Buenos Aires, Corona, South Manila

The “F” goal of our Daring Faith campaign is to fill God’s house with 40,000 worshipers at our weekend services by the year 2020. A key component to meeting this goal is expanding our reach to new communities as we strive to advance God’s kingdom. This often means being fast, fluid, and flexible to change, even if that requires relocating campuses, upgrading facilities, or expanding locations.

Illustrating this are several of our campuses that are expanding facilities to reach more people for Christ. Saddleback Buenos Aires is currently moving forward with an aggressive Daring Faith expansion project to their existing building. City approval was granted in late December and construction began as soon as the first week of January.

According to Ron Keck, Pastor of International and Regional Campuses, “The project will expand their Worship Center by a third,” he says. “It will also add a second-level patio, as well as a third floor that will extend student space by over 1,000 square feet. These efforts will enable Saddleback Buenos Aires to substantially reach more people over the next few years.”

In the meantime, their two Saturday evening services have been moved to Sunday, with a total of five Sunday services. This allows for construction teams to maximize building time over the weekends and still meet their Easter deadline.

With a campus attendance of 650, Buenos Aires had been researching ways to accommodate consistent growth. Little did they know that an undeveloped third floor already existed in their currently facility. Since the infrastructure was in place, it was just a matter of working with architects and contractors to build out the vision.

In addition to Saddleback Buenos Aires, our Corona campus is upgrading their new facility during a three-phase process. Located just minutes south of the Eastvale line, the new building is located at 3240 Hamner Avenue in the same complex as the Norco Public Library. In addition to a main worship center, the new building offers space for mid-week ministry, community outreach, PEACE programs, family ministries, and education programs.

Saddleback South Manila is on a similar quest. After just 3 ½ years in existence, the campus is actively looking to expand and secure land for parking. Currently they are looking at moving to Santa Rosa, Laguna Philippines, just two kilometers from their existing office space. While negotiations are still in the works, this new location on Laguna Boulevard is centered at a major artery leading to the Nuvali area.  

“A future expressway is being constructed, that will pass right outside our potential building providing high visibility of our church,” says South Manila Campus Pastor, Matt Hall. “The new facility will accommodate almost twice the number of people as our current location, with the entire church family meeting under one roof. Our vision is that it will be easily accessible and open seven days a week, with hopefully, plenty of parking.”                                                     

If all plans fall into place, Saddleback South Manila will also launch the first PEACE Center in the Philippines. “We want to be known in the community as a church that cares about everyone,” adds Pastor Matt.      

Over the past four months, members have faithfully rallied to commit to praying for this potential new space. Volunteers are eager to help create a warm atmosphere for all ministries and needs including those of kids, youth, classes, seminars, small groups, events, weekend services, and baptisms. When that day comes, there will be a greater need for prayer and volunteer support to help remodel the facility for ministry needs.                

Their long-term goal is that all 300,000+ people in the Santa Rosa community will know that Saddleback South Manila exists and cares. They also have a vision for their members to become emotionally and spiritually grounded, at a campus that is financially independent because of faithful giving.

“Please pray that there will be a breakthrough with this new building,” says Pastor Ron. “The visibility and location are perfect. Now, we are patiently waiting and trusting God’s timing. All of these projects are possible because of Daring Faith giving and prayer. Nothing is stronger than the power of prayer during these obstacles.”

 To be part of these Daring Faith projects, visit saddleback.com/daringfaith.