East Ave Community Church

Popularity: 30% [?]

Pastor to the Next Generation

Birthday: April 19th
Where I Grew Up: Carson City, NV
Education: Mostly Southern Nazarene University
Favorite Books: Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell, Blue Like Jazz – Donald Miller, Sex God – Rob Bell.
Favorite Bands: Radial Angel
Favorite Foods: Cheese Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza, Combination Pizza, Sausage Pizza, and Pizza.
I Don’t Like: Movies that make me cry in public.
Hobbies: Being outside unless college football is on
Favorite Scripture: Job 21:3
Favorite Quote: Do or do not there is no try. – Yoda
Biblical Role Model: John the Baptist (I am so into strange food)
My Testimony: I grew up a heathen of heathens in the wonderful town of Carson City, Nevada. When I was 16 years old a new family moved in down the street from my family and their house had a basketball hoop. Instantly a friendship was formed with one of the coolest guys I have ever met in my life. For the next six months or so he pestered me about attending his youth group. Finally he broke me down and I went. I thought it was pretty cool, so I decided to fake church for the next five years of my life. Then something happened – In college, I met this smokin’ hot girl in a musical theatre class that invited me to church. I liked it so much that I continued attending church, gave my life to Jesus, and I married that girl.

Popularity: 79% [?]

teaching pastor

Birthday: May 4th.
Where I Grew Up: College Station, Texas.
Education: Northwest Nazarene University.
Favorite Books: More than a Carpenter – Josh McDowell; anything by John Grisham
Favorite Bands: Lesser Side Sequel
Favorite Foods: Sauerkraut. Yummy.
I Don’t Like: Whiners. Bad Coffee.
Hobbies: Anything my kids will do with me.
Favorite Scripture: 2 Corinthians 11:1
Favorite Quote: “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!”
Biblical Role Model: Micaiah

My Testimony: “I grew up in a loving, Christian home just south of the Bible Belt in a college town. I was 13 years old when I came to an understanding that I needed a relationship with Jesus of my own. So, at a Jr. High camp in New Mexico I made Jesus boss of my life.

A year later, I heard God’s call on my life. It wasn’t so much an audible voice as much as a deep movement of my soul – but very real none-the-less. I thought my calling would take me to Africa as a missionary, hacking my way though dense jungles to help some indigenous tribe meet Jesus.

Well, God had something else in mind. After a degree from a small, private university, I spent a decade as a youth worker – mostly in a bedroom community of Seattle. It didn’t take me long to realize that my heart for introducing new cultures to Jesus was something that desperately needed to be done stateside.

I moved to Chico, CA in 2002 to be the lead pastor of this church. I have come to understand that Chico is a whacky place with many different cultures and ideas about life. As I meet people here, as well as around the world, I do not seek to change people’s culture, political affiliation, favorite radio station or brand of coffee. I do, though, strive to live my life in such a way as to give people the opportunity to meet Jesus within the context of their own culture.

The fact is that Jesus came to earth 2000 years ago to meet people where they are. He did not come to change the culture, but to bring purpose and wholeness to individuals who chose to start a relationship with Him. And I want to be a part of that conversation in Chico.”

Popularity: 55% [?]

Have an event? You need to reserve space on campus? Have an event you need to advertise? Download this PDF, fill it out and turn it in to the office! This form has all the information you need about how to get started.

Popularity: 2% [?]

That’s right! You can sit in the comfort of your computer chair and worship with us! You can even join in the chat room with someone in the service. Join us at 10:30AM Pacific!

Popularity: 100% [?]

Church can be scary, intimidating, and uncomfortable for a lot of people. The formality, being pointed out as a guest…oh, and the offering plate…it’s enough to make the strongest of stomachs a little queasy.

East Ave Community Church is different and we want you to know exactly what to expect before you get there. We are deeply committed to creating an environment where everyone is comfortable and feels welcome. Here’s what to expect and how to prepare for your first East Ave Community experience.

(If you have children, please see our Children’s Page for information on how to pre-register and check in your children.)

Arrival
As our guests, we want you to have the best of the parking lot! We will reserve the closest spaces for those who are our guests and our parents of small children. When you arrive you will normally be greeted by one of our volunteers before you reach the door. If it is raining at a program, we will do our best to bring you an umbrella to avoid that annoying “wet look”!

Caffeine AND Teaching?
When you walk in the doors you will find friendly volunteers to answer as many questions as you have. Your experience is important to us. You will easily be able to find hospitality table were we serve complimentary coffee, tea, water, and snacks. Yes, you can take your beverage into the sanctuary with you. The program you attend will include our live band with words projected on our video screen. You may join them by singing along, or just enjoy the music from your seat. The band usually performs 3 or 4 songs and is followed by a message, normally from our pastor. Our messages are innovative and creative, making the Bible understood in plain English. Our goal is always to hold your attention and make sure you leave feeling like your time was well spent.

Post-Church
At the end of the program, feel free to hang out and meet the pastor, or just slip out. There are always plenty of snacks and beverages afterward.

Our regular attendees and members are challenged to take their guests to lunch and field any questions you might have about our church or the talk you just heard. (That’s right, hit up whoever invited you for lunch!)

What to Wear
Dress however you feel comfortable. Our pastor will be dressed comfortably in some kind of no-tuck shirt and won’t be caught on a Sunday in a tie! It is really a laid-back atmosphere, so however you are comfortable dressing on any normal day is fine with us! A few folks will dress up, but no one here is interested in a dress code because the Bible clearly tells us that God does not look at our outward appearance, but at our hearts. We don’t care how you come dressed – just come!!!

Nickels and Dimes
We will take an offering at the end of the service, but visitors and guests are actively encouraged not to give! We are simply glad you have stopped in and we want to make it clear that we are not just being nice to you to get ahold of your wallet!

We pass an offering plate during the program for those of our regular attendees who wish to give as an outward expression of their worship of God – not to intimidate people into giving. We also have a box on the back wall of the sanctuary that is used for much the same purpose.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Luke 10:25-37 | This has got to be a story that contains the best known parable of Jesus’ teaching. The Good Samaritan has become the synonymous with the paragon of ethics and honor. Even though the story is familiar , perhaps, what you don’t know about that story will surprise you.

 

 Not-So-Good Samaritan [40:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 64% [?]

Luke 10:1-24: As Jesus drops down from His home region of Galilee to the big stage of Judea (where Jerusalem was located), He needed an advance team in every town, village and hamlet to make preparations. So, Jesus sends down 72 of His Galilean disciples to encourage, heal and recruit a Judean army of followers.

 

 Sending 72 [55:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 54% [?]

The motivation of what we do is firmly rooted in what we believe. So, in order to understand everything else, we thought we should tell you what we believe about our God and our relationship to Him. We really do believe this stuff!

A Triune God
This means that God has revealed Himself to us in three ways: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

One Holy Faith
As a ministry of the Church of the Nazarene, we believe many Christian denominations and non-denominational churches serve the one true God. We count ourselves among them.

The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the scriptures are inspired by God, written by men and inerrantly reveal God’s will in everything necessary for salvation. Furthermore, the bible cannot speak through silence. Therefore, anything we teach must come directly from scripture.

All Have Sinned
We are all born into sin. Jesus is the only person who ever lived without sin. Sin can be defined in several ways, but is best described as the condition of a person’s relationship to God. A sin relationship is where we as humans stray from God’s known and revealed purpose: to bring honor and glory to Him! When we stray we serve Satan’s purpose, which is to take away honor and glory from God. The Bible clearly states that we earn death (total separation from God’s Spirit) with our sin, that is, an eternal hell.

Plan for Salvation
We believe from the beginning, God had a plan to save us from our own sin. When the time was right, God sent His Son, Jesus, into this world. His purpose was to live among us for a time, lead by example and die on a cross. He rose from the dead three days later. By this defeat of death, He can offer us eternal life and citizenship in the kingdom of Heaven through the forgiveness of our sins. He offers this as a free gift of a new life for those who own up to their sin, acknowledge Him as Savior and ask for forgiveness. This gift is given by grace through faith because eternity in heaven could never be earned or deserved in any way.

It is also possible to know that you have been saved by your faith because the Spirit of God will testify it in many ways. God wants to give you this assurance through the spiritual growth you will witness in your own life and the presence of God in the form of His Spirit.

Free Will
God made mankind for relationship. God did not build us merely to serve Him, but in such a way that we would have the choice to choose Him as companion and Lord. God does not make us what we are or choose for us where we will spend eternity. Our choices do.

Holy Living
The Church of the Nazarene believes that it is part of God’s plan that we fulfill scripture by living lives that are “holy and pleasing to God.” As we do our part to separate ourselves from the things of this world that cause us to sin, God does His part by healing our spirit by a “circumcision of the heart” that takes away our innate drive to sin. This does not take away our capacity to sin, but it does heal the inward struggle against sin. We will all, however, deal with temptation.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Sunday: 9:30AM

As our only Sunday morning study, the Pacesetters are the collection of the best generation in our church – the seniors! They sing three hymns every week, as well as work though a series that studies sections of the Bible with good commentary along the way. They meet in the classroom in the west wing of the church (Room 203) and are led by Bob Sailsbury.

Popularity: 23% [?]