Rock Harbor Church

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- Usually blaring with harmonious tunes of praise music, Rock Harbor Church was eerily quiet Sunday after its elders announced the church's founder and pastor, Keith Page, was asked to step down as a result of an extramarital affair. At each of the four services, church officials told the congregation of nearly 2,000 about Page's affair with a female church member whose name and age were not released. Although the 36-year-old Page was not present, elders read a letter Page had written to his church "family."

Congregation members from churches of varying denominations will meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Sunday for "The Stirring," a worship event organized by Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa. The event will be the fifth held by Rock Harbor Church since it started them in August 1999 at Orange Coast College. The "stirrings" were moved to the fairgrounds because of high attendance, said Stacy Scott, director of communications and church events.

Faith-based leaders will partner with representatives from AIDS Services Foundation Orange County to host the second Annual Faith Community Kickoff from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Rock Harbor Church, 345 Fischer Ave., Costa Mesa. The kickoff is designed to raise awareness and instruct community members on how they can form teams for the OC AIDS Walk, scheduled for May 10 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Last year, Rock Harbor’s team raised almost $50,000 at the AIDS Walk, and of the $700,000 total raised.

Here are some of the items the commission will consider Monday. ZONING APPEAL On Nov. 20, 2003, the zoning administrator, Perry Valantine, approved a request to demolish a one-story residence and detached two-car garage and build a new two-story house at 2160 Myran Drive. Council members Chris Steel and Libby Cowan and Planning Commissioner Katrina Foley appealed the decision because they said they felt the amount of public opposition to the project justified having a public hearing before the Planning Commission.

Andrew Glazer COSTA MESA -- The Planning Commission will vote Monday on whether to allow a popular church to build a temporary tent on West 17th Street. The Rock Harbor Church congregation has been holding its services at the Costa Mesa Senior Center and from a roving trailer. Church leaders are requesting the city allow them to set up the 7,000-square-foot tent on a lot at Monrovia Avenue owned by Newport Beach-based Griswold Industries. Griswold President and CEO, Martin W. Pickett, wrote a letter to the city stating he would welcome the church there.

Local churches and nonprofit organizations including Mariners Church, Rock Harbor Church, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church and Hope Force International are joining to assemble more than 2,000 gift baskets that will be delivered to firefighters and their families throughout Orange County in the next week. MarinersResources.org, a program affiliated with Mariners Church, brings churches and businesses together to help community members in need, and operates a 12,000-square-foot warehouse on Sunflower and Main in Santa Ana. The group mobilized during last week’s fires, distributing relief supplies such as blankets, pillows, toiletries, bottled water and nonperishable food collected from the community to fire victims.

"I think this is my first time [on the red carpet]. We're the celebrities of Newport Beach. That's pretty sad." Steve Rosansky on the red carpet at the party for Newport Beach's Glenn Stearns after he won "The Real Gilligan's Island." "This is definitely the time of year people need a little extra help. They have extra family members show up, and they need more food." -- Barbara Pender, program coordinator for Costa Mesa's Share Our Selves.

Andrew Edwards After spending seven years looking for a home, the congregation at Rock Harbor Church finally has a place to call its own. Unlike the biblical tale of a seven-year journey in ancient Israel's wilderness, Rock Harbor's congregants confined their travels to Newport-Mesa before finally settling down in a former warehouse. "We've been looking for seven years, [with] 36 different addresses we've been looking at," teaching pastor Mike Erre said.

INSIDE CITY HALL Here are a few of the items the commission considered Monday. MOBILE HOME ORDINANCE The Planning Commission considered a new law that would give the city more authority over mobile home park conversions and closures. In July, city leaders initiated the creation of more specific requirements for converting mobile home parks to other uses after residents of the El Nido and Snug Harbor trailer parks complained that they weren't being offered fair compensation since the parks are being closed.

There is a charity group in town that I hadn’t heard of until I received their press release announcing that it had heeded the call to reach out to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. In five days, 22 members of the Young Men of Beach City Service League (BCSL) donated more than $1,800 worth of hygiene and first-aid items that the Haitians desperately need. They donated everything from soap and toothbrushes to Tylenol, bandages and vitamins. All of these supplies were taken to Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, and will be flown to Haiti for their Haiti Relief drive.

We tip our hat to those Orange County residents, including many in Newport-Mesa, who have helped the people of Haiti in some way or another recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake. The massive temblor leveled the capital of Port-au-Prince, and the death toll could reach 200,000. Folks from throughout the county and the Daily Pilot’s coverage area, who represented different backgrounds and generations, came together to throw a lifeline to Haiti. This week especially, they did not let a nasty turn in the weather dampen their spirit of compassion.

A week after a devastating earthquake in Haiti killed countless people, aid from local Orange County groups, including churches in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, is starting to make its way to the island, organizers said. Working with the larger organization Hope Force International, doctors working with OperationOC, a local disaster recovery group, are preparing to head to Haiti, said Ric Olsen, a member of OperationOC. Olsen said local churches, including St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach and Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, are sending money to OperationOC that will go toward the group’s long-term plans to help rebuild the Caribbean nation.

WARDALL, WENDY MARIETTA, 22, passed into eternal life on May 12, 2009, with her family at her side after her life-long battle with cystic fibrosis. Wendy passed at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles while waiting for a lung transplant. Beloved daughter of Scott and Robin; sister of Wyatt and Lillian; granddaughter of Marietta Wardall of Denver and Janis Keuffer of New Orleans; niece of Skip (Cheryl) Wardall of Denver, Jon (Deb) Wardall of Idaho, Darla Coker of Minneapolis and Scot Broadus.

COSTA MESA Christ Lutheran Ministries 760 Victoria St., Costa Mesa 6:30 a.m. — Sunrise Service 8:30 a.m. — Traditional Service 10:30 am — Contemporary Service The Crossing 2115 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa 8:30, 9, 10, 10:30, 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. — traditional services Fairview Community Church 2525 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa 10 a.m. — traditional service Harbor Christian Fellowship 740 W. Wilson St., Costa Mesa 10 a.m. — traditional bilingual service.

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.

Faith-based leaders will partner with representatives from AIDS Services Foundation Orange County to host the second Annual Faith Community Kickoff from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Rock Harbor Church, 345 Fischer Ave., Costa Mesa. The kickoff is designed to raise awareness and instruct community members on how they can form teams for the OC AIDS Walk, scheduled for May 10 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Last year, Rock Harbor’s team raised almost $50,000 at the AIDS Walk, and of the $700,000 total raised.

Local churches and nonprofit organizations including Mariners Church, Rock Harbor Church, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church and Hope Force International are joining to assemble more than 2,000 gift baskets that will be delivered to firefighters and their families throughout Orange County in the next week. MarinersResources.org, a program affiliated with Mariners Church, brings churches and businesses together to help community members in need, and operates a 12,000-square-foot warehouse on Sunflower and Main in Santa Ana. The group mobilized during last week’s fires, distributing relief supplies such as blankets, pillows, toiletries, bottled water and nonperishable food collected from the community to fire victims.

The landlord was raising the rent and attendance wasn’t exactly growing at Anaheim church The Beacon when Pastor Ric Olsen began thinking of options for turning the church around. “I started to hyperventilate. I didn’t want to be meeting in school cafeterias. That wasn’t what I signed up for,” said Olsen, who has been pastor at The Beacon for the past 14 months. The North American Baptist Conference-affiliated church with an average weekly attendance of about 90 adults and 45 children needed a makeover, Olsen said.