Covenant News

Bayside Occupies New Facility, Prepares for Grand Opening

GRANITE BAY, CA (March 9, 2004) - Bayside Covenant Church hosted the first worship service for its new 94,500-square-foot facility on Sunday as it prepares for grand opening services for the community later this month.

The church called Sunday's service a preview service as it readies for a grand opening on March 20-21. According to Theresa Ures, service coordinator for creative arts at the church, attendance at Sunday's worship services totaled well over 6,000. The church had previously met at Granite Bay High School.

There will be seven different grand opening services from March 21 through May 2 under the theme "The Jesus I Never Knew." Among the speakers at various grand opening services are noted evangelist Josh McDowell and Bishop Sherwood Carthen, the chaplain for the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team. Dr. Art Amman, who created vaccines to stop the spread of AIDS in children, is also coming to the church to speak. The congregation hopes to raise funds for his work under the theme "Project Save A Life."

According to the latest statistics provided by the Evangelical Covenant Church, Bayside Covenant has an average worship attendance of 4,631, making it the second largest congregation in the denomination. The senior pastor of the church is Ray Johnston. Bayside Covenant's new facility includes a 42,500-square-foot multipurpose room and youth and children's meeting rooms that are 22,000 and 30,000 square feet respectively. There will also be 883 added spaces for parking. The church is advertising on television and radio and will mail out 100,000 promotional pieces in the area.

To learn more about the church, its grand opening events and its ministries, call the church office staff at 916-791-1244. Information also is available on the church website at www.baysideonline.com.

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