Editorial:

This is a story about faith, and not just in one sense.

When Calvary Chapel of the Harbour, reputed to be the first church in the history of Sunset Beach, approached the city recently to get a conditional use permit to move to a larger space at Peter’s Landing Marina, it brought to light one of the best kept secrets of coastal Orange County. The church is invisible six days a week and opens its doors Sunday morning not in a towering cathedral, but in a tight room that the owners rent at the Sunset Beach Women’s Club.

Crystal Cathedral it’s not — not yet, anyway. But the strides that Calvary Chapel of the Harbour’s owners, Pastor Joe and Kathleen Pedick, have made in the last six years are testament to the power of community organizing.

Joe Pedick, a Michigan native who moved to Orange County in 2000 and began working as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, launched his own church in 2003 with nothing but an empty room to rent. Starting with a congregation of between 25 and 50 — the turnout varied from week to week — he and his wife built their operation gradually over the years, buying chairs and a sound system and letting word of mouth spread around town.

It’s the kind of quest that many would have abandoned after a couple dry years. But the Pedicks persevered, to the point where a larger home for Calvary Chapel of the Harbour isn’t just a want — it’s practically a need. The congregation has gotten so large that churchgoers are left standing outside the door Sunday mornings, sometimes with children in hand, while others make do with a line of chairs stretching down the hall.

Right now, the prospects for a move to Peter’s Landing look promising. City staff has recommended the conditional use permit, and if the Planning Commission approves it at Tuesday’s meeting, the church needs only for the California Coastal Commission to approve a city ordinance before it can inhabit the former grounds of the Red Onion Restaurant.

We encourage the city and the Coastal Commission to give the Pedicks the green light. It would be a reward for a grass-roots effort that’s brought hundreds in the faith community together — and for the people who have stood outside so long waiting for a decent place to sit.