Our Mandate from Scripture

We are called to progressively become an authentic model of Christ-like community that experiences, demonstrates and shares the love of God. Jesus' Great Commandment and Great Commission are the foundation of our ambition.

The Great Commandment

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart...soul ....and mind”...and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22: 37, 39 (NIV)

The Great Commission

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...”

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Who We Are

We are a contemporary community of Christ-following adults, teens and children, empowered by His Spirit, to demonstrate and share the truths, principles and promises that He taught and modeled. “Contemporary community” also means we value and celebrate our God-honoring diversity.

We want to build authentic relationships. In an often impersonal contemporary culture, we seek to be a family to one another, loving each other as Christ loved us. Everyone is welcome at Pacific Life Church – we are not an exclusive or reclusive group of people. Intentionally, we choose to concentrate on the basic core beliefs which all true Christians share in common. Jesus welcomes you and so do we!

A desire to be relevant without becoming relative. We believe that the principles for life that Jesus taught have stood the test of time. His teachings are completely relevant to the challenges of living in the 21st century. Our unswerving commitment to speak the truth in love to an increasingly postmodern/relativistic country won’t be compromised.

How we “do life" at Pacific Life Church is an essential component of our mission—we want to send our community into homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools throughout the world. Just as Jesus Christ did, we seek to serve human need. In essence we are His representatives to a world that needs the hope, love and purpose that He alone offers.

Our Mission

“Inspiring people to follow Jesus by loving each other and serving our neighbors.”

Our Core Values

Truth with love. We are committed to living without hypocrisy and truth spoken with love. (Ephesians 4:15, 25)

Humility. We are committed to live in desperate dependency on God and embrace servanthood as a way of life. (Philippians 2:3-8)

Contextual. We are committed to winsomely proclaiming the “good news” by word and deed to those who do not yet know Christ in ways that make sense to them. (Luke 15, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Biblical. We are committed to the authority and application of Scripture to every area of our lives and relationships. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Relationship. We are committed to build Christ-centered in-depth relationships in order to love one another as Christ loved us. (John 13:34-35)

Impact. We are committed to measuring our effectiveness by the quality and quantity of our personal, local, national, and global impact for the Kingdom of God. (2 Galatians 3:26-29)

Diversity. We are committed to proactively seeking to cross racial, ethnic, socio- economic, and generational barriers to reveal the beauty and authenticity for the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 5:17)

Grace. We are committed to celebrating God's grace as the basis for our relationship with Him and fostering an environment that reflects that grace in our lives and relationships. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Entrepreneurship. We are committed to seek, explore, dream, and "think outside the box" to take God-ordained risks to fulfill God's highest purposes for His church. (Ephesians 3:20)

What do We believe?

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. —Acts 2:42 (NASB)

In Essential Beliefs, we have UNITY.

“There is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all...” —Ephesians 4: 4-6 (NASB)

In Non-Essential Beliefs, we have DIVERSITY.

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters... Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls...So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God...So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God...” —Romans 14:1, 4, 12, 22 (NIV)

In All Our Beliefs, we show CHARITY.

“If I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have the faith that can move mountains – but have no love, I amount to nothing at all” —1 Corinthians 13:2 (Phillips)

  • The Bible, being fully inspired by God in its entirety, is His perfect Word and is the authority for all faith and life. (II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:20, 21; Matthew 5:18; John 16: 12, 13)

  • There is one God who is personal, infinite, perfect; and He exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19, 20)

  • Jesus Christ is true God and true man, was born of Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died in our place to pay for our sin, and rose bodily from the grave. Jesus Christ is the only ground for man’s legal standing before God, which includes both forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit. (John 1:1, 2; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24-25, 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5; Hebrews 7:25, 9:24; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1, 2)

  • The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, and works in convicting men of sin. In the life of the believer He is involved in the New Birth, the sealing of salvation, and in developing holiness. (Romans 8:4; I Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4, 5; Colossians 3:16; John 16: 8-11, Ephesians 1:13-14)

  • Man was made in God’s image and fell into sin in Adam. He is now a sinner both by nature and by choice and can be restored to God’s favor only through the work of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:26, 27; Genesis 3; Romans 3:22-23, 5:12; Matthew 19)

  • Salvation comes to man only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from any human merit. Salvation is a free gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Every believer’s salvation is secure, being kept by the power of God. (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8, 9; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 8:38, 39; John 10:27-30; I Cor. 1:4-8; Ephesians 1:13, 14, 2:10; I John 1; Heb. 12:9-11)

  • Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, and every local church has the right under Christ to govern itself. All those who have experienced salvation are members of the Church, which is His body, and are therefore eligible for baptism and membership in a local fellowship. (Acts 2; I Corinthians 12; I Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 2:21; Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 5:25)

  • We believe the Lord Jesus left for the obedience of His people two ordinances - memorial in character - which are to be observed during this present age: baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. Water baptism is an outward sign of what the Holy Spirit has performed in the heart of the believer. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of His sacrifice in securing our redemption. (Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:26-38, 10:47, 48; Matthew 26:26-29; I Corinthians 11:27-31)

  • We believe in the person of Satan, who is the open and declared enemy of God and God’s people, the destroyer of human lives and whose destiny is eternal punishment. (Job 1:6-7; John 10:10; Ephesians 6:10-20; Revelation20:10)

  • We believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. We believe immediately following the tribulation, He will establish His millennial kingdom on earth. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Cor. 15:51-53; Revelation 20:6; Zechariah 14:4-11)

  • All people will experience the resurrection: believers to the state of eternal life and unbelievers to the state of eternal punishment. (Luke 16:19-26, 23:43; II Corinthians 5-8; Philippians 1:23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Judges 6-7; Revelation 20: 11-15)

  • We believe all Christians should live for Christ and not for themselves. By obedience to the Word of God and daily yielding to the Spirit of God, every believer should mature and be conformed to the image of Christ. (Galatians 2:20; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:1-3)

Our Story

In 1997, I, Steve Bombaci, fulfilled a lifelong dream of planting a church. Before starting my first church in Pacific Beach, I pastored a church in Ocean Beach for just under five years.

Before making the decision to plant in Pacific Beach, I did extensive research. What I discovered was both encouraging and discouraging. The good news was that PB was a largely unchurched beach town. The bad news came from those who had attempted to plant churches there and failed. They called it a graveyard for pastors. After much prayer, I felt compelled to take on the challenge.

Our first service was held in an apartment complex with just 18 people. We then moved the church to our home in Ocean Beach while searching for a facility in PB. Within a few months, we had over 50 people meeting in our house, and we quickly ran out of space. Around that time, I learned that a church renting school space in PB had relocated elsewhere. I approached the school about the possibility of renting the space, and 27 years later, we are still meeting there.

There have been three significant chapters in our church’s history.

  • From 1997 to 2010, we established South Coast Community Church.

  • In 2010, at the invitation of a close friend, we joined a multi-site church called NewBreak Church.

  • In 2012, I had the privilege of returning to Ocean Beach, where I had started, to plant a NewBreak Church campus.

Although we learned a great deal from our multi-site experience, it became clear that it wasn’t working out as we had hoped. In June 2020, shortly after the COVID pandemic began, we left NewBreak Church and established Pacific Life Church.

Looking back, I have to admit—those warnings about Pacific Beach being a difficult place to pastor were true. But despite the challenges and discouragements along the way, I thank God every day for leading me to this incredible community. Over the years, we have invested in the lives of hundreds of people. Even more importantly, we have witnessed countless lives transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our story is far from over. We invite you to check out Pacific Life Church and see for yourself. Who knows? Maybe you’ll become a part of our story.

Steve Bombaci
Lead Pastor, Pacific Life Church