| Rock Church | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Denomination | Evangelical Protestant |
| Website | www.therocksandiego.org |
| Clergy | |
| Senior pastor(s) | Miles McPherson |
The Rock Church is a protestant, evangelical megachurch located in San Diego, California, USA. Miles McPherson, a former NFL player, has served as senior pastor since he founded the church in 2000. With an average weekly attendance of nearly 12,000, the Rock is currently the 19th largest and the 36th fastest growing church in the United States. The Rock Church San Diego is not to be confused with The Rock Church International of Virginia Beach, Virginia which was founded John Gimenez & Anne Gimenez in 1968.[1]
Each Sunday The Rock offers five services for members to attend and over 70 ministries for member involvement. These include ministries that work in Donovan Prison, strip clubs, homeless shelters, hospital oncology wings and with military families.
Contents |
The Rock was founded in 2000 by senior pastor Miles McPherson and met for worship services on the campus of San Diego State University; the Rock's very first service had 3,300 in attendance.[2] McPherson's church growth methods led to rapid growth and in 2002, the church launched a Pre-K–12, Christian school, and Rock Academy. In 2003, McPherson's sermons began to be broadcast on KPRZ, a Christian radio station. That same year, the church began a fundraising campaign for a new building at historic Liberty Station. The Rock Church moved to a temporary facility in Serra Mesa in 2004.
In 2005, the church broke ground on their new, multi-million dollar Liberty Station facility and in 2007, the church moved into their new facility in Point Loma. The 244,000 sq ft (22,700 m2). building is the same size as Noah's Ark (443 feet long and 45 feet (14 m) high)[2] and includes state-of-the art Christian education facilities, office space, and a 3,500 seat worship center.[3]
McPherson encourages churchgoers to "Do Something" in their communities. As a church, they committed to doing 600,000 hours of community service in 2009, of these hours, the church allocated 100,000 hours to be spent doing projects for the City of San Diego as designated by Mayor Jerry Sanders.[4] McPherson has also authored several books and released, "Do Something: Make Your Life Count" in 2009, focused on helping individuals do something in their communities.
In June and October 2009, Rock Church members gathered together to clean Balboa Park and Southeastern areas of San Diego.[5] It is estimated the The Rock Church has saved the City of San Diego over one million dollars with their volunteer service. Nineteen of the church's ministries are dedicated to serving the community.[6]