For Church, Moving to Car Lot Is a Big Deal

Orange County is blessed with a mixture of beautiful churches: the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. The Irvine Presbyterian Church is building a grand structure.

Then you have the Main Place Christian Fellowship: proof you don’t need steeples and high ceilings to feel religion. It meets in a drab single-story building in the bowels of an industrial complex off Edinger Avenue in Santa Ana. This is its sixth location since the church was formed seven years ago.

The church derived its name from its second home, a Sunday-morning lease on theater space at the MainPlace/Santa Ana shopping mall. The congregation had to clear out before the first matinee.

But the Main Place church won’t stay forever in the industrial center. Oh no. These folks have huge plans in mind.

They’re moving into an old Honda dealership. It’s on 1st Street near Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana. You can hear it now: Has God got a deal for you!

Church members are still working out the details with city officials, who have granted tentative approval. They hope to be worshiping in the showroom before Christmas.

The wonder is that the Main Place Christian Fellowship, a Baptist affiliate, became a church at all. It started with the pastor, Rich Mathisrud, his wife, Joan, and a few friends--15 or so that first year. Merrill Siu, an original member, says that Mathisrud was not even paid those first months. Now the congregation swells to nearly 400 people each week.

The church grew in great part because of its reputation outside its temporary walls. It has a team to help the homeless; it has a group that ministers to inmates at the Orange County Jail--and follows up after they get out. It has a drug and alcohol rehabilitation house, a job placement team, a preschool restricted to low-income families, and missions to work in pockets of poverty in Mexico.

“We’re conservative in our theology, but we’re liberal in our community outreach,” Mathisrud says.

The church has another attraction: Besides just meeting in strange places--a Days Inn and an Elks Club were among its stops--it has a whopping nontraditional delivery. It plays country religious music to bring ‘em in--”the country music church” is even in its literature. And the approach has turned on an incredible ethnic mix; its members include Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans and Africans, plus some, like the Sius, whose cultural background is Central American.

Dewey and Kathy Kearney had always gone to strictly traditional white churches. They came to Main Place at the urging of their daughter Leslie, an active member.

“It’s certainly different from any church we’ve been in before,” Dewey Kearney says. “But we’ve come to feel at home here.”

The whole congregation is excited about moving to the former Honda lot. Says Mathisrud: “Finally, some visibility.”

No Pen This Time: Here’s a happy ending to warm your day: Rebecca Feinstein of Costa Mesa, a bagel company administrator, began corresponding with a pen pal in Australia when she was just 10. That was 25 years ago. In all that time, oceans apart, they’ve shared almost everything in their lives by letter.

But Feinstein startled her Australian friend, Darlene Whitby, by recently asking: “How would you like some company for two weeks?”

Feinstein has just returned from her Australian trip--a gift from her family--exhausted from the plane ride but exhilarated by the experience. “I asked her if I was anything like she expected,” Feinstein says. “She said, ‘You are everything I thought you’d be--and more.’ ”

Sounds like a perfect way to begin the next 25 years of friendship.

Home Invasion: Remember that old Johnny Carson line about a robbery at a doughnut shop: “Where did the robbers find one with no police around?” That might have rankled a few cops, but I’m guessing most of them could get a laugh from it. Cops like Lt. Dan Johnson, spokesman for the Huntington Beach Police Department. He did a deadpan of his own this week, following a robbery at a Dunkin’ Donuts in his city: “We have about a hundred officers working the case. This one strikes a little too close to home.”

Angel Notes: Maybe you don’t think baseball announcers have a tough job. But it’s got to be murder knowing that as long as Dodgers voice Vin Scully is around, you’ll never be better than No. 2. Even so, the Angels’ Bob Starr is a very good “2” year after year, with a radio voice that makes the game a pleasure. . . .

OK, it’s a little early, but in case you’re counting: If Halos slugger Jim Edmonds keeps up his current pace (through Tuesday night), he would end the season with 62 home runs and 149 runs batted in. But then, the Detroit Tigers’ Cecil Fielder is on a pace to hit 97 homers, something Babe Ruth (60) and Roger Maris (61) could only dream about.

Wrap-Up: At the Main Place Christian Fellowship, Mathisrud delivers an intelligent and lively sermon. But the star of the show is the music director. And Mathisrud wouldn’t have it any other way.

I attended last Sunday expecting a few opening numbers from Don Rayl with his guitar, backed by a small choir and band. What came instead was a whole concert, and I realized this was the service. Before they were done, Rayl and the other lead singer, the minister’s daughter Cristi, had the place jumping.

But Rayl stresses that it’s the church’s traditional values that have kept him coming back.

“A few years ago a friend asked me to just come play and sing,” he says. “But Pastor Rich kept reaching me with his message.”

They all hope to reach a few more at the Honda dealership. No hard sell either.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.