Our Story
Where did this guy come from?
In 2003, Pastor Mark had just come from a team that planted a church in Buena Park, but was called upon by the Diamond Bar Evangelical Free Church to start a brand new ministry for Young Adults. This was an exciting time for him and his wife, Andrea. "I was done with church planting and wouldn’t ever look back.” Or so he thought.
What was he thinking?
Mark was introduced to Eastvale after seeing many of his own people move out to the area, and that's when he began to pray. There was not only tremendous potential, but also a tremendous need for new churches. With only a handful of churches in Eastvale at the time, he felt God calling him to start a new church for a new community.
How did they start?
Pastor Mark began to seek God’s heart for VantagePoint Church by asking God a question: Can a group of people doing simple acts of kindness really change the life of an entire community? They envisioned a church that didn’t simply gather for Sunday worship, but one that would mobilize itself to make a difference in the life of its community.
Here's a highlight of our story from Portable Church Industries:
Since its beginning, the group of people making up VantagePoint Church have passed out over 20,000 bottles of water, washed cars, painted local schools, fed the homeless, brought down the price of gas, adopted teachers and taken down Christmas lights on local houses all as free services to show God’s love in tangible ways.
VantagePoint Church launched in February 2008 with 353 people in attendance; however, God’s vision became much clearer when the church celebrated its first baptism. Seven people shared their new found love with the Lord–two of them having received a free bottle of water before they ever received God’s free gift of eternal life.
Mark Lee was honored with the 2008 EFCA Church Planter of the Year award at the EFCA Leadership Conference in St. Louis.