The Story of Newsong Church

It happened while I was in Irvine, California for a speaking engagement.
It was the Fall of 1993 when I sensed God wanting me to start a church after reading Psalm 40. I read:

"I waited patiently for the Lord, And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our god; Many will see and fear, And will trust in the Lord."

These words resonated in my heart because God had transformed my life in so many amazing ways! In fact, the place where I finally said "yes" to God was in Telluride, Colorado, on a rock in the middle of a large field. That rock was symbolic of how God brought stability to my life after my parents struggled with a painful divorce. Later when my mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident, God would be that Rock once again. So when I read these verses in that hotel room, it was as if this psalmist words were my own.

This idea of a new song started to align with a passage I had read earlier that year about new wineskins. I remember being broken by the fact that there weren't too many churches reaching the next generation who were both post-modern and multi-ethnic in flavor. As a kid, my best friends were African-American or Caucasian. I had wondered why churches were so segregated. Furthermore, I saw how most of the churches I knew weren't connecting with my friends. Church seemed so irrelevant and boring to them. Then I took a hard look at where I was serving. It was a great church yet because of it's immigrant nature it was not reaching the new global village that was fast emerging. It became clear to me what the "new song" was. It was to begin a multi-ethnic movement that would reach the next generation. How? Through planting churches and focusing on the next generation of leadership.

Who Me? And Where?
Although I never thought I would start a church from scratch, I knew God wanted me to pursue this path. I had learned from the ethnic immigrant community that sacrifice and prayer were critical to having significant, sustaining impact. There were many places that I felt I could plant a church. I flew or drove to 5 different cities in North America to do prayer walks. I researched the demographic shifts that were occurring and narrowed it down to Manhattan in New York City or Irvine, California. I spoke to my wife, trusted mentors and friends. I constructed a 10 year strategic plan. I then shared with the leadership at my former church that I felt God was calling me to pursue this new generation, multi-ethnic church. Surprised they asked me "where?" I said, "I'm not sure." Later after much prayer, reflection, and counsel I knew it had to be southern California. Beaches or Cement Jungle, believe it or not, it was a hard choice! The most difficult part of this stage of the journey was leaving friends and family for a place and people in which we really knew little about.

The U-Haul
Having sold our house and most of our belongings, the Gibbons' clan of 5, at the time, moved west. The road trip was brutal. We had some very interesting things happen en route to Southern California! My brother-in-law and I arrived with the stuff in July of 1994. It was an exciting trip where we endangered not only ourselves but the others who shared the road with us! You'll have to come to the Newsong Connections Class to hear more about this. Becca and the kids would come the July 4th weekend of 1994.

Anxiety Attacks!
I was confident God had called us out to start this church that we would call Newsong. However, this journey would force me to confront some major personal fears and insecurities. In the crucible of this new start many questions loomed in my heart: What if our savings account runs dry? What after we moved all the way out here, no one comes? Where are we going to meet especially since we had no major support? Many often asked me how I was doing during these early days. I remember saying two things:
1. "I'm scared."
2. "I don't know if this is going to work."

From Fear to Faith
During those early days of fear, I sensed God saying to me:
"David, I'll be your shepherd. I'll supply everyone of your needs." (Some times you have to say, "The Lord is my shepherd several times until you believe it.") This was so hard to believe as our savings account grew smaller and smaller.

The second thing I remember God emphasizing in my life was:
"David, so what if? What if you lost everything in this endeavor? Your family, your ministry, would I be enough for you?"

These were penetrating questions that dealt with my motives for this church plant. Also, I was struggling because I was operating in a role I had never played before. Looking back, I think more than anything, God desired to prepare me for what He was going to do.

The Miracles Along the Way
We started having a Bible Study in my apartment with about 8 people during that summer of 1994. We slowly started to grow as we had picnics and met with many different people. In two short months we had close to 25 people cramming into our two bedroom apartment. The space was limited but we were starting to have fun!

Our first service was scheduled for October 1994. Only a couple of months after we arrived. In my mind, we had one year to see if this church would take off. We had no idea where we were going to meet. We didn't have money nor the connections . . . that is, from a human perspective. God had things all under control!

Word started to spread about our church. In fact, before we even moved to California, Doreen Carvajal with the LA Times wrote an article on churches losing their next generation of young people. She opened and closed this article about our church Newsong. Usually you'd expect religious stories to end up in some obscure place in the newspaper but it actually was on the very front page of the paper! (Since that time, Newsong has been on the front page of the LA Times 3 times!). This first article from Doreen helped to spread the word about us.

Excited about the little buzz that was being created, we started to pray for places to meet. We felt there were two places that were perfect for us. All within are target zone. We took a group of our small core to both places and held hands and prayed that God would allow us to meet there for services.

Shortly, thereafter, I was connected through a friend to a pastor named Denny Bellesi from Coast Hills Church in Aliso Viejo. Denny agreed to meet with me. I shared with him our vision. He got excited about the vision and offered his new facility to us. He's an incredibly gracious man. Although tempting because it was a new 9 million dollar facility it wasn't in our new target zone of 15 minutes of UCI. He asked, where do you want to meet? I said closer to Irvine. He said, "You're not going to believe this but I have two pastor friends that have churches in Irvine and Newport Beach. I meet with them about once a month. The churches names are Mariners and South Coast Church." My heart must have skipped a couple of beats as I realized these were the same two churches that we had prayed about as a team!

There are so many more details but what happened after that was nothing short of miraculous to me. Over the next three years we were basically given free facilities to meet in both places. I still remember the day I was introduced by Bob Shank, the former pastor of South Coast Church, to his congregation and then him announcing about our partnership. The congregation started applauding. My heart was racing with excitement as I felt part of something God-sized. It may sound a bit worn but I truly felt like I was riding a wave. I was part of something bigger than any one person. This was a movement of God. I felt humbled that I could be part of such a great endeavor.

A Church on the Move!
Since that time we've moved over 30 times to different rooms and locations. We've met in other churches, hotels, a park, a nightclub, and even the elks lodge. Each have their incredible stories that go with them. Ask me some time what happened one Sunday morning when we discovered that we couldn't hold services at our regularly rented facility. We have some crazy but God-size stories!

Today Newsong has grown into a dynamic and growing multi-ethnic church. We have at least 15 different races represented in our congregation. The Asian population is the largest in our church but the White, Hispanic and African-American crowd is growing every year. Moreover, the Asian crowd is very diverse. When you get even a Korean and a Japanese person together that is like crossing the African-American and White barriers. We are intentional and committed to being a church that represents the beauty, mystery and diversity found in God.

What's Next? This Ain't Your Mama's Church!
We're looking at becoming a church that releases our community to impact the world through the arts, relevant and holistic ministry to the poor, technology, business, media, church planting and leadership development. We are hoping to catalyze a host of ministries to address local and global concerns in a holistic and strategic way. We are serious about being an advocate of the poor and promoting justice among all humankind. There are plans for inner city development, new churches and arts/technology centers here in our backyard and around the world. We just don't want to play church. We desire to be the church! We like to say this "Ain't Your Mama's Church?" Which means, while the truth of God may not change, each generation must construct it's own language and style to connect with God and with the real world.