YOUR STORY
Some say that each person has a God-shaped hole in his or her heart. This hole gives us a feeling of emptiness or longing that cannot be satisfied by any other relationship or gain besides the relationship meant to be shared with the Divine Creator, God. People, feeling this need, fill the hole with all different means to attempt to become known, loved, or complete, but ultimately find themselves still empty, unfulfilled, and purposeless.
The seeds for Epikos church were planted in 2005 when San Diego native Coral Cook and his wife Racquel Cook felt a call from the Holy Spirit leading them to leave Georgia and move to San Diego to plant a church. In 2006, they begin a Bible study (in the home of a person they had not previously met), and that Bible Study would eventually grow into a church plant in 2007. Epikos spent most of its years located in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego, reaching out to both the homeless and those in the immediate and surrounding communities. People were saved, baptized and discipled over the years.
In 2012, Jake McDonnell, together with his wife Sharon McDonnell felt a call to plant a church in San Diego. Jake is a native of Ferguson, Missouri in the North County of St. Louis, but was an urban school teacher in Richmond, California at the time. In 2013 they relocated to San Diego and, like Epikos Church, immediately began with a Bible Study. They started the church plant in the diverse City Heights neighborhood of San Diego and remained there until 2018. There Tribe grew into a multi-ethnic church plant with a booming high school youth group (Royal Youth). At one particular Bible study there was someone represented from every inhabited continent.
Pastor Coral and Pastor Jake met in 2018 and found that they were both feeling directed by God to do ministry together. In 2018, they merged the two congregations and rebranded to Coastlands Church from Psalm 97:1 "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!" Many would advise against a church with co-pastors; worried about the very real possibility of infighting. However, focusing on the key values of Bible-believing, Gospel-centered, and Spirit-filled ministry, the merge proved to be a blessing and not a curse. The ministry met in Normal Heights until 2021.
On October 3, 1959 Grove Christian Fellowship, then College Grove Southern Baptist Church, was founded as part of the Southern Baptist's "30,000 Movement" to plant 30,000 churches and missions in the late 1950s. In early 1960, the church plant moved to its current location at 3552 College Ave.. Rev. Sherrel I. Hall was called as the first pastor. In November of 1961, Emerald Hills Baptist Church merged with CGSBC and the church continued to prosper.
In June of 1978, CGSBC rebranded into First Baptist Church of College Grove. In January of 1999, under the leadership of Pastor Steve Lewis, FBCCG rebranded into Grove Christian Fellowship. Around this time the Celebrate Recovery was launched at the church.
In 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, Grove Christian Fellowship began seeking new leadership. At that same time, Coastlands Church was in prayer about ministry in San Diego and planting roots as a church. The two came together in August 2021 and assumed the name Coastlands Community Church. We have found that the values prescribed in the Bible, demonstrated by Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit have led us to be a church of unity, joy, and love. We aim to be a witness to the true power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people and a changed life. We are a Bible-believing, Gospel-Centered, Spirit-filled, and Community-serving church.
