Rancho Baptist Church
29775 Santiago Road
Temecula, CA 92592
951-676-2911
Church Website
Rating:
Worship 3/5
Friendliness 3/5
Sermon 4/5
Theological Content 3/5
Evangelistic 3/5
Facility 3/5
On Sunday 10/26/2008 I decided to go visit Rancho Baptist Church in Temecula.
Their services are at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00am. Nursery and Sunday School classes for all ages are available during the 9:30 hour. Childcare for children 5 and under is available during the 11:00 service.
About the Church
RBC is part of the Conservative Baptist Association of America. The church had a very nice parking lot with visitor parking close to the sanctuary. The sanctuary itself does not face the parking lot so it was a little confusing at first but I just followed the direction that others were walking in and was able to find it. I was greeted by a man at the door that handed me a morning bulletin and I was greeted by three or four others during the greeting period.
The Music
The worship music was contemporary and tastefully done. I enjoyed it very much as it was done with a spirit of humility. The worship music lasted for about 20-25 minutes. The worship team consisted of 3 or 4 singers, a piano, a drummer, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a bass player.
The Sermon
The pastor began by telling the congregation that his sermon would be rated PG and was a continuation of his series on marriage. The introduction of the sermon had to do with prop 8 and the upcoming election. How homosexuality was a very important issue to not only Christians but to our society in general. There were a few things that I really appreciated about the sermon. I think the pastor did a very good job of articulating the distinction between remaining sin in the life of the believer and the sinful lifestyle that characterizes the life of the unbeliever. He also did a great job of explaining what our response and relationship should be to homosexuals. He also did not sugar coat the sin of our culture.
On a critical note I found it interesting how the pastor’s premillenial theology drives his understanding of the world getting worse and yet the need for Christians to pray that it doesn’t get worse. I found these concepts at tension with one another. I would have liked to seen a clear presentation of the Gospel. There were aspects of the Gospel intermingled with the sermon but I was thinking that if I was not a believer I probably would have walked away thinking that Christianity is mainly about my obedience to what God has commanded.
The one thing that I totally disagreed with was the last part of his sermon that had to do with telling unbelievers about prop 8 and educating them on why homosexuality is unnatural without having to use the Bible. I believe this is a compromise to the Word of God and would suggest a presuppositional approach
I gave the pastor a 4 because I thought that he was a great communicator and his points were well presented and reasoned.
To listen to the sermon in it’s entirety click here
