Awakening Church

PARACLETE

Very welcoming, powerful worship & sermons, and plenty of opportunities to grow in your relationship with God and to serve Him! No church is perfect because it’s full of imperfect people, but the presence of God is there each Sunday without a doubt!

Pastor John

Here is my story. I've been a pastor and Christian missionary for over 40 years.  One of the things I did for nearly 20 years was to travel to train pastors and Christian leaders in various countries like Russia and Cuba. About a year ago on Easter, my wife and I started worshipping virtually at Awakening Church.  We really enjoyed the worship team and the sermons seemed really on point and Biblical. So, after worshipping for a few months I tried to contact Pastor Jordan by E-Mail.  I had noticed Awakening U on the website which was a place for members of Awakening Church to get lots of Christian teaching materials to assist them in their faith walk with Christ. My goal was simply to offer my latest book free of charge to be uploaded to Awakening U for people to have access to as a resource for their growth in Christ. So I called the office and asked if I could have Pastor Jordan's E-Mail to send him a letter.  I was told his E-Mail was not given out to anyone.  I was told that whatever I had to say to Pastor Jordan could be shared with Pastor David de la Cruz and that's who I should contact.  So I did.  I explained to Pastor de la Cruz that I was trying to get in touch with Pastor Jordan and I was again told that that wasn't going to happen.  I was amazed at the fact that a pastor was unavailable to someone who was taking part in the worship he was leading and was also a colleague in ministry. So I told Pastor David about my book and showed him how to access it online.  He got back to me and told me that only teachings that are formed and written by people at Awakening are allowed to be posted to Awakening U.  Okay, that was the rule so I accepted it. Then I asked Pastor David some basic questions about the congregation since my wife and I were considering giving our tithe to the congregation as we were looking for a new congregation to be a part of where we lived. I felt the questions were fair given the fact that we were looking at sharing thousands of dollars a year to support the ministry. They were questions about how money was spent, who determined the Pastor's salary, who had the last word in ministry choices etc.  Pastor David answered some of my questions, but avoided others, like how Elders are chosen and how long they serve etc.  He made it clear Pastor Jordan had the last word on just about everything. He then advised me that he felt we disagreed on how a ministry should be run, which I never said and he told me I should likely find another congregation where I'd feel more comfortable.  WOW!  Nothing like being cancelled in a "Christian way." On another note, since I had trained pastors for nearly two decades, I also had a few things I felt I could share with Pastor Jordan that would both encourage him in his ministry as well as a few things that he could consider that would likely improve his ministry.  I was trying to be able to put those things in an E-Mail and send it to Pastor Jordan, but again I was told the E-Mail isn't given out.  I called the office and was passed on to Pastor Jordon's personal assistant. I asked if I could just send him a E-Mail colleague to colleague, and I was told no.  I was then also told that no other requests that I might have would be answered by that office. So I wrote out everything I felt I could share with Pastor Jordan and sent it to him personally in the regular mail.  I never heard a thing back from him or anyone else.  Even if he felt everything I sent him was garbage, common courtesy says he at least sends an E-Mail saying thanks for sending the letter. I have now been locked out of the Facebook group. BOTTOM LINE:  The Gospel of Christ is being preached at Awakening Church. The worship team is excellent.  People are being saved. Yet, in my opinion, the leadership is dangerously ingrown and immature, far from a servant leadership style of ministry it should be.  In my opinion, t here is very little direct transparency and personal accountability at Awakening, especially among the staff members and therefore it seems ripe for a fall at some point.

Brian Ross

My wife and I started 2 weeks ago . I was raised in the Catholic Church and for a long time I felt the Roman Catholic Church was not what the Bible Taught. I left and was looking for a Church which followed the Bible and the True Teachings of Jesus . My wife wanted to become a Christian and the bogus rules set forth by the Vatican made it impossible so she quit her classes at our local church and we had discussed trying Awakening Church and I have to say it was the BEST CHOICE EVER! You feel like “ At Home” there and since going our lives have changed dramatically! My wife can be Baptized there and I will be Baptized as well so I can continue in my “ Re-Birth” in a life of Christ and live a proper Christian Life! If you are looking to follow Jesus and his teachings this is the Church to go to . You will not be disappointed and the kindness shown to us by all those there including fellow brothers and sisters in Christ has been over the top !

Kate Viera

I attended this church for about 18 months & loved it until today. I finally got my fiance to attend with my son and I for the first time. My family was asked to step out of the sermon. My baby was cooing joyfully and a woman came over and asked me to step out. I gathered my family and went to the lobby where the woman was and she didn't approach as, instead talked to other church staff. My child is registered for their newborn nook where I took him for services previously. It irked me that the woman who asked me to step out simply walked away and didn't approach us with suggestions to allow us to still attend sermon. This is not the way I would want a newcomer to be treated in any church and it isn't what I expect from my personal place of worship. I will not be returning, I want to be part of a child/baby/family friendly church. I'm very discouraged because this was my fiance's first time at this church, I was overjoyed he agreed to go somewhere new because he really liked our old church. I guess I like my old church better now too. Church should be about family unity worshipping the Lord - this place is not for us.