Rock Harbor

A Sunday school volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa allegedly formed relationships with children in his church and went on to sexually abuse at least one of them multiple times between November 2009 and November 2011, according to church leaders and court documents. Two families at Rock Harbor came forward with new allegations against Christopher Bryan McKenzie, the pool cleaner accused of years-long sexual relationships with at least three children younger than 14, pastors said Monday night.

Marisa O'Neil Parishioners welcomed back Rock Harbor Pastor Mark Howerton after he spent a month in the hospital with injuries sustained when he was struck by a car while helping victims in another accident. Howerton, 30, received a standing ovation as his wheelchair entered the church's tent Friday evening, just hours after being released from the hospital. Friends came up and shook his hand and hugged him as the Good Friday service began. "It's still a long road to recovery," Howerton said as he was wheeled into the tent.

Starting Sept. 2, the Beacon church in Anaheim will move to Costa Mesa for six months. The congregation will meet at Rock Harbor church, 345 Fischer Ave., while it looks for a new permanent home in the area, Beacon Lead Pastor Ric Olsen said. While at Rock Harbor, the Beacon congregation will also receive some "mentoring" from Rock Harbor leaders, he added. "We want to work on the way we do church," Olsen said. "We want to be known as a church resource and a catalyst for change in the community."

Deirdre Newman After six years of renting, Rock Harbor is finally dropping anchor and settling down in a place of its own. The church, which evolved from an offshoot of Mariners Church, has been renting space at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, but the services usually draw large crowds. Church officials have gotten city approval to establish their church within an industrial building at 345 Fischer Ave. Church officials say the building -- at 35,000 square feet -- will provide more space and flexibility in what they can offer.

A Sunday school volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa allegedly formed relationships with boys in his congregation and went on to sexually abuse at least one of them multiple times between November 2009 and November 2011, according to a criminal complaint and interviews with church leaders. These charges came to light after Newport Beach police announced Saturday that Christopher Bryan McKenzie, 48, of Costa Mesa, had been arrested for allegedly having years-long sexual relationships with two boys.

The Costa Mesa Senior Center will partner with Newport-Mesa churches Saturday in a car wash to raise funds for the center’s programs. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., members of Rock Harbor and Newport Mesa churches will wash cars at 695 W. 19th St. There will be a suggested $5 donation as well as a hot dog, chips and a drink available for an extra $2. The churches have set up the car wash as part of Serve Day, a day in which numerous churches venture...

As we all watched the horrifying scenes of ground zero on Sept. 11, there was an eerie sound in the background. Do you recall? Something like car alarms? I recently learned that these piercing sounds were distress signals from firefighters. The signal is heard when a firefighter on a call is suddenly motionless. On this day, hundreds were stopped all at once in a crashing inferno, all in a single morning, leaving behind only the sound of their distress call.

Not all in Newport- Mesa are canceling I am writing in reference to a letter from Joann Kenton in the Oct. 14 edition, regarding her letter about the liberal media. Kenton suggested we are all threatening to cancel the Los Angeles Times Orange County edition. I do not know where you got that impression from. I am not canceling. I am perfectly happy with the Los Angeles Times. RALPH ROLLINS Costa Mesa Rock Harbor deserved more mention in 103 On the DP 103 Spotlight on Religion, you really missed one. You have one of the fastest growing churches in Costa Mesa called Rock Harbor, and Mike Erre is the pastor, and he was left off the list.

They were not 40 years in the desert, but the congregation of Rock Harbor Church nevertheless has been on a lengthy journey to find a home. It's a journey that is finally over. After seven years of searching for a permanent place to hold services, members of the nondenominational church -- founded as an offshoot of Mariners Church in Irvine -- settled in last weekend in a building near John Wayne Airport. The church is leasing the 35,000-square-foot former warehouse and spent $1.9 million, not to mention plenty of volunteer labor, renovating it. Rock Harbor's quick rise to prominence -- nearly 3,000 people attend services weekly -- has been well-documented.

Jeff Benson Richard Morse and Douglas Root were both known for their unwavering compassion and their participation in Newport-Mesa youth sports circles, but the similarities don't end there. The two died six days apart and at relatively young ages. Morse, 48, died in his sleep at his Costa Mesa home July 26. He served as a soccer coach for Carden Hall, as a coach for community basketball teams and was a longtime volunteer referee for Costa Mesa's American Youth Soccer Organization.

About 20 community members gathered at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning, sitting at a work table to learn about resources available to those living on the streets. Some felt the need to reach out to those living on the streets. Others began at the Check-In Center off Newport Boulevard, where homeless people can store their belongings, and wanted to be able to connect those they meet with resources for getting out of homelessness. Everyone who came together at Rock Harbor on Red Hill Avenue this weekend expressed a common interest: deepening their understanding on what the homeless face.

A Costa Mesa Sunday school volunteer and pool cleaner accused of sexually abusing young boys pleaded not guilty Friday to the 16 felony counts he faces. During his arraignment at Orange County Mens Jail in Santa Ana, Christopher Bryan McKenzie denied charges that he abused four boys, including at least two he met through Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa. Newport Beach police arrested McKenzie in November on suspicion of sexually abusing two boys, one over a period from the late 1990s to 2005 and the other from 2005 to 2007.

A Sunday school volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa allegedly formed relationships with boys in his congregation and went on to sexually abuse at least one of them multiple times between November 2009 and November 2011, according to a criminal complaint and interviews with church leaders. These charges came to light after Newport Beach police announced Saturday that Christopher Bryan McKenzie, 48, of Costa Mesa, had been arrested for allegedly having years-long sexual relationships with two boys.

A Sunday school volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa allegedly formed relationships with children in his church and went on to sexually abuse at least one of them multiple times between November 2009 and November 2011, according to church leaders and court documents. Two families at Rock Harbor came forward with new allegations against Christopher Bryan McKenzie, the pool cleaner accused of years-long sexual relationships with at least three children younger than 14, pastors said Monday night.

Newport Beach police arrested a Costa Mesa man Saturday suspected of having inappropriate sexual relationships that spanned years with at least two boys. Christopher Bryan McKenzie, 48, allegedly sexually abused at least two victims between the ages of 8 and 16. Newport Beach police said both victims, now adults, contacted police separately early last week. One victim was abused from the late 1990s to 2005, and the second victim was abused from 2005 to 2007, Newport Beach Police Department spokeswoman Kathy Lowe said.

It started like any other flag deck at Killybrooke Elementary School on Friday, but after a performance by the school band and the pledge of allegiance, the Costa Mesa school's sixth-grade students received an exciting surprise. "All of us are going to camp," Principal Lorie Hoggard announced. "With Rock Harbor's donation we have met our goal. We're all going now. " Thanks to a $4,200 donation from Costa Mesa's Rock Harbor Church, Killybrooke can cover the remaining costs to send its students to sixth-grade science camp this March at Arrowhead Ranch Each student also received a blue camp sweatshirt that they quickly donned.

Two Costa Mesa churches, Soul Survivor and Redemption, are merging. Soul Survivor was founded 10 years ago and is known for working with the homeless and community nonprofits. Redemption is a 3-year-old church that meets in a space on Airway Avenue owned by a large local church, Rock Harbor. Redemption and Soul Survivor will continue together under the name Redemption Church. According to a news release, the pastors of the two churches met a few months ago and realized soon after that they shared the same visions and values, and they could do more good by merging their congregations.

Raising four kids, all less than 11 years old, is a full-time job for Costa Mesa mother Amy Palmerton, but she would rather use that as a catalyst for getting involved in charitable work than an excuse not to. Palmerton is one of a group of 20 to 40 local moms who used to get together every week so that their toddlers could run around and play at parks. They mostly met through their church, Rock Harbor, in Costa Mesa. Then, in 2008, one of the moms, Justina Erre, decided that it would be good example to spend the time they usually spent watching their kids play to set up a table at Wilson Park and distribute food and water to the needy.

The Costa Mesa Senior Center will partner with Newport-Mesa churches Saturday in a car wash to raise funds for the center’s programs. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., members of Rock Harbor and Newport Mesa churches will wash cars at 695 W. 19th St. There will be a suggested $5 donation as well as a hot dog, chips and a drink available for an extra $2. The churches have set up the car wash as part of Serve Day, a day in which numerous churches venture...

Church done well. We did it! We launched a new congregation into Orange last Sunday at El Modena High School. That is not as newsworthy as was the process. We launched out of Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa. Rock Harbor provided refuge for Orange residents for six months while we prepared to go. Rock Harbor had been amid a major thrust to “give themselves away,” and the congregation practiced it in tangible ways. The congregation allowed us to take up some of their prime seating during their most packed service.