A safe place

Michele Marr

There’s a new church in town. It’s called The Sanctuary, and its

members mean it to be exactly that.

It will be a place of worship, worship they envision touching

Heaven and changing Earth.

It will be a safe place, a sound place, a place to build a

relationship with God and friendships with others -- a place to find

answers and acceptance, compassion and hope.

It will be a church whose head is Jesus, whose help is the Holy

Spirit and whose focus is Christ’s great commission -- to make

disciples for him.

A core team -- 150 adults, teenagers and children -- has been

meeting and laying the foundation for the church since last summer.

They have worked together to articulate their mission: to reach and

influence America by building a large Bible-based church, changing

mindsets and empowering people to lead and impact every area of life.

Pastor Jay Haizlip says his aim is to change the way people think

about church with an environment of what he describes as “upbeat

music, relevant messages and genuine people.” He hopes to entice

people who have been put off by church to give church another try.

“We won’t scold you, judge you or pickpocket you,” Haizlip said.

“Promise.”

The church’s official launch date is Nov. 10, the second Sunday in

November, followed by a Wednesday night youth and young adult special

event, “Gravity: the Unveiling” at the Huntington Beach Central

Library. The event will feature live swing, blues and surf tunes by

the Screaming Rays, a full stage, multimedia production and a coffee

shop. A similar event will be held every Wednesday night for the

church’s youth and young adults.

“It will appeal to young people,” said Roger Matzke, the pastor of

the Gravity Youth and Young Adults ministry at The Sanctuary. “It

won’t be sconces of flowers, cookies and milk.”

He knows young people aren’t comfortable in what he describes as

“churchy” places. “They want to be where it’s happening -- cool

places,” Matzke said.

Lori Richardson, director of both women’s and children’s

ministries, is the mother of three children.

“I know it’s important that my children be well served,” she said.

“If they’re happy, I’ll be free to go into the adult service and not

feel guilty for abandoning my kids, whatever their ages.”

Richardson has designed a curriculum for the children’s ministry

that includes video, puppets, dance, music, drama and age-appropriate

messages for children in nursery school through fifth grade.

Haizlip is also the father of three children and no stranger to

youth ministry. He was the youth pastor for several years at a church

in Virginia Beach, where the youth group grew from 75 to 600 members.

He said The Sanctuary plans to invest a big portion of its various

resources into its children and youth.

“Children and teenagers are my main priority,” said Haizlip, who

was born to a 15-year-old mother and who, while he was still a young

boy, learned from her friends to drink and do drugs.

Discovering Jesus is what turned his life around.

Matzke grew up in a broken home and was raised by a single parent.

As a teen, he was influenced by his peers to try drugs.

“Most youths are looking for a church that is not trying to change

them, but trying to understand them and to hear what they have to

say,” he said. “They are looking for people to commit themselves to

their lives, to lead by example.”

That’s the church The Sanctuary intends to be. Richardson, Matzke

and Haizlip all see it as a church for the whole family.

“We are truly what is meant by ‘a church family,’ people who are

caring and who build the sense of comfort that comes in a family.”

Richardson said. “You will find this a church of very real people.”

She believes most people have something in their past that causes

them shame or pain or embarrassment. Those who come to The Sanctuary

can be sure they won’t be judged for any of those things, she said,

because “we’ve all been down a road that is sometimes ugly.”

Haizlip agrees.

“We want people to see themselves the way God sees them and to

know they can overcome the garbage and baggage of the past,” he said.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at michele@soulfoodfiles.com.