Crossing’s first phase opening

Lolita Harper

It has crossed various development hurdles and a busy southland

freeway in its mission to provide a place of worship that

accommodates an ever-growing congregation.

The Crossing, formally called Calvary Church Newport Mesa, has

completed the first phase of a multimillion-dollar project and is

ready for the community to check out its new digs this weekend for

both Saturday night and traditional Sunday services.

Pastor Tim Celek will host the inaugural services in the temporary

structure on Newport Boulevard. The congregation will celebrate its

successes so far, while praying for continued good fortune.

The church headquarters has moved from an Eastside location on

Orange Avenue to a larger, more state-of-the-art facility on Newport

Boulevard that Pastor Tim Celek said gives church-goers much-needed

accessibility and room.

“Our new place gives us increased space for our already packed

ministry and our already jammed programming needs,” Celek said,

adding that the church’s programs are so vast that most

administration is still being done at the old campus.

The church has adopted an innovative name for its new site, “The

Crossing,” that is coincidentally symbolic of the hurdles its leaders

have had to cross to make the expansion a reality.

“We just look at the hurdles as part of the process and part of

God’s lesson for us,” Celek said. “It’s a good thing for our church

to learn at this time, and for me as a leader. God is always right on

time and his timing is not always what I would expect it to be. As a

church we have learned to grow from that.”

Church officials had originally planned to build the project,

which includes doubling the size of the former Orange Avenue campus

and adding a new sanctuary, educational buildings, a four-level

parking structure and a multipurpose room, in one step. But they were

stalled by a citywide moratorium on small-lot development, Celek

said.

While the moratorium did not apply to the commercial zoning for

the lot on Newport Boulevard, it made it nearly impossible to market

the Orange Avenue property, which is in a medium-density residential

zone, to potential buyers, he said.

After the plans had been temporarily chopped in half, Celek and

his colleagues went to city officials to ask for approval of a

temporary structure to hold worship services until a second phase

could be financed and completed.

In March, the Planning Commission narrowly voted down the church’s

request to build a temporary 36-foot-high house of worship, saying it

was not compatible with its surroundings and would set a precedent

for other churches or organizations that say they have outgrown their

digs.

Councilman Gary Monahan appealed the decision, citing the church’s

need for more space and its effect on those who live near the Orange

Avenue sanctuary and had to deal with the lack of parking in the

area. Monahan gained the favor of the City Council, and Celek and his

colleagues were able to move forward with their plans at the Newport

Boulevard site.

Celek will continue to hold services in the makeshift sanctuary

while church officials monitor the real estate market to find the

right time to sell the Orange Avenue property. The money from the

sale would fund the new sanctuary.