Saddleback Opens Community PEACE Center

Many of Saddleback Church's 400-plus ministries are being physically consolidated into a recently-renovated building on the church's campus known as the PEACE Center.

The 6,500-square-foot building on the Lake Forest campus has been retrofitted to temporarily house the church's public services, from food distribution to adoption counseling.

The center is Saddleback Church's "gift of love and service to Orange County," said Tommy Hilliker, membership pastor at Saddleback Church, at a grand-opening ceremony Tuesday morning.

Pastor Rick Warren, the head of Saddleback, said the project was fast-tracked so it could be open before Christmas as a present to the community.

The center is part of the church's PEACE Plan, which seeks to "promote reconciliation, equip servant leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick and educate the next generation."

Eventually, the services will be housed in a permanant two-story building with a warehouse, which will include a full-service medical clinic and rooms for counselors. 

An invite-only crowd of Saddleback Church supporters and representatives of Lake Forest government attended the Tuesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Noting that the center's opening coincides with the city's 20th anniversary of cityhood, Mayor Peter Herzog said that the church and city have grown together and will continue to do so in years to come. Councilman Scott Voigts, the city's incoming mayor pro tem, pointed to Lake Forest's official motto—"In God We Trust"—as evidence of the city's ties to its faith communities. 

The church's food pantry will now operate out of the PEACE Center. Fresh and non-perishable grocery items are available for families in the community once every 30 days, with walk-ins welcome Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 to 6 p.m.

According to church officials, the pantry has served 72,000 people and handled 1.4 million pounds of food since it opened in 2009.

By January, a wide range of services will be available at the PEACE Center, including financial training, 40-plus support groups, career counseling, life skills classes and HIV/AIDS education.

Sometime in the spring, English As a Second Language training, after-school tutoring programs and free legal information () will join the line-up.

By summer 2012, a free medical clinic will open in the center, Warren said.