In 1997, Pastor Jon Scott Harris was blessed by the Lord and given a vision for a ministry that would be called "Castle Rock". Over the course of the years that followed, the vision became more and more specific and detailed as the Lord worked on developing him and equipping him for the ministry that was to come. The silent years came to a halt when in January 2001 the decision was made to discontinue work in his business and devote his entire time and efforts to God's calling. In very little time his ministerial duties increased until March 15th when the first home bible study was held at Golden Leaf Lane in Riverside, CA, the home of Pastor Jon and Sister Leita. The weekly bible studies continued throughout that summer and on August 23rd, Rev. Harris, his wife Leita Harris, Kendall McCarthy, Shelley McCarthy and the late Rev. Bennie Clay, Rev. Harris' godfather met for a detailed organizational meeting. On September 6th,, 2001 the first charter member meeting was held and Rev. Harris was called to pastor Castle Rock Christian Fellowship Baptist Church. The second charter members meeting was on September 19th at the McCarthy residence and established the final 19 charter members.
On September 23rd, 2001 Castle Rock had its first worship service and children's church at the McCarthy residence in Redlands. The Lord blessed Pastor Harris to build a relationship with Pastor Kenneth Olive of Israel Church of God and from this friendship Pastor Olive and the Israel Church of God family constructed a very generous and benevolent agreement to acquire property for our permanent church home. On December 16th after morning worship, the membership caravanned over to 263 East Dumas Street in San Bernardino to visit our new sanctuary and to celebrate the goodness of the Lord. With songs of praise and our hearts full of thanksgiving, Castle Rock had her first Worship Service in her sanctuary on December 23rd, 2001, only 3 months after the very first worship service.
God blessed Castle Rock to refurbish her new home from wall to wall and from ceilings to floors and in the month of March, 2002 she was presented to the community with a month long inaugural celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony.
Hidden in God was a specific and greater commission for Castle Rock to launch 2 additional locations to serve the people of God. Our High Desert location launched in May of 2011 and one year later, Pastor Harris was blessed to return to his home city of Riverside with the launch of the Riverside location in December of 2012. In 2016 after much prayer, a decision was made to channel all of the resources to strengthen the Riverside location. On April 24th we had our last High Desert service and on June 15th, the Outreach ministry closed at the San Bernardino location. In it's place, Castle Rock continues to reach the community through her unique "Lunch on Jesus" door to door feeding ministry and free hot meals at another location in San Bernardino.
What God has ordained, He WILL sustain. To Him be the Glory
