Will Pastor’s ‘Divine Order’ Meet Its Match in Bureaucrats?

Not to get overly philosophical about it, but ...

Oh, what the heck. Let’s do get philosophical about it.

Such as, just where is it appropriate for a church congregation to meet? Can it meet anywhere it wants?

Of course not. We’d all agree the congregants can’t march into a shopping center and, in the name of God, hold services at the top of the escalators. Or in a movie theater.

How about a converted warehouse? Especially when the warehouse owner is perfectly willing to let the church members use it?

You’d think that wouldn’t be such a big deal, but Huntington Beach is tightening the screws a bit on the little church in the dell. And rather than playing the little lamb, the pastor is coming on like a lion.

In this case, the pastor is Derek Anunciation, whose vision of his Praise Christian Center sounds far too grand to be stopped by something as mundane as municipal bureaucracy.

“I got called out here [to Orange County from Chicago] with nothing,” Anunciation says. “We went from a community center to a couple of storefronts to some of the most valuable property in Southern California. It wasn’t by accident. Every step in the last 31/2 years literally has taken a divine order.”

Whether the city of Huntington Beach will interpret that divine order the same way remains to be seen. The city has said that the warehouse isn’t zoned for church use and will require extensive modification if Anunciation wants to turn it into a sanctuary.

Anunciation begs to differ, although he’d no doubt concede his expertise is in theology, not city planning. However, Anunciation says, he’s got that covered, too: One of the congregants is a professional in the field who says the warehouse-church looks fine to him.

The city has red-tagged the building, meaning it can’t be used now for assembly purposes. Not even that deters Anunciation, who clearly sees himself as a man on a mission.

“Realistically, as Christians, we should possess the land and be an example to the rest of the world,” he says. “I serve a God that has a whole city made of gold.”

I don’t want to start a fight where there might not be one. Perhaps this will all blow over, and either Anunciation will make whatever changes the city wants, or the city will just drop the whole thing.

But the warehouse, which is owned by a private individual and is essentially being lent to the congregation, sits on pretty prime real estate in Huntington Beach. My guess is that Anunciation’s vision of a “full-service Christian center” differs from that of city planners.

Anunciation, 34, knows his local history. He knows Robert Schuller started preaching in a drive-in movie parking lot and then built Crystal Cathedral. He knows Paul Crouch started in a Tustin industrial park and now is housed in a gilded building next to the San Diego Freeway that would be at home between Caesar’s Palace and the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip.

Anunciation also is thinking big. He gives the impression city government is merely something to shoulder aside when the time comes.

He says the church will file an application, as requested, to use the warehouse as a meeting place. He isn’t nearly as committal, however, about making significant upgrades.

“We’re considering meeting again in the building, to get arrested and to get this in front of a judge,” he says.

That is hardly the language of a man who sounds worried about city zoning ordinances. “Everything in the building is up to current code and is safe,” he says.

To the contrary, the city appears to be nothing more in Anunciation’s eyes than a misguided foe to be converted.

“I love the city of Huntington Beach,” Anunciation says. “I’m not looking for a battle. What they’ve done is say, ‘Come on, we want a battle.’”

The city has said no such thing, but it may end up in one, anyway.

No word yet on whether God has picked a favorite.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.