In his first visit back to Saddleback Church’s Rancho Capistrano campus since sharing the story of his family’s tragedy on CNN’s Piers Morgan Show, Pastor Rick Warren is scheduled to be honored by Mayor John Taylor for his contribution to the community on Sunday.
Saddleback Rancho Capistrano campus Pastor James Valencia said he is looking forward to the community event, which Mayor Taylor will present Warren with a gift from the city, and the church campus itself will give some “surprise gifts” as well. Then following each service Pastor Rick will be baptizing everyone who is ready to take that step in their faith.
“We are celebrating the fact that we have grown from our beginnings during Christmas of 2010 with two services to now having four,” said Valencia. “We started with about 450 to 500 people attending and now our average attendance is anywhere from 1,400 to 1,500 in less than three years.”
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Valencia is encouraged by the growth, but says most importantly, he is thrilled about the growing sense of family and community between everyone attending.
“Honestly, it’s a complete and total testament of what God does with our faith,” he said.
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“We [Saddleback] are one church with different locations, and Pastor Rick is our senior pastor and we love him very much. The fact is that we have been praying for him as a church for months. Sunday will be a great opportunity for people here to let him know in person how much we love him and care about him.”
Saddleback Rancho Capistrano church service times are: Sat. 5 pm, Sun. 8:15, 9:45, and 11:30 am.