East Bay Fellowship

 

12

34

Elizabeth R.

Walnut Creek, CA

This Four Square church does a great job at spreading the word of our God to many people.  They make visitors feel welcome with a greeter at the door and a visitor packet (it has books, a coupon for coffee, etc.).  The colors inside the church building are all very well chosen and the greatest part, they sell soy hot chocolate and pastries every Sunday morning (yeah, of course they have all different types of coffee too)!  The only problem with the church is the ability to meet people.  

It seems to me like everyone comes, says hello to each other (and this is because the pastor tells us to) fulfills their duty, and goes home.  We've have tried desperately to meet people from the church, even asked a few people sitting next to us to lunch.  My husband and I have been attending for a good seven years now, and can't really say we know anyone accept for the staff or people we met prior to coming to EBF.  We've volunteered for many things, showed up to a few short term small groups and finally decided we should go to a different church.  

After visiting a few other churches over the past year and meeting fellow Christians with ease, we just felt Pastor Ron was our pastor.  No one has been able to live up to his message, speaking style or delivery.  What can I say, God speaks through this man in a very clear way.  After visiting other churches we felt like we should pay him for his great motivational speaking seminar every week.  We just feel bad the people don't really want to be sociable (or their just "clickish").  And hello, if you know us, you know we almost always have a smile on our face and LOVE to socialize.  I guess we'll just have to stick to our secular social scene until our church comes around.  If you're a regular of this church and see us, please introduce yourself before or after church, we'd love to go to lunch with you!  But for now, we come to this church to hear Pastor Ron's sermon.

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Elite '08

31

259

Eric G.

Berkeley, CA

Religi-tainment at its best

It's a total feel-good experience. It's like a freakin cruise ship there.
There's a 5 piece band, popcorn, a video game arcade with air hockey, a coffee bar, giant projection screens, comfy chairs, cool colored lights and a leggy blonde singer. I think next month they're getting lasers and a fog machine.

If regular church is broccoli, this place is a Twinkie. So good, but don't look too close at the ingredients.

A couple of complaints though...
I had a little trouble focussing on my spiritual development with the constant distraction of the light and sound show not to mention unclean thoughts about the lady singer.
Also. Too much yappity yapp. They don't leave you more than 2 seconds for meditation.

The video ads for hats, books, DVDs etc that play throughout the service (show) reminded me of why I don't like going to the movies anymore. Top it off with a guy doing a sales pitch for f'in hats during a religious event is a little crass.

They need a crosswalk from the parking lot to the building complex. Thou shalt not run down thy neighbor isn't in the 10 commandments.  

All in all...
Nobody leaves here unhappy and if you need a little boost, and want someone else to do the heavy lifting for you, check this place out.

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2

39

Melanie V.

San Ramon, CA

My family and I just visited this church for the first time today. We went to the 9am service since we have a 1 year old and she naps in the late morning. The church is a nice Non-Denominational Christian church and they play nice music, and even have a Parent Viewing Room where you can sit with your child and watch the service. They also have a cool nursery where you can leave your kids while you are in service that offers lots of toys, a fish tanks, and friendly staff. They also give you a pager if you chose to leave your child in the nursery that they can use to reach you during church service if your child gets too upset.( the pager only vibrates, so you don't have to worry about the rest of the church hearing it!).The pastor delivers a good sermon and seems very friendly, and easy to relate to. The people who go here also seem friendly, and you can wear whatever you feel comfortable in. The service lasts for about an hour and a half, and there are a lot of songs as well that have the lyrics up so you can sing along.  We definitely plan on going back next week. They also have a 10:45 service and a Saturday night service as well.

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