOSE: To love God with our all, others as ourselves and to worship

and serve him above all.

EVENT OF INTEREST: Cutting Edge Comedy Act by Rod & Marco. Saturday,

Aug. 18 at 6:30 p.m., at the Golden West College Community Center

Building (enter at Gothard and Center avenues). Everyone is welcome. No

admission fee. Donations will be accepted to help cover costs.