As Resurrection Sunday approaches, we want to teach you a new song about Jesus' victory over death. We will sing it together this Sunday. Listen above and follow along with the lyrics below.

CHRIST IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED
VERSE 1
How can it be, the One who died
Has borne our sin through sacrifice
To conquer every sting of death?
Sing, sing: "Hallelujah!"

VERSE 2
For joy awakes as dawning light
When Christ's disciples lift their eyes
Alive He stands, their Friend and King
Christ, Christ He is risen

CHORUS
Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!
Oh sing: "Hallelujah!"
Join the chorus, sing with the redeemed
Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!

VERSE 3
Where doubt and darkness once had been
They saw Him and their hearts believed
But blessed are those who have not seen
Yet sing: "Hallelujah!"

VERSE 4
Once bound by fear now bold in faith
They preached the truth and power of grace
And pouring out their lives they gained
Life, life everlasting

(Chorus)

VERSE 5
The power that raised Him from the grave
Now works in us to powerfully save
He frees our hearts to live His grace
Go tell of His goodness

(Chorus)

BRIDGE
He's alive, He's alive!
Heaven's gates are opened wide
He's alive, He's alive!
Now in heaven glorified

"Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people."

Picnic In The Plaza

This Sunday is one of our regularly scheduled plaza invasions. If you’re planning to eat lunch tomorrow then you are invited. Following our worship service, head out to the plaza park for lunch.

You can BYO your lunch, grab carryout nearby, or even purchase some of our world famous Buck-O-Slice pizza. We'll have blankets and water for everyone.

The latest in storage technology.

We love the Woman's Club of Orange. It's a great location, a great space, and the club and management have been very good to us. However, it still takes a team of volunteers to get our facility ready every Sunday all year long.

The Sunday Team is responsible for everything from cleaning to packing gear to greeting you at the door. They work hard. They sweat. They adapt when we expand our Children's Ministry. And they do it all because they love Jesus and us.

Thank you Sunday Teams.

Jason and Alma are heading "home" to help plant a church. This is what they shared on Sunday...

6 years ago.

Alma was accepted to UCI for a doctoral program. I was beginning to tour more and we were looking for a church that understood our unique family nuances. And could shepherd us through our first years of marriage,

We also knew it was temporary by nature because, we were only in OC because of school. But after school was done and it was time to move on; we couldn't do it!

We actually fell in love with our church family and not only liked but craved the body life.

Then we were faced with a dilemma that if we were gonna do body life well, we had to choose where heart and calling actually was. We felt that given the gifts and bends that god gave us, we knew we were called to LB due to its diversity and spiritual needs. And to stay in Orange was just dividing our time and heart and we weren't serving Orange or Long Beach very well.  

2 years ago.

A friend contacted Jason about being called to plant in Long Beach. Jason had known the pastor for quite some time. He was a chaplain on a tour he did in 2012 and was such an encouragement and blessing to his life. So when he and his family arrived in Long Beach, we were able to invite them to our part of the city and get to know each other’s hearts and goals more. We learned that a lot of what they were praying for for their own marriage and family needs were very similar to what we were praying for and it turned out we were basically answered prayers for each other.

6 months ago.

We joined the church plant last Fall. It's in North Long Beach and made up of about 15-20 families. People from Tennessee to Washington state as well as a few locals.

A good friend here at Sovereign Grace reminded me as we were deciding to leave that we weren't leaving the church...we were part of the expansion of the church. Most of you remember the challenges of church planting and we would love your prayer for our new church as we labor to love God, love each other, and love Long beach.

Lunch with a pastor.

If you're new or still feel new, we'd like to take you out for a lunch on the house. No agenda. No sales pitch. Simply an opportunity to get to know a pastor and ask your questions.

This Sunday, February 5th, 12:30pm.

Register here. 

We love singing songs about Jesus. And we're excited to introduce a new one to you this Sunday! Listen above and check out the lyrics below.

VERSE 1
What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

VERSE 2
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

VERSE 3
What riches of kindness he lavished on us
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost
We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

CHORUS
Praise the Lord
His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Nestor shared this past Sunday...

Being new has been both a humbling and encouraging experience here. 

Humbling because you haven't built this church around us, for our comfort and for our name to being known. Which honestly is what we have tended to look for when when we visited new churches. Instead, you welcomed us in, pointed us to Jesus and His gospel and allowed Sundays to be day about the Lord. You carefully, with reverence and fear, gather for His glory rather than mine.

This has been so encouraging.

This carefulness has made us appreciate things in new ways. Gospel-centeredness. Service. Hospitality. We appreciate how seriously the church takes the Word and receives it with with glad hearts and with full force. Even the way you sing. You are careful.

Thank you Sovereign Grace. Thank you for what you do. Keep doing it as God keep sending us more and more new people like us.