Ocean Hills Church

 

The OH Story From A Reader

 

PART ONE: WRITTEN BEFORE SKIP RESIGNED

 

The Other Church Story (Concerning Skip Heitzig)

 

There have been many people who have written about the Calvary Chapel Albuquerque/Skip Heitzig story, Usually somewhere in the body of their comments they mention how tragic this experience has been on the congregation of Calvary Albuquerque. Well, there is another congregation that was devastated and no one seems to know or understand just how ripped apart the congregation of Ocean Hills Community Church was after Skip arrived.

 

Ocean Hills had just celebrated 25 years of mission in San Juan Capistrano. It was started with a Calvary influence but was actually a non-denominational community church of about 1000 people with an elder lead governing body. At about 20 years of service their founding pastor, Homer Weiser, had to leave for health reasons and during the transition of over a year the church grew by 20% and giving increased by 20%. Church authority George Barna called that miraculous. No one but Skip was calling Ocean Hills a small, unhealthy dying church. The facility of Ocean Hills was worth between 12 to 15 million dollars. For 5 years the church had a pastor from Hawaii and attendance had decreased just a bit but it was still a thriving church in the community.

 

They formed a pastoral search committee. Immediately they had 250 plus applicants for this position. Strong elders, great youth ministry, MOPs programs, Woman's Bible Studies, and an incredible missions program made this church a very desirable church for pastors seeking a senior pastor position. Not to mention the amazing multimillion-dollar facility. Skip was obviously looking for a good facility and new church since he had already gone through the interview process at South West Community Church in Palm Desert. They turned him down.

 

The pastoral search committee found Skip and was enamored with him. They stopped the search and went for Skip. Today only two of the pastoral search committee members even attend Ocean Hills. All of the other 12 left the church in disgust at Skip's leadership and they would say they were duped. The previous elder board would say the same thing and again the vast majority of elders and all the staff left the church within a few months. Of the 1000 members about 60 stayed.

 

Before Skip took the job, although it had already been handed to him, Skip, Lenya and Paul Saber meant with two key elders at Ocean Hills who had major reservations. Jim Burns, Ph.D. has a national family ministry as well as a national broadcast ministry. He is well respected in the Evangelical community and had often preached at Ocean Hills in the interim never taking an honorarium. Rob Martin is one of the most respected mission people in America and at one time was the Director of the Orange County Rescue Mission. For two hours Jim and Rob peppered Skip, Lenya, and Paul with questions about the direction they would take the church. At the end of the night Jim and Rob had even more reservations. Jim wrote a letter to the elders and pastoral search team telling them what could happen if they chose Skip. Basically the letter said, we are handing him the keys to our church and he will take it in a different direction then our church bylaws and mission. Jim's letter is now taken as prophetic but by then the pastoral search group had already made up their mind.

 

Before Skip arrived the elders resigned. Jim and Rob quietly left the church and the majority of other leaders did too. All of the staff (32?) either left or were fired almost immediately. Skip hired a man named Jon Mendoza who had previously attended Ocean Hills but was no longer attending to come in and clean house. Today Mendoza believes Skip's intentions were on the verge of evil and he has gone around to staff and elders and apologized. He of course does not attend Ocean Hills. In fact of the 1000 who called Ocean Hills their home only a small handful was left after even just a few months.

 

The tragic story is that this was the church these people had paid for with tithe, done mission work together, evangelized the community, gotten married, and buried their family members. They lost their church and Skip wouldn't even meet with them. In fact Jim Burns who counts people like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels as friends, tried several times to get an appointment with Skip and was told he didn't take appointments with people in the congregation but would be glad to talk with him in line after the church service. Jim Burns has been very silent about this but we are told that later Skip wrote Jim a letter of apology.

 

The Worship leader, Dave Burns, (no relation to Jim) was on the pastoral search committee and very positive about Skip coming was fired. His wife was suffering from cancer and was given 3 weeks severance and 3 weeks of insurance. Leaders who had already left the church wrote a letter to the scattered Ocean Hills community and raised over $80,000 for Dave, his wife, Terry's medical bills and for the funeral expense. Five months later Terry died and. Skip didn't come to the funeral. The funeral was not at Ocean Hills. How sad.

 

The greater Ocean Hills community of believers lost their church. They lost their fellowship. They lost their mission. At one time an attorney gave counsel because of all the lies from Skip regarding church policy and expectations (some of them in writing) that the congregation should go after Skip and get their church back. Jim Burns, Rob Martin and other leaders all agreed that it would only hurt the name of Christ. Today the vibrant Ocean Hills community is scattered around other churches in South Orange County but not at Ocean Hills.

 

There is so much more to the story. So when you write about the tragedy of Calvary Albuquerque, and it is, please don't forgot Ocean Hills. This is a story of money, power, and ego corrupting what was once a very good minister and now he struggles with a tarnished ministry at best.

 

PART TWO: WRITTEN AFTER SKIP RESIGNED FROM OHCC

 

How sad for the past congregation of Ocean Hills Community Church. They gave the Calvary Chapels who they were not in any kind of formal relationship a 12 to 15 million dollar facility. They lost their church. They lost their property all because of Skip. They will have to grieve their loss all over again even though most of them don't go to OHCC anymore. This was immoral.

---

 

A letter from an OHC former member:

 

Hello,

My heart crys out for you all… I too know the pain that you are feeling, for I too was in your shoes just 2 years ago, in Southern California.

 

We too experienced the same sort of trials that you are muddeling through. Back then, we saw the Semi trucks roll in with the all of the very expensive equipment, stage works and such. Our congregation was kept in the dark about the many changes that were to come. We had soo many questions and so few answers. It was as though our Church Family was the victim of a hostile take-over. I remember sitting in the pews and just trying to hold it together, but the tears wouldn’t stop. The guest speakers were presented, there to affirm what a “Great Guy” this new ruler was and how lucky we were to have him.

 

I attended this church for about 6 years, and I loved the way that the elders and the pastoral staff worked together and were open and honest with the congregation with every step “We” took. There was great accountability and wonderful communication, so I thought. I still don’t know why or how the invasion was ever allowed to happen, we weren’t a Calvery Church in any way shape or form. I still hurt, even though I fellowship with a great number of others that experienced the same hurt and despair.

 

We too voiced our opinions and desires for answers but were simply ignored. Some who were very vocal, were issued letters, saying that their actions were “Ungodly” and were ordered to leave the church. I still can’t believe that a force like that could ever be strong enough to come in and just take over, we were a mature 25 year old church!

 

There were many that were let go and replaced with better staff that came from your hometown. Programs, Ministries and bible studies that were feeding the masses for years, were banished, and there was little to no discussion or even a sympathetic response as to why? I still remember our MOPS group being addressed with a “loving” speach when He first came to the church, and then just a couple of weeks later, standing in disbelief that our program was just canned! I remember that day so well, we all congregated in the middle of the courtyard, where all of the little guys played, and we had to keep the kids away from the flashy Harley that was boldly parked up on the walkway under the tree. It was a such a bold display that someone “Important” was there, not one of a humble servant, but one of Ego, Power and Presence.

 

Many left that sweet community church, and many families still don’t understand why it all happend.. I know that my sons, they still talk about “our old church” where we had so much fun…

 

Leaders of churches need to remember that their actions deeply effect the lives of so many people. There are so many more consequences to every decision that they make, more than what appears on the surface. Thank you for stepping up and voicing for the people. Churchs need to be held accountable to those who support them. It is my experience that when the Ego is not left to rule the church, God blesses every action.

 

Our hearts were broken, and we felt helpless and homeless, but God is truly amazing. Our new home is just that “Home” and we are blessed each day for our involvement there. We are celebrating our 3rd year and the majority of our congregation came from that upheaval. We truly believe that “Together we are better” and together we will stand and serve.

 

I still have some hurts because of our loss, and my heart crys out for you all. I extend my prayers to you and your people as you too are able to come through this trying season. I only hope that your actions will cause other congregations to re-evaluate how their organizations are being run and hold their powers accountable and keep a controled balance of powers so that the “Ego” doesn’t get in the way of God’s Works.

 

May God Richly bless you and yours, our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We will be lifting you up in prayer and keep you close to our hearts.

 

In His Love,

 

Former Member of Ocean Hills Community Church, San Juan Capistrano, California

 Create your own free wiki!HelpPublic, Silver wiki Privacy Policy RSS