Eagle Rock Baptist Church

1499 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock, CA 90041
(Colorado and Loleta)
(323) 255-4611
www.eaglerockbaptist.com

Eagle Rock Baptist is a little way outside Glendale - about a 10 minute drive from the Galleria - obviously, in Eagle Rock. It occupies the corner of Colorado and Loleta, and there's a big old turquoise sign on the building, and a large mural past that, if you miss it. The parking lot(s) are on Loleta, and there's parking on the street too.

This church seems to be a modern church, with lots of young people (and hence the style of dress is very casual). This was the biggest church we'd been to so far. The sanctuary could have held about 300 at a squeeze, and it was around two-thirds full when we attended. We weren't greeted when we entered, and no-one came up to us at all to ask us if we were new to the church. I guess this is a curse of a larger church - not everyone knows one another, and so visitors may get overlooked.

The service at 11 am was relaxed, but structured. Worship time was kept to three or four songs, there were minimal announcements, and the sermon wasn't overly long. It felt like very little time had passed at all when we left! The sermon itself was interesting and well delivered by Pastor Rick. The topic was a secular story (a real life event), but it had Christian implications, and Bible verses were interwoven throughout. The majority of the congregation were young families - lots of high-schoolers. There were a few grey heads here and there.

When we arrived there were light refreshments provided - donuts and drinks, and afterwards a coffee bar was opened up with a selection of free Starbucks-like drinks: iced coffee, flavoured coffee, lattes, etc... A great idea, but there was no-one in the coffee bar to chat with or (again) to ask if we were new to the church.

This church has a more formal service than the one we attended at 8.15 am on a Sunday, and a Saturday evening service which is similarly contemporary.

First Baptist Church of Glendale

209 N Louise St, Glendale, CA 91206
(Louise and Wilson)
(818) 242-2113
www.fbcglendale.net

This church sits on the northwest corner of the intersection of Wilson and Louise. It's an impressive-looking church building with a tower which was undergoing some repainting when we visited it. The parking lot we found was fairly small, and located a little further north on Louise, although there is a big parking lot on the south side of Wilson, which might have free parking for the church.

We were greeted warmly upon entrance to the service at 11 am by Pastor Charlie. He took us into the sanctuary, and gave us a little rundown of what was going on at the church. Apparently, it's a "re-start", with a new pastoral team and a congregation which is growing week by week. He informed us that this re-start had had eight weeks now, and that in the last couple of weeks the congregation had grown from the upper thirties to the upper fifties. And it looked like there were fifty or so people when we were there, of a range of ages, although no small children.

The service was led by Pastor Frank and a relative newcomer to the church, a student at Fuller Seminary. The style was fairly relaxed, as if Pastor Frank were just conversing with his audience. The music was provided by an organist and a small choir of 5, and comprised mostly of hymns. There was a little bit of liturgy. Pastor Charlie gave the sermon, and although it lacked a little bit of punch, and didn't seem to relate to the previous two Bible readings (he read his own verses at the start of the sermon), it was good and solid.

A good thing about this church was the selection of Bibles in the pews. There were four different translations, including the Good News Bible. There wasn't any provision for children during the service, and there was no time of fellowship after the service, but I think those things will come when the church becomes more established. Pastor Charlie was very eager to have us come back, to help his church grow, and he followed up our visit with a phone call the next day.

Chevy Chase Baptist Church

1209 E Garfield Ave, Glendale, CA 91205
(Garfield and Chevy Chase)
(818) 244-8489
** no website **

Chevy Chase Baptist was a little hard for us to find since there are two Garfield Avenues in Glendale, and they both cross Chevy Chase. However, this church is located at the intersection of Garfield and Chevy Chase where Chevy Chase goes north-south. It's an orangey-yellow building on the northeast corner of the junction. I think there's a parking lot next to the church, but we parked on the street outside.

On the outside this church looks in need of a bit of attention, but inside everything is more impressive. There's a cosy sanctuary with room for a couple of hundred people, place for a choir, an organ, etc. I think there were about 30-40 people there when we attended, and by the comments that were made during the service, that seemed to be a bumper crop. Most people knew each other, but we were not the only visitors. Everyone was very friendly, welcoming us and introducing us.

The service started at 10.45 am and was led by Lane (sp?), a college student from nearby Fuller Seminary. I got the impression he was the minister for the church, although the previous minister, Gene, was sitting in the congregation. Lane was very friendly all throughout the service. His 70's style haircut and suit actually really suited his 20-something year-old frame, and the feel of the church.

The sermon was given by a visiting preacher, a friend of Lane's, Kelly. The sermon was good - well-rounded, not overly long. Perhaps it missed a focus, or some punch, but in general it was good for a young preacher.

I got the impression that the church had recently come under new leadership (perhaps the leadership of Lane) and that it was still in a time of transition. There was talk about opening the church basement up as an art gallery to draw people into the church, and also establishing a website. Lane et al. were very enthusiastic about these new endeavours.

In general the feeling about this church was good. The congregation was enthusiastic and willing to work towards regenerating the church. We felt that we could get involved in this church quite easily, but because of the sparse number of people, we'd end up doing quite a lot of things. There are four other congregations (Armenian, Spanish, Romanian and Filipino), so this church looks like it's a rising centre for the community.

Calvary Baptist Church of Burbank

724 S Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, CA 91502
(Glenoaks and Elmwood)
(818) 846-6723
www.calvarybaptistburbank.com

This church is a little way from central Glendale, but in fact only just over the border into Burbank. I had a problem finding the parking lot for this church (if indeed there is a parking lot for this church...), and so ended up parking on the street outside. The streets around the church are residential and were devoid of parking spots, so we were lucky.

Inside the church is very yellow... the pews are covered in some 70's-looking shag mustard yellow fabric, and some of the windows to the side are also yellow. So the overwhelming initial impression was "Yellow!". The service at 10.45 am started a good 5-10 minutes late, but this seemed to be part of the relaxed atmosphere of this church. We were greeted upon entry, and made to feel at home. People were chatting in the pews and generally catching up with each other. There were plenty of children and young families, plus a few more mature members of the congregation.

The service was led by the pastor, Greg Larson, and he was helped by the Elders of the church - three middle-aged men in suits. The pastor led everything, from the prayers to the Bible reading to the worship (he played guitar) to the sermon. It all had a very relaxed, informal feel to it. It felt as if we were all part of some dress-up game, where Greg was playing pastor and all of his friends were helping him play church. There was a woman darning socks sitting in front of us, with her two cowboy-outfitted sons playing in the pew next to her.

The worship music was modern, the sermon was brief and to the point, with some Biblical basis. The Sunday we attended happened to be a Communion Sunday, and we partook in Communion again with a very relaxed atmosphere. At some point during the service we stopped so that everyone could greet each other, and all the 20-30 people in the room got up and walked around chatting to each other.

After the service ended, again people came up to us and introduced themselves in a very friendly, welcoming manner. All-in-all, a friendly, relaxed church with a decent service. I think the lack of reverence bothered me somewhat, especially during Communion - it felt as if it didn't mean anything.

Calvary Presbyterian Church

610 N Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA 91206
(Glendale and 134 Freeway)
(818) 244-3747
www.calvarypca.net

This is a red-brick church just south of the 134 Freeway. The parking lot we found is right next to the building, although it seemed fairly small, so maybe they have another lot somewhere else.

The service time is 11 am, following Sunday School for everyone at 9.45 am. When we arrived (at 11 am), we were told we were the first ones to arrive, since the rest of the congregation was in the Sunday School class. When the service started I think there were barely 20 people in the Sanctuary. There were a mix of people - young to old.

The style of worship was somewhat formal, with hymns and traditional liturgy. Bible readings came from the Old and New Testaments. The service was led almost in its entirety by the pastor, Philip George. A lot of it was in a monotone... until the sermon, anyway. Rev. George just became more and more fanatical (enthusiastic, loud, but not in a good way) as the sermon went on, and frankly made me and my family feel very uncomfortable. It passed through my head more than once that we should get up and leave, and my wife was feeling the same way. I've never felt that way in a church before.

Afterwards, the congregation was friendly. People introduced themselves and others to us, and the pastor come over to speak to us. Despite this friendliness, we were not in the most social of moods, and wanted to leave rather quickly!

Calvary Chapel Los Feliz

340 Mira Loma Av, Glendale, CA 91204
(Mira Loma and San Fernando)
(323) 353-2521
www.calvaryclf.org

My family and I attended the English service at 11.15 am; there is also a Spanish-language service at 9 am. Parking for this church is very limited. We parked right outside the front of the church and found ourselves blocked in when we wanted to leave afterwards.

The church itself is a small warehouse (typical of Calvary Chapel churches), and holds about 70 people. There were about 30 or so people there when we attended, and a mix of middle-aged and younger people, with children too. Children left during the service, and our son went too. He enjoyed his time at Sunday School. We gather he played lots of games with Bible themes.

The music was entirely contemporary worship songs, led by a small band. The sermon was given by the pastor, Gabriel De Alba, and was VERY good. The pastor evidently knows his Bible very well, and gave a very well-rounded sermon with relevant background, a good message and good application.

I think the thing that put me off this church was just its condition... the decrepit warehouse look, with bare fluorescent lights and breeze-block walls didn't lend to a very comfortable feel. People weren't particularly welcoming - no-one came up to us and introduced themselves, although someone did very kindly lend us their Bible (no Bibles were provided).

Glendale Presbyterian Church

125 S Louise St, Glendale, CA 91205
(Louise and Broadway)
(818) 242-8873
www.glenpres.org

We attended this church twice, both times at the 10.45 am service. There's a small parking lot directly across the street from the church on Louise, and there's validated parking in the structure behind the church building itself (tickets are validated at the Visitor desk).

The 10.45 am service has a casual feel. There were a mix of older people and young people, including families, and people were wearing casual clothes. In the music there was also a mix of traditional hymns and modern songs, led by a small band. At the 10.45 am service there is no Sunday School: the first time we went, our son stayed with us, and the second time we sent him off to what we thought was Sunday School, but in fact turned out to be Children's Choir, which he hated (and I have to say, I wasn't very impressed). So beware - if you want Sunday School for your child, attend the earlier 9 am service.

People in general were very friendly. A few people came and introduced themselves to us, and we were told about the activities at the church. The sanctuary was fairly large, and could have held perhaps 200 or 300 people, including the balcony above. It was fairly full - there were perhaps 100 or so people there.

The sermon both times was given by the minister, Craig Hall, and both times they were disappointing. Only very loosely Bible-based, but good for real-life application.

First United Methodist Church of Glendale

134 N Kenwood St, Glendale, CA 91206
(Kenwood and Broadway)

(818) 243-2105
www.glendalemethodist.org

We went to the Traditional Service, which meets at 10.45 am in the main church building. The building itself is a large building with a 60's Anglican styling, and the parking lot is behind the building, further north along Kenwood.

When we attended there were approx. 30 other people in the service, mostly older people. There were a few children who left mid-way through the service, after a "Children's time". Our son stayed with us, so we can't comment on the children's Sunday School.

The service itself was traditional Methodist, with hymns and liturgy. It was led by Pastor Rich Garner, and his assistant (a children's minister?). I don't remember the style of the sermon particularly, but I do remember most of it was about the book "To kill a mockingbird" and not very Bible-based.

There were good snacks after the service, made by the congregation, and people in general were very friendly. We were easily recognised as visitors because we were so young in amongst a congregation aged 50+, but we weren't inundated with greetings.

This church also has a Contemporary Service at 9.15 am which may have a younger demographic, but we haven't visited it at the time of writing.

The why (Introduction)

My wife, 10-year old step-son and I just moved to Glendale, California and have been looking for a church home to settle ourselves in. However, the resources out in cyberspace for finding a church in the Glendale area are sparse, and so I decided to make this blog.

I'm going to give our impressions of the churches I visit week by week and hopefully this information will help you in your Glendale church searches. Personally, we're looking for a small, friendly church of no particular denomination that we can get involved in. We're a young family (we're under 30), and appreciate modern worship and Bible-based preaching.