IN THE SPIRIT

-- Michele Marr

* Address: 271 Avocado St., Costa Mesa

* Telephone: (949) 548-6596

* Denomination: Seventh-day Adventist

* Year church established: The church was established in the 1930s in

Costa Mesa as the Newport Harbor Seventh-day Adventist Church. Later the

name was changed Costa Mesa Seventh-day Adventist Church. The church

moved to its present location in the mid-1960s.

* Service times: Worship is at 11 a.m. Saturdays, Sabbath school for

children of all ages and adults meets at 9:30 a.m.

* Senior pastor: Donald G. Reynolds

* Staff: Cindy Hesch, church secretary; Karen Johnson; Patricia

Davenport, religious liberty secretary; Elaine Westerhout, pianist and

music coordinator

* Size of congregation: 290

* Makeup of congregation: Members come from throughout Orange County.

There is a balanced mix of ages and families.

* Child care: A mothers’ room is provided for mothers and their young

children to attend the worship service. Child care is provided for other

activities.

* Type of worship: The service is a blend of contemporary and

traditional worship styles to meet the needs of all ages. Services

include music and the dramatic portrayals of biblical scenes related to

the Scripture message of the day.

* Type of sermon: Expository and topical

* Recent sermon: “Don’t Patch Up Your Religion,” based on the parable

of new wine in old wine skins; “Love and Learn,” addressing mankind’s

vertical relationship with God and the horizontal relationship with each

other

* Dress: Casual to business attire

* Visitor information: A literature cart provides information for

visitors at the Koinonia Canopy, where members and visitors alike are

invited to enjoy refreshments and fellowship after the worship service.

* Church programs: Midweek services, home Bible fellowships in private

homes, and college and careers group in private homes.

* Outreach programs: The college and career group visited board and

care homes Dec. 1. The church’s teens periodically take supplies to

orphanages. At Halloween, the church’s youth collected canned goods

instead of candy to provide food baskets for Thanksgiving. The church

sponsors an expanding health outreach. Presently screenings, lectures,

nutrition classes and breathe-free clinics (to help smokers stop smoking)

are held periodically. The congregation supports Outreach 911 and

Adopt-a-Social worker for the Public Health Department’s mothers in

recovery program. In conjunction with the Orange County Community

Development Council Food Distribution Center, the church provides a

location for the distribution of 300 boxes of food each second Thursday

of each month. The church provides meeting facilities for Overeaters

Anonymous on at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and weekdays for a Japanese

elementary school that provides Japanese-language education for the

children of parents in the United States for short-term work assignments.

The Seventh-day Adventist elementary school, Orangewood Academy, is part

of the largest kindergarten through university education program in the

world. The church is also a designated polling center on election days.

Vacation Bible school is held each summer for children 12 and younger.

* Mission statement: Let him gather and gift his people to serve. Let

us glorify God and lift up Christ.

* Interesting note: In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the

church provided a lecture series aimed at helping those in the community

cope with these events. On Nov. 17, the congregation sponsored an event

to express its gratitude for the liberties and freedom we enjoy in this

nation and, specifically, to thank those in our community who serve us.

Honored at the event were the mayor’s office, the Fire Department, the

Police Department, a public health nurse and an elementary school

teacher. B.B. Beach, a past representative at the United Nations in New

York and Geneva, and general secretary to the International Religious

Liberty Assn. from 1980 to 1995, was guest speaker at the event.