Epicentre Church

Contacts

Address:
1603 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104
Get directions

Website:
epicentre.org

Phone number:
+1 626-585-1595

Categories:
Establishment   Church   Place of worship  

Suggest update

Reviews about Epicentre Church

• James

  Sep, 05 2018
  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  No church should be immune to criticism. I went to Epicentre for 13 years. Leadership had issues with me, I had issues with them, in that order. I was lied to, tricked, ambushed, snapped at, tortuously stonewalled, neglected, falsely accused, distrusted, devalued, mismanaged, unforgiven. It was tedious, awful, cruel. My flaws were I had honesty, imperfection, self-limitations, a desire to serve, self-worth, years of patience, and a brain. Meeting over several years, they had so many mishandlings. They were poor communicators, difficult, unfair, insensitive, uncaring, unhelpful, uncompromising.They even denied I was hurting punitively. There are wrongs on both sides, but here’s the problem. They're in power. They don’t hold themselves accountable. They don't have to remove their planks. Didn’t listen, didn’t rectify themselves. That's power and spiritual abuse. They've become insular, bloated, impersonal, suffering avoidant, devalue sinners, outsource healing, full of unsympathetics. The pastors detest cross displays. All of us have an ugly side. It's in Epicentre. My misfortune faced the ugly side of leadership. John Lo has a “I’m the pastor, I’m entitled to… and you’re not…" side. Resoundingly. Defiantly. "The main role of a pastor is to serve the needs of the congregation" I plead to him. “Well, you're WRONG!” he snapped. Adamantly. Angrily. Resentfully. Citing examples he’s denied from even his own mother. Months later, only after I spoke out about it, he asked for forgiveness. I forgave him, and gave a chance to rectify things. I waited... and waited... over a year later he never lived up to his word. No accountability. It’s one thing to have an ugly side, to address it, rectify it, give grace over it, but another to look away. Marginalize it. Ignore it. Be quiet. Disregard it. Allow it. Pretend persistent ugliness in leadership doesn't exist. Paul Graf persistently showed me many faces of his ugliness. When I brought it up to the elders, they ignored me. But the worse thing is, when I spoke out about it, nobody cared. The congregation ignored it. Some even defended it. And so I left.
  
  When I didn’t jive with contemporary culture; one leader told me numerous times I should leave. I told another I was struggling with my faith; he adamantly refused my desire to reciprocate prayer. Another friend defended prayer refusal, a snub I find offensive for any Christian to reject. After suffering years of poor treatment and negligence, the last straw was being falsely characterized, denied ability to serve in the lowest capacity; and I have a heart for serving. Despite how damaging this was, absurdly this was described as neither punitive nor discipline. They refused to acknowledge the punitive effects this has and totally failed to follow up. To be misjudged, mistreated, and devalued by leaders from this church is to suffer the morals of men who play the place of God. Churches are supposed to glorify God, not refuse His cross. Churches are supposed to offer help to people, not turn them down and away. Christian leaders are supposed to be servants, not self-saving superiors. These people are more interested in keeping a cheery status quo than truly walking along side or dealing with those who struggle with sin and sufferings. I've sin in my life, but I also have God. Unlike Jesus, Epicentre has no welcoming heart for the love and goodness that even a sinner can offer.
  
  If you’ve read this far and all you picked up is anger, attacks, and your only response is fear, dismissal, disgust, without acknowledging the wrongs I’ve experienced, my pains, my hurts, my sadness, you are way more broken than I am. You can run to your blind cheery bubble. When somebody says "this church wronged and hurt me", and the majority response is neither sympathetic nor sad, nor epiphany, nor rectification, but a countering freak out irony barrage of "we love this church!", you know you better get the hell outta there and stay as far away as possible. I wasn't even saying "don't go there" before but now... that is messed up. I’m glad to be gone.
• Mark Speeter

  Jun, 09 2018
  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
  Awesome church. Powerful worship, great teaching, and a real sense of God's presence. Even more, the church has humble leadership, value for community, and a desire to practically love their city and engage global need.

Photos and maps

Nearest companies

• William Carey International University

  Establishment, University

  1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  +1 626-797-1200

  wciu.edu
• Excelsior School

  Establishment, School

  1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  +1 626-398-2388

  excelsiorschool.com

  Closed now: Until 08:00am
• Harvest International Ministry

  Establishment, Church, Place of worship

  1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  +1 626-696-8703

  harvestim.org
• Wagner Leadership Institute

  Establishment, School

  Mc Gavran Hall, 1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  wagnerleadership.org
• Providence Christian College

  Establishment, University

  1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  +1 626-696-4000

  providencecc.edu
• Goldenville University

  Establishment, University

  1550 East Elizabeth Street, Pasadena, CA 91104

  +1 626-398-2226

  goldenville.us