The neighborhood church

If I could have devised a way to be in more than one place at a time

on a recent weekend, I could have attended a copious number of church

events. Instead, I was able to take in only three.

A sign on the fence in front of Calvary Baptist Church, where an

enormous bounce-house stood on a Saturday morning, beckoned passersby

to drop in for some free fun.

The church was hosting the first of what it hopes will be an

annual “Neighbor to Neighbor” day. Gary Casucci, pastor of worship

and one of the event’s organizers, described it as a way “to simply

connect one neighbor to the other in a relaxed environment.”

That’s something families don’t often get to do in our community’s

rush-rush way of life, Casucci said, as we dash “from place to place,

program to program and workday to workday.”

For anyone comfortable enough to try stopping by a church for a

good time, the congregation put on what looked a lot like a huge

block party with entertainment, hot dogs, chips and soft drinks. The

church, located on Garfield Avenue between Beach Boulevard and

Newland Avenue, is in a great spot for this sort of thing.

There were carnival-style game booths for kids of all ages. An

illusionist and ventriloquist and an interpretative dancer put on a

few shows. Clowns mingled with visitors, painted children’s faces and

twisted bright-colored balloons into animal shapes, hats, crowns and

necklaces. And there was, of course, music.

Mixed in with the amusement was a bit of education -- what the

church called “a one-stop information shop” for utilities and

community services. Representatives from the Southern California Gas

Company, Southern California Edison, the Huntington Beach Police

Department, the Huntington Beach Library and Huntington Beach

Community Services had displays and leaflets there.

Casucci envisioned the utility companies, library and police

department providing city residents with information about the

services they provide. He also hoped the city’s Community Services

Department might snag a few new volunteers to help with its outreach

programs -- such as Meals to the Home, which delivers daily and

holiday meals to the elderly.

The highlight of the day for visitors of all ages seemed to be the

classic car display. For many it was, “I remember when [I or my

brother or my dad] had a car like that,” while younger spectators

dreamed of having “a car like that when I’m old enough to drive.”

Convertibles of all kinds seemed among the most popular rides, but

there were also vintage pickup trucks and hardtop sports cars that

had their fans. My own favorite was a custom hot rod that would have

made Big Daddy Ed Roth proud.

It took at lot of time and volunteers for the church to pull the

day’s events together, but those I met on Saturday seemed to

genuinely enjoy it. Casucci estimated that around 20% of the people

who came by were not church members, and he was happy to meet them.

He hopes they’ll come to see the church as part of their

neighborhood and take advantage of more of its family programs and

other activities, which are offered regularly. As the day wound down,

Casucci was already looking forward to next year’s event.

On the next day, Sunday, the first words I heard in the morning

were, “You’re goin’ t’ have t’ crank it hard, lady.”

I was in the parking lot of Calvary Chapel Huntington Beach. One

guy wearing an orange vest and a sun hat had motioned for me to turn

right.

The next guy in an orange vest wildly spun his right arm in

circles at me. I didn’t understand ... not until I made the turn and

saw my parking space was the second one on the right. I hadn’t

cranked it hard enough, and I had to back up to angle my car into the

spot.

I was there for the 8 a.m. grand-opening service of the church’s

new facilities in what was once the Burlington Coat Factory, across

from Kohl’s department store and the under-construction Bella Terra

shopping mall.

Moving into the new space has been a long process. I got an e-mail

from Bill Welsh, the church’s pastor, at the end of December 2004.

“We are in the process of remodeling,” he wrote. “We should be

moving in around March or April, Lord willing.”

The Lord, City Hall, the weather or some contractors clearly had a

half-year of other plans.

The church has changed its name (at least sort of) to The Refuge.

In his e-mail, Welsh promised to “someday” tell me why. The red

awning over the church’s entrance reads “Refuge Calvary Chapel,”

while next to that the Web site address is given as

o7www.cchb.orgf7. The site’s home page welcomes you to “Refuge --

Calvary Chapel Huntington Beach.”

Sunday morning’s quarter-folded bulletin welcomed me to “Calvary

Chapel Huntington Beach,” but the first panel inside said, “If you

are relatively new to Refuge, we welcome you to this growing

community ... a resting place for those who need rest, a healing

place for those who are broken and a training ground for all of us to

be better equipped for our involvement in God’s business in this

corner of His world.”

Whatever its name, it’s unmistakably a Calvary Chapel, with its

comfortable but no frills auditorium, embellished only with a long

row of potted plants adjacent to and across the stage, from which the

praise band delivered Maranatha-style worship songs and Welsh

preached a high-spirited sermon.

He talked about what he called Jesus’ commencement address to his

disciples, his “marching orders” to them when he first sent them out

in pairs to minister and preach on their own. Using that Gospel

example, he urged those listening to “trust God who can see better

than you can,” and to ask themselves, “What’s my assignment?”

He’s confident everyone who believes in Jesus has one.

Calvary Chapel’s founding father, Chuck Smith, will dedicate the

church’s new building in October during a weekend dedication

festival. I’ll let you know more about that later.

Next week, I’ll tell you about the other church event I attended

that weekend. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but it was a pretty cool

picnic, with a couple of engaging local speakers who explained how

any couple can “grow affair-proof hedges” around their marriage -- if

they choose to.

This couple, Ron and Nancy C. Anderson, learned the hard way when

Nancy had an affair with a co-worker more than 20 years ago. When she

wrote the book “Avoiding the Greener Grass Syndrome,” she wrote not

from ivory-tower theories but from experience.

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

can be reached at o7michele@soulfoodfiles.com.

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