It was way back in 1999 that we first drew up the plans for a new 40-acre campus on North Santa Fe in Vista. The original plan included a sanctuary that would seat 2,500 to 3,000. Then, a last minute lawsuit brought on by some of the neighbors to block the project brought everything to a standstill.

It was a blessing in disguise. While the lawsuit cost us time and money, it forced us to come up with a temporary solution to our space problems. With a sanctuary that only seated 550, we had to find a way to minister to many thousands. The answer was something we called a Video Café – a simultaneous worship service with live worship and the teaching on a large video screen. It was a smashing success. In one year, attendance at our video worship venues went from 173 to 500. The next year, it went from 500 to 1,300. We had discovered a new way of doing church that would not only change North Coast Church, it would also literally change the way large church is done across America.
 
While working through the lawsuit, we kept starting new venues in addition to the already existing Video Cafe (Traditions, The Edge, Country Gospel, Encore, Encore 4 Singles, Last Call, The Canvas, Early Bird Café, to name a few). Then, when we ran out of space on the Melrose campus, we started adding new off-site campuses (Madison, Fallbrook, Green Oak Ranch and South Carlsbad).
The delay was all part of God’s plan. Contrary to what many of us thought in 1999, North Santa Fe was not supposed to be the site for our new church. Instead, it is supposed to be the hub for a new kind of ministry: one that enables us to reach far beyond the confines of Vista and well beyond what any one-size-fits-all sanctuary could ever accommodate.
Make no mistake; we still needed a new campus, the Melrose facility had simply grown too small to accommodate all those God sent our way. But it’s a completely different kind of campus than we would have guessed when we first started this journey.
 
Now with significant economic challenges facing our country, the obstacles have grown even larger than we faced with the lawsuit (after all, it was only a matter of time until the few neighbors fighting us ran out of legal appeals). In many ways, our situation as a church today is not much different than that faced by the Israelites long ago. They were left with a choice. They could stay on the safe side of the Jordan River where life was easy and comfortable, or they could step out and make the hard sacrifices necessary to cross the Jordan and take hold of God’s best— their promised land. Sadly, many chose the low-risk “this will do approach.” They never walked in God’s best. They never knew what it was to be fully used by God.

We’re crossing over. Will you join us?