Raising a fervent generation of disciples that love God, love people and loves life.
-Derek and Susan Dunn
The Start of a journey
Our Church history begins in the mission fields of Asia where Pastor Derek served for more than 18 years as Executive Pastor of CHC Singapore with over 30,000 members. While back in the US ministering, Pastors Derek and Susan received a prophetic word that they would return to the U.S to plant a church. After having brought this prophecy under subjection to their Senior Pastors, Pastors Derek and Susan agreed that it was not the right time to launch out yet.
Then, after 7 years, the prophecy was revisited and Pastors Derek and Susan received the blessing from their Senior Pastors to return to the U.S to plant a church and knew it was time to launch out. Pastors Derek and Susan set out to prepare and give way to City Harvest Church, Orange County. While preparations were in progress, they soon came to realize that there was significant resistance when it came to acquiring a church building.
After numerous attempts it seemed that there would not be a physical location for services to be held. However, Pastor Derek, Pastor Susan, and the team set out to pray, declare, and believe that God would perform a miracle. Together they held a prayer meeting and asked God to make a way where there seemed to be no way. As soon as the final “amen” was spoken, they received a phone call. God had answered their prayers! City Harvest Church, Orange County had its very first service Easter Sunday of 2013 at the Edward’s Cinemas across UC Irvine.
While the original agreement only allowed CHC to use the facilities for two weeks, God paved the way for services to be held at the cinemas for a little over two years! In those two years we saw the launch of Connect groups, UCI Emerge, Men’s and Women’s Ministry, and so much more! Then, in November of 2015 God opened the door for City Harvest Church to move it’s facilities to Aliso Viejo, CA and co-share a building with Kingsfield church. God supernaturally provided enough finances for City Harvest to take over the lease and officially have it’s own building in less than a year. Renovations for the building were soon underway. All church members, big and small contributed in cleaning, packing, building, setting up, and making City Harvest Church the church that it is today.
We’ve seen God’s faithfulness during this time as we launched our H-Gen Youth Ministry, City Harvest Training Center, and multiple Connect Groups. It is at this location that we’ve continued to build the Kingdom of God. We have seen exponential growth, not just in numbers but in the manifestation of God’s presence in each one of our services. We have also seen the power of God move in supernatural ways. City Harvest Church, Orange County is and continues to be a spirit-filled, life giving church, training up disciples of Jesus, who love God, love people, and love life
In 2023, City Harvest Church Orange County celebrated our 10 year anniversary and we changed our name to Alive Church Orange County.