Church Visit 1 of 3 "Saddleback"

We hit the Sat 6pm service at Saddleback which was pretty much full. We were there early enough to catch the end of the 4pm service, which was also was full. The main Worship Center holds 3500 people.

The whole SB campus is how should I say, HUGE!! If you click on the pic below, you can see it full size. Here’s an overhead shot of the place – the main roads bordering it on 3 sides. Note the blue dot – that little building is the main 3500 seat Worship Center, just to give a bit of scale to the size of their property.

The part that has been developed so far is very nice, very California. These are the steps leading up to the Worship Center.
The Worship Centre, or from now on, the WC (and yes, I do know that ‘wc’ has other meanings) is just one option for worshipping on the weekend. A couple of years ago they began a concept called “Venues”, of which now the WC is just one of the multiple “venues” you can attend. The WC is where the main speaker is “live” vs “taped”, and there are 2 services on Saturday & 4 services on Sunday. The concept behind the “venue” options is that some people like gathering in smaller numbers, and people have different preferred music styles for worship.

Some of the “Venues” are held in these type of tents

And others are held in rooms in one of the buildings (never got to seeing these). They had 3 different “Tents” set up, all complete with great sound & lighting setups
This is one of the smaller tents. The one where the youth events are held in was much larger, more/bigger speakers & lights.

So, if you visited Saddleback on the weekend, you could now choose one of the following "Venues" (descriptions from their website)

This is where you hear all the familiar sounds of Saddleback. The teaching is live every weekend and is videocast to our other venues. * ASL Interpreted (6 services)

Get away to the islands for a time of worship, complete with hula and island-style music. There is a potluck “luau” right after the service on the first Sat. of every month. (1 service)

Gospel Music / big choir worship experience / videocast message / their most popular venue (2 services)

I think you can guess the style of this one – their description is all in Spanish (1 service)

Enjoy a lower volume worship experience with a mix of classic hymns, old favorites, and cherished choruses. / video cast message (1 service)



Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere where you can experience a deep and passionate encounter with God. / videocast message (1 service)




Single adults who like current Christian radio hits. After the videocast message there’s a special event planned each Saturday (1 service)

For those who like guitar-driven rock band worship in a concert-like setting that you can FEEL! (2 services)

So, if my math is correct, there are 15 services every weekend!!

Here's an inside shot of the main Worship Centre.

It was a great service overall. Different flow of course, but we enjoyed it. Sound mix wasn't bad - was a little vocal heavy, and low on the instrument side. Here's how the flow went:

1 Opening song

Video Announcement

Say hi to people around you

Extented singing time (probably 5 or 6 songs)

Sermon (about 35 min)

Special Music (offering taken during this)

Ending Song (reprise of opening song - basically just a verse & chorus from the opening song)

Most everyone started walking out during the ending song. There was a baptism that followed the service, which we stayed around for. An open invitation went out at the end of the service for anyone interested in getting baptized. They had a booth set up outside with shorts & t-shirts to give to everyone getting baptized - so you could decide on the spot to get baptized. After people were changed, one of the pastors went to a group of candidates and just talked through what baptism was all about etc, just to make sure everyone knew what and why they were doing this. It appears that that was the baptism class - at least for those who made the decision that night. Maybe 30 people stayed around to watch.

It was a good evening.