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December 2023 by Dominic Bresee
Place is judgmental! Be careful
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December 2023 by Karlene N.
I attended here for two sermons. I came last Sunday December 3 and there was a sermon about grace and having grace to our community. Loved it, until they started to talk about "protecting the life of an unborn child" which I feel like casts shame upon women. Didn't really like that. Loved the message, but there's no reason to condemn people who have had miscarriages or abortions. I could've heard that message differently than how it was portrayed, but that is what I heard. Today on December 10, the pastor started his sermon about talking about George Floyd's death to pique the interest of the following message of justice. Amazing! Can't wait to hear what this message is going to be about! As we started to go into the sermon, the pastor started condemning Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, nonbinary people, and going down a political message; rather than a spiritual message. I would think that if Jesus were here walking around in today's age, Jesus would love all no matter what. I don't believe there is space for pastors to condemn people for their "sins" especially as a nondenominational church. A church should be welcoming no matter their audience. As a white cis female, I don't have a place to speak for their black community or the LGBTQ community, but I believe that putting together sermons targeted towards the condemnation of these communities isn't Christian-like. Although, this is all just my own personal opinion on this church. The reason why I'm sharing my opinion here is to let others know who are seeking out a new church or their first church. What I heard was a pastor weaponizing God's words to promote condemnation over specific groups that do not fit their rhetoric. The church is beautiful, they were open about their projected "tithing and donation goals" ($13M) and how they spend the money, they have a lot of different life groups to attend outside the Sunday service, they have four different services throughout Sunday that you could attend, a bunch of age groups which is awesome for people like me in their 20's, and amazing volunteers that help with finding seats, opening doors, coffee & water stations, et cetera. The messages I was hearing really outweighed the benefits and have me searching for a new church to attend. I really wanted to like this church but I'm not going to tolerate God's words being used as weapons against people who God still loves. It is very easy to serve a message about the meaning of Justice in the Bible without condemning others on their political, social, and personal beliefs and choices.
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December 2023 by Xochitl Castaneda
I attended church today with the high school aged kids. I was concerned about the Justice message that the youth pastor gave. He basically said don't listen to popular culture's message on justice. (Implied social justice) He implied, but did not overtly say that God has blessed some people with material possessions and others were not blessed... He didn't know why.., but God blessed certain people with good families, good schools and wealth. They shouldn't feel guilty. It was implied that privilege was a blessing from God. (The message was If you're wealthy and white then don't let any social justice movement tell you that you're privileged) The while sermon was really strange. First he quoted some good scripture, but his interpretation didn't make sense. Acts 2:42-47Acts 2:42-47 NIVThey devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.The message was that you should be generous, but don't feel guilty about your privilege that God blessed you with over and above others. They weren't blessed by God... I was very concerned about the underlying message of the youth pastor. It was not to teach compassion as Jesus would want
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November 2023 by Pete F.
Not sure what to make of this church.The teaching from the pulpit is solid. The format is good, they project an outline and provide blank note sheets in the chairs. The auditorium is large, but they have several monitors in various places so you can follow along. The Senior Pastor is Dr. Steve Walker. He speaks clearly and at a speed you actually have time to write notes before he moves on. Even if you do miss part of it, you can go online later to fill in the blanks. Pastor Steve seems amiable, but don't count on trying to meet him, he disappears quickly after the service, almost as if he has a trap door behind the pulpit. Seriously, I've tried to watch where he goes after the "amen", but he's not there! Poof! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that there's a good reason for that. They have a variety of "Life Groups", as they call them. Those are small groups that meet on different days and cover a variety of topics, e.g. men's groups, women's groups, yuppies, singles, etc. These are usually hosted in someone's home by members. They vary as to the amount, type, and volunteers to host a Life Group. Outside of the Life Groups, fellowship is a bit hard to find (I'm guessing that there are probably friends that get together off the grid, like many churches do). The church-sponsored men's fellowship occurs once a year with a massive, early (7am) breakfast and a speaker following. Same with the women's annual fellowship. They also have various other groups lead by a pastor (13 of them!). They have four services on Sunday at 8AM, 9:30AM, 11AM and 12:30PM, which makes it much easier to attend. At the end of each service, they have a prayer team that hang out in the front if you need someone to pray with. I was impressed by the way words come easily for them. Parking is a hassle, LOTS of vehicles. Better parking at the 8am and 12:30pm services. Window-rattling "worship" service is the norm. You can hear it (and feel it) when you pull into the parking area. CHCC is in the Canyon Hills business park. It's not hard to find, just look for a long line of cars and get in line. There are people who will direct you to the parking area.One last thing that really irks me. Many men wearing baseball caps during the service! Have they no respect or reverence?!
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November 2023 by Waytruthlife
So many red flags at this place! This is purely my opinions and experiences, yet I believe it is important to warn others. This church is allegedly a sister church of Overlake Church and the senior pastor is the son in law of Bob Moorhead. If you don't know who Bob is, Google it.This church feels extremely toxic and here are some of the reasons:I was concerned about some worship and prayer that was not scriptural. They were worshipping the Spirit, instead of the Father as we are taught in scripture is the definition of "true worshippers." They were addressing the Holy Spirit in their prayers instead of the manner in which Jesus taught in scripture.I sent an email to the majority of pastors and there are several as this church is overcrowded with people and pastors. The majority of pastors didn't even bother to respond. Apparently, they don't feel an obligation to respond to the people who pay their salary, or serve the Lord by connecting with the people?Of the 3 pastors who did respond, the high school pastor, Conner was the most appropriate, although he did appear to feel the need to make excuses for all the other pastors who didn't bother to respond. My email was not confrontive, it was instead a question about the doctrines of the church.The other two pastors who did respond were aggressive and controlling as well as what felt like being gaslit. I also asked why they preached a sermon on "gender" and then were afraid to post it online. Apparently, this really triggered them because the young adult's pastor sent me an email that felt like he was emotionally unstable.He accused me of being "shadowy" because I didn't feel safe to give him personal information about myself. He said my email was obviously a "burner email," whatever that is. He and the other pastor, Koby, who is apparently going to be the new senior pastor when Steve retires, were so disturbed that I wouldn't give them personal information, they refused to answer my questions, thus making me the problem rather than themselves. At this church, they welcome cash without requiring personal information but not questions. If questions are asked, you need to first jump through their hoops or they are done with you. They appear to fear man rather than God as they became extremely defensive and suspicious when they couldn't force me to give personal information. I could have given them a ficticious name to appease them, but I chose to be truthful and decline their attempts to force me which felt extremely unsafe. I explained how I didn't feel safe and instead of earning my trust, they demanded it or I could go elsewhere.Koby said the church agrees with "invocation and invitation" of the Holy Spirit and when I asked him for scriptural references, he began questioning me. He said he wasn't "comfortable" answering my questions until I did what he wanted me to do.Pastor John invited me for coffee twice in an email and a couple of sentences later within that same email, told me to stop giving or attending the church. His email was in bold, was filled with exclamation points as well as words with all caps. He wanted to make it clear to me that either I follow their directives and do what I'm told as well as put my trust in them, or leave the church.Scripture was used in attempts to bully, silence, shame and overpower. Very scary stuff!
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October 2023 by Jason Steinhubel
They preach the truth in love. Awesome worship. Great community. Excellent staff.
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October 2023 by Trish Blank
Love the preaching/teaching, worship, and staff of this church. It is obvious that they strive to honor God in all that they do.
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September 2023 by Jessica
Scary experience. I merely signed up for emails from this church, in the weeks before I was going to start going. I was excited. But, then I moved out of state quickly for a job change. I asked to be removed from the email list and was told "may God have mercy on your soul", along with some other strongly worded and rather inappropriate emails from the volunteers/members who read the emails here. Generally, just an automated response that I will be removed from the email list would suffice in response to my unsubscribe request. It's beyond concerning that this is how they speak to people and I think I dodged a bullet. To be clear, I do NOT think the people sending these emails are staff at this church. I think that regular church members, who may have some personal problems, were given way to much authority when it comes to the church email system, and it resulted in unprofessional conduct.
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September 2023 by Jessica Atkinson
Scary experience. I merely signed up for emails from this church, in the weeks before I was going to start going. I was excited. But, then I moved out of state quickly for a job change. I asked to be removed from the email list and was told "may God have mercy on your soul", along with some other strongly worded and rather inappropriate emails from the volunteers/members who read the emails here. Generally, just an automated response that I will be removed from the email list would suffice in response to my unsubscribe request. It's beyond concerning that this is how they speak to people and I think I dodged a bullet. To be clear, I do NOT think the people sending these emails are staff at this church. I think that regular church members, who may have some personal problems, were given way to much authority when it comes to the church email system, and it resulted in unprofessional conduct.
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August 2023 by Mrs P DM
I was awestruck by how this church doesn't like people. We were turned away from the church because their children’s classes were full. They have church being run like a daycare. I wonder what Jesus is saying to that!!!!!!!! He never turned away anyone. I wonder how many people they have turned away that really needed Jesus that Sunday.
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August 2023 by Sheila F.
I was in search of a church that stayed true to biblical principles without bending to the government's intimidation or adjusting them to suit a virtue-signaling narrative based on fear of death and man. By God's grace, I found Canyon Hills, a church that unwaveringly holds on to its faith in Christ. I pray for my new church to stay pure and unaffected by the world's influences. May we remain devoted to Jesus Christ, our true King!
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June 2023 by Leslie M.
Pastor Steve and all the pastors at Canyon Hills preach the word, we go through books of the Bible and listen to God's word not twisted to serve current world views.
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June 2023 by Katie A
My parents started attending Canyon Hills Church during the pandemic and had really come to love it there. When my Dad passed away recently, there was no place else my family wanted to celebrate his life.Staff and worship team members Leisa, Andy, David, and Chelsea helped make my Dad's service and reception beautiful, effortless, and honorable to his memory. Family and friends who were not able to attend in person also appreciated that CHCC was not only able to professionally live-stream his service but also recorded it for later viewing as well.The beautiful Student Center was able to hold our 150+ attendees comfortably, and the reception area just outside the center was perfect for mingling and catching up with loved ones. Everyone who attended the service was blown away by the whole experience. We are just so grateful to CHCC and their staff for providing this invaluable service to their parishioners.
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June 2023 by Lindsey Granath
This place tried to manipulate and force a friend of mine into giving them money and then kicked them out of their support group while they were struggling and basically homeless. Absolutely ridiculous behavior by people who pride themselves on "helping others"I've never been more disgusted in a community.
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June 2023 by John Dabeck
An incredible church! Though it is large you feel personally known and welcomed by the ministry team. The worship is encouraging and points to Christ and the messages are Bible centered and relevant to everyday life. Couldn't recommend more, join a life group too!!
