(Punk) Rock of Ages

It has taken pastor Keith Page three years to reach this stage, to go from a tiny ministry to an enthusiastic weekly crowd of 1,800 Generation Xers rocking to a six-person band.

At his Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, spiked hair, pierced eyebrows and loud music are the norm. Page, 35, is leading a cutting-edge congregation with a compelling blend of humor, hipness and humility.

With his shaved head and silver hoop earrings, Page looks less like a preacher than a punk groupie. Despite his anti-establishment appearance, followers say Page is a dedicated family man and a committed Christian with an ambitious ministerial vision that includes raising $1 million by December to put up a tent big enough to house his mushrooming congregation.

“Keith is very honest and approachable. He doesn’t preach at you,” said Shannon O’Gryan, 29, of Laguna Beach. “This church fosters an incredible community of like-minded people.”

Part of the church’s appeal to youth is its embrace of technology. Page’s cyber-ministry includes a Web site (https://www .rockharbor.org); prayer requests by e-mail; a quarterly online magazine; bulletin boards for the “cells,” or small groups of congregants who worship together during the month; and prayer lessons that can be downloaded.

Most members are 28 to 35 years old, staff member Sarah Johnston said. The congregation is a spinoff from Mariners Church in Irvine, which three years ago sent out Page, its youth minister, with $150,000, 100 members and a mission to bring in young people.

At first, all accounting and money went through Mariners. In May of this year, fledgling Rock Harbor cut its ties to Mariners and became independent. Page says that he still feels linked to the parent church, and that the two congregations have a warm relationship.

“We had an excellent experience with Keith,” said Jim Gaffney, pastor of care ministries at Mariners and a colleague of Page for five years. “He was a pastor with vision, with excitement and a real passion to start a church in the Costa Mesa area.”

Rock Harbor’s congregation meets in the Costa Mesa Senior Center’s auditorium, which seats about 600. The spillover crowd watches on a video monitor in a hallway.

Starting this summer, Page began rallying his young flock to raise money for a sanctuary: a tent on leased land at 17th Street and Monrovia Avenue in Costa Mesa. More than $600,000 has been pledged or donated already, said Bryan Wilkens, the church’s financial manager.

Page said no work will be done until all $1 million is in hand, a goal he seems confident of meeting by year’s end. “My only fear with the tent is that we’d actually start to view the church as a building,” he said, rather than as a body of believers.

The tent will accommodate more than 900 at each of three weekend services. That total of 2,700 worshipers would compare with average Sunday attendance of 1,800 now, though a record 3,000 people came to the congregation’s Easter services at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The church has 20 full-time staff members, including a director of communications and a youth pastor.

That the church keeps no formal membership rolls and has no stately building would not matter to Generation Xers, who typically put little stock in such trappings, said Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at the nondenominational Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

“They just want to know if they matter and if they’re accepted,” Gibbs said. “They don’t ask the doctrinal questions.”

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Though there are other churches like Rock Harbor that cater specifically to Generation X, Gibbs said, they are rare, and twentysomethings continue to be underrepresented in church pews across the nation.

Page says he aims to get those young people into church and to push them out of their comfort zone by tackling in his sermons such topics as desire, greed, consumerism, drugs, superficiality and lust.

“Church shouldn’t be a place where you get cushy seats, the best air conditioning and grow old until Jesus comes,” he said on a recent afternoon, relaxing at home in khakis, a T-shirt and black thongs. Daughter Avery, 10 months, cuddled on his lap as he spoke of his mission and his message.

“If our No. 1 value is growing comfortable with where we already are and we aren’t looking ahead, then we’re in big trouble,” he said. “The true test of a church is where it will be in 10 years.”

Page was reared in Santa Ana and Garden Grove and attended a Baptist church. He graduated from Southern California College in Costa Mesa with a degree in sociology. He and wife Gina, 26, have been married since 1994.

Page says he bases his sermons on scripture but tries to illustrate the message by filtering it through his own experiences. He speaks, for example, of occasionally feeling competitive and jealous. When that happens, he says, he sorts out his emotions by reading the Bible and trying to glean lessons from the Scriptures.

“The best chance I have to be relevant is to remain true to myself,” he said. “That takes the pressure off me to stay cutting-edge or hip. . . . I try to use God’s word from back then and take it to the people now.”

Page sees serving the community and bringing people together as integral to Rock Harbor’s mission. The church sponsors quarterly interdenominational worship called “stirring” nights, the next of which will be Aug. 27 at the fairgrounds. The Living Room, a singles group, meets in various Orange County locations once a month, typically drawing more than 200 people.

“It’s better than any other church I’ve been to,” said Joel Copeland, 21, of Costa Mesa. “There’s tons of gorgeous people who come here. That’s definitely a plus.”

Page seems unconcerned that his flock’s motives may be secular. “I’m thrilled there are such young people coming,” he said.