Members and friends of the Moorpark Community church plant are so thankful for the way God has blessed their congregation that they twice celebrated their approaching organization as a company.

Two months before the official organization service, Pastor Tim Garrison and Moorpark leaders led out in a service expressing thanksgiving to God and to charter members for their part in growing the Moorpark family. Charter members received gifts of Scripture boxes along with seat cushions for their worship-time comfort.

Officially, the congregation organized on June 4, leading off with the group’s seven-member praise team, which has played a key role in the Moorpark Company’s growth. In addition to setting the tone for the group’s informal worship services, the team is central to the musical productions presented on religious holidays for the community.

After ministry leaders came forward for a prayer of dedication, appreciation was expressed to Pacific Union Conference Treasurer Leon Sanders and his wife, Doris, for their ministry in Moorpark. Since 1998, the Sanders have held a Sabbath Bible study class at the school which has been a supportive ministry. Appreciation was also expressed to Pastor Chuck Jenson for the supportiveness of the Simi Valley church.

The Moorpark Community Adventist Company, an official church plant of the West Region, began with a planning meeting in 2001 at the home of Voice of Prophecy speaker-director Lonnie and Jeannie Melashenko. “We needed a core group of at least 20 persons,” Garrison related, “and at the end of that meeting, exactly 20 people signed up.

“We were able to rent the Mesa Verde Middle School gym and began monthly services with a dramatized Christmas choral production for the community in December 2001,” said Garrison. “Nearly 300 persons attended, with many coming from the community. At the Easter celebration this year, we were blessed with an attendance of 400.”

Because the group meets in a gymnasium, furnishings and supplies for services are brought to the school each week and then packed up and stored elsewhere. Garrison noted that in the beginning, “After praying and consulting about the matter, we learned of a truck, trailer and audiovisual equipment available through the estate of former pastor/evangelist Roger Ratcliffe. Providentially, the evangelist’s daughter lived down the street from the Mesa Verde School. She and her mother are thrilled that their loved one’s tools of ministry are carrying on in Moorpark.

“Planting a church is an adventure. The Lord has shown me what it is to have faith. Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that is appropriate for this day and this church: ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'"

Location for the Moorpark Adventist Company 5 p.m. Sabbath services is 14000 Peach Hill Road, Moorpark. Midweek prayer and Bible-study ministries occur in the congregation’s offices: 484 New Los Angeles Ave., Suite 213. For more information, call 805-857-1097; moorparkcommunitychurch.com.