Rancho Baptist Church in Temecula

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

Revival Christian Fellowship

Pastor Gary Galbraith
29220 Scott Road
Menifee, CA 92584

http://www.revival.tv

Service Times - Weekend
Saturday 6pm
Sunday 8am
Sunday 9:30am
Sunday 11:15am
Sunday 12:45pm
Sunday 6:00pm

Service Time - Mid-week
Wednesday 7:00pm

Rating:
Worship 3/5
Friendliness 5/5
Sermon 3/5
Theological Content 3/5
Evangelistic 4/5
Facility 5/5

Introduction
On Sunday July 6^th 2008 I decided to visit Revival Christian Fellowship in Menifee. The only two things that I knew about this church in advance was that it was big and that it was part of the Calvary Chapel denomination. The person that went with me, my 21 year old daughter, had visited the church several times and spoke highly of the church. We happened to be running a little bit late this day and were pleased to find out that there was a parking space right in front of the church reserved for first time visitors. We were greeted in the parking lot by a very nice woman wearing a black apron that introduced herself and then escorted us to the sanctuary. The ushers were directing people to the overflow area upstairs but because I was a first time visitor they were able to seat me in the main sanctuary. I was also informed by our greeter that the senior pastor was out of town and the assistant pastor would be preaching the sermon.

Worship
The worship music was very good. The words were Christ centered. I also appreciated the humble posture of the worship team. Sometimes when you get 3 guitars, a bass, drums and a few vocalists on the stage it can be like a rock concert. This was not the case at Revival. The music was tastefully done. It also seemed to be at the right volume which is another difficult balance to strike these days, or so it seems. I did find it odd that the congregation clapped after every song but maybe it’s just me.

The Sermon
As I already mentioned, the Senior Pastor was out of town, so one of the Assistant Pastors was filling in for him. His name was Scott Baysinger and according to the website he oversees Local Outreach and Multimedia. His sermon was entitled “Who am I?” and was based on 1 John 3:1-3. One thing I appreciate about Calvary Chapel pastors is that they have a very high view of the Bible. The sermon was also very biblical and he compared several texts of scripture with one another. The thrust of his sermon was about God’s love for us as sons and daughters of God.

From a theological perspective he gave several analogies which he was forced to distort to fit with his Arminian theology. For example, he spoke of the analogy of an orphanage in which a father comes to an undeserving group of orphans looking for orphans that have their hands up saying “pick me”. You can watch the sermon by following this link. Other than my theological differences I think he did a really good job. My daughter encouraged me to come back when Pastor Gary was preaching. She said that she found his sermons to be “more convicting”.

General comments
The church facility was very nice and given the number of people the service oversight was very organized. The church seemed to be genuinely concerned about living out there faith before God.

They also mentioned that they are very involved in the Harvest Crusade which is Calvary Chapel’s version of the old Billy Graham Crusades.

Sunridge 09.30.07

Worship Services
Sunday Mornings 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Located at: 42299 Winchester Road
Temecula, CA 92590
Phone: 951.296.1770
website: http://www.sunridgechurch.org

Rating:

Worship 4/5

Friendliness 4/5

Sermon 3/5

Theological Content 3/5

Evangelistic 4/5

Facility 5/5

Pre-Service

I actually drove past the building on the first pass and upon driving back I realized why, the sign on the front of the church was very difficult to read. They had a section of parking spaces directly in front of the entrance that was reserved for visitors so it made it very easy to park and find my way to the sanctuary. Once inside I was greeted by a very sharply dressed Hispanic man that was very friendly that seemed to emanate the joy of Christ.

Worship
The congregation was very large and the worship music was good. I would describe it as "contemporary"worship. The congreagation was engaged in singing and worshiping which is always something that impacts the whole. The bass player was a little more "active" than I would prefer. His rock style movements drew my attention repeatedly and was the only distraction that I remember.
Sermon
I happened to pick a day to visit when the main pastor was out of town. So, although I didn't get to hear the preaching that you might here if you visit, the man that was preaching was Executive Pastor Britt Sipe. I would describe his style more along the lines of "teaching" than I would "preaching". I appreciated the fact that he called the "dysfunctions" that we inherited from Adam "sin". Too often preachers shy away from mentioning sin. His sermon was thorough and understandable. The only negative, or should I say constructive, criticism that I had was his "bit" at the beginning where he compared the Senior Pastor to Chuck Norris. It was "corny". I also felt that at times he was speaking extremely slow but maybe it was just me. It is difficult for men to stand in the pulpit on occasion verses every Sunday so I will give him some grace in that area.
If you are looking for a family church that has a variety of ministries for all ages and a desire to reach the lost then may want to visit Sunridge.

Life Church 09.09.07

Pastor John Ruhlman

Life Church Website

Life Worship 9:00am Sunday

*Life Worship 10:45am Sunday*

*services offer nursery, children's & youth ministry

The following review is based on a Sunday Morning service that I attended on 09.09.07 at 10:45 AM.

Rating:

Worship 2/5

Friendliness 4.5/5

Sermon 3/5

Theological Content 2/5

Evangelistic 4/5

Facility 3/5 (moving soon)

Additional Comments:
As I walked from the parking lot I was greeted by a friendly woman who introduced herself as Jane. Jane asked me if this was my first visit, gave me a name tag and offered to walk me to the sanctuary. Jane is definitely the type of greeter that every church should have.

As I entered the auditorium (Life Church is presently meeting at Gardner Middle School) I noticed that there was a "Cold Play" song playing through the PA system. I like Cold Play but when I sit down in church to worship God I tend to prefer something that I can't get in the world, something that is going to direct my thoughts toward Jesus.

WORSHIP

As I was reading through the bulletin the band began to play and I have to tell you that the music was so loud I actually was startled in my chair. The music was fast and the genre was Rock. In fact, the worship leader said something to the effect, "we are a rockin' church!" The graphics on the projection screen definitely fit well with the music. It was a combination of fast moving "screen saver" type images. When I sang I noticed that I couldn't even hear my own voice.

SERMON

The pastor's sermon was entitled "Why Build?" and it was based on Matthew 16:13-19. There were several things that I appreciated about the sermon. I appreciated that the pastor emphasized the deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, that he gave a very clear and basic explanation of justification without using the terminology and he mentioned that people can come to Life Church and not worry about being judged. The only criticism that I have concerning the sermon is when the pastor was making the point that Life Church is committed to being an "Unshockable Church" and he stated that "paedophilia is the sinful equivalence of cheating on your taxes". I think I know what he meant. I think what he was trying to say was that we are all sinners and any sin will be enough to send someone to hell. The problem is that his lack of precision on this topic can lead to great confusion among Christians and unbelievers who were present. A simple overview of the law of God in the OT would demonstrate that there are different degrees of sin.

It seems that Life Church has been heavily influenced by the seeker sensitive movement that was popularized by Rick Warren in the late 80's. The service seems to be geared more toward evangelism than worship and edification.

If you like loud music and are a new Christian or you are thinking about starting to attend church this may be the church for you.

Below is an excerpt from the Life Church website:

"This summer Life Church is going to Rock! That's right we're Rockin' Through the Summer with a new teaching series.Music has always been a huge part of culture and in the past decades, Rock & Roll has been king. There have been so many great songs, songs that you know as soon as the first power chord hits, a chorus that just runs through your head all week. We are going to look at some of these powerful songs by artists like, U2, The Rolling Stones, Foreigner, John Mayer, and others - and we'll see how they launch us into deep spiritual talks that bring up very Biblical truths.
Don't miss a week at Life Church this Summer as we ROCK!"