Adding a Little Spice to Spirit : New Costa Mesa Church Looks to Grow Around Youthful, Atypical Preacher

Keith Page sips coffee on an overcast Friday at Triangle Square, intently describing plans for Rock Harbor Church, the first offshoot of the popular Mariners South Coast Church campuses in Newport Beach and Irvine.

Though Page is still scouting locations for an opening Oct. 5, he has ideas on how Rock Harbor will retain the basic principles of Mariners but forge its own, new style.

First off, Rock Harbor aims to reflect the ethnic and economic diversity of Costa Mesa to become a community church, not just a Mariners clone imported from Newport Beach. Founders hope to attract young adults and families.

Most of all, Rock Harbor will be a forum for this Young Turk of a preacher with earrings, sideburns and thrift store clothing to discuss his interesting mix of individualism and faith--a far cry from Mariners head pastor Kenton Beshore, a tie-and-jacket type.

“I take some of the edge off of church for people,” said Page, 32. “I don’t take my earrings off when I preach.” Still, “We are a Bible church. We believe that God’s word is inspired inerrant, meaning without error, and that is our teaching for life. We still hold to God’s principles.”

Rock Harbor is first of possibly several expansions for Mariners, which merged with South Coast in 1996.

Page’s style resonates with young Christians. When preaching, he relays stories about personal struggles in life and faith--what youth call “keeping it real.”

“He’s so Gen-X, really into fashion,” said Mariners member Gina Kwon, 23, of Santa Ana. “That really impressed me, but I got over that. The cool thing about Keith and his teachings are that they are plain and straightforward.”

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Page ran Mariners’ Gen-X Ministry, a Thursday night mix of Bible study and music, before Mariners tapped him for Rock Harbor. He’s as hip as he tries to be holy.

Born a Southern Baptist in Orange, Page grew up in Westminster and went to high school in Twin Falls, Idaho, before returning to Southern California College in Costa Mesa to study sociology and ministry. After interning and working at other churches he joined Mariners Church in the early 1990s and married author Gina Page, now 23.

“I would say that he absolutely loves people, he really desires growth in his life and he’s excited about telling people about God,” Gina Page said. “He’s an incredible husband too, so I can brag about that.”

Page’s Rock Harbor is not just for Gen-Xers. Families make up much of the planning board.

“The hope, really, is that it’s a cross-generational church, not just a Gen-X singles place,” said church planner Gary Mull, 35, of Newport Beach. “We have the same values that the parent church, the mother church, has, but we want to reflect the community.”

Adds Steve Bender, 30, of Corona del Mar, “For me it’s exciting to be on the ground floor of something new that I know will have impact in the lives of other people.”

Rock Harbor--named for God as the rock and Costa Mesa as part of the harbor area--enters territory where Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and St. Joachim Catholic Church are entrenched. It’s not like starting off in South County, where membership grows with each new subdivision.

Still, many in the area do not have established religious beliefs. A Mariners’ study found that only 40% of Costa Mesa residents regularly attend religious services.

“In the boomer days, they’d say to plant churches in growing communities,” Page said. “In many ways, I am doing the opposite. I am going back to an established community.”