Real people do life together at local church
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

LONGTIME LEADERS- Pastors Laurie and Brian Campbell guide Gateway congregants together.

The 200 families who belong to the Gateway Church in Agoura Hills live by the simple tenet, "Real people doing life together."

To this congregation, life together means a life centered on Christ, and Brian and Laurie Campbell, pastors of the church since 1995, help congregants to live their faith every day.

Gateway Church is a member of the International Foursquare Church, but Campbell prefers not to brand his religion "fundamentalist."

"That word has such a negative rap; I probably wouldn't call us fundamentalists," he said. "It's usually used to say that 'I'm right and you're wrong.' But in every other part of life we want people to excel in the fundamentals. If you hire a business manager, you want them to be able to balance the books and get the bills paid on time. A football coach doesn't say to a prospective player 'show me your touchdown celebration,' or 'let me hear some of your trash talk.' You want a player that can run the plays, hang on to the ball, and make a tackle."

Congregants at Gateway Church take the Bible literally, and the pastors see their roles as guides, leading their flock through the fundamentals found in the scriptures and helping families "live the teachings of Christ."

"We're told to love God with all you've got- heart, mind, soul and strength- and love your neighbor as yourself," Campbell said. "That's like the CliffsNotes on the Bible. Love God and love people. That's really what we're about. Everything else is commentary."

Laurie Campbell was born in California, but she and Brian grew up in central Montana. The Campbells found 1979 a pivotal year- they were newlyweds, and yearned for a closer relationship with God. Their journey through marriage and serving Jesus had just begun, and from that point on, the Campbells worked together in churches throughout the Northwest and Southern California. Before coming to Agoura Hills, the couple served as youth pastors.

The Campbells believe God wants a relationship with people. Sin, however, separated people from God, and religion is man's attempt to "get to God," Brian Campbell said.

"That's why Jesus Christ came and lived a sinless life, that he could be the perfect sacrifice for our sin and restore our relationship with God," Brian Campbell said.

"If you read the Gospels, Jesus was very hard on the religious people because they thought they could be 'good enough' for God, but he was filled with grace toward the sinner. That grace- unmerited favor- is still available today."

The church, which sits on 109 sprawling acres at 29646 Agoura Road, offers many opportunities to serve through a variety of ministries and missions. Congregants can participate in men's, women's and youth groups. The church offers worship teams, prayer chains, and a variety of missionary opportunities.

On Gateway's website, one family detailed their work in Kazakhstan in western Asia in a letter to fellow church members. They opened an orphanage in Tajikistan and plan to launch a Church Planting Institute there.

"Religion will mess you up either by making you proud- 'I'm so good' or by making you depressed- 'I'll never be good enough,'" Brian Campbell said.

"That's why we see great people living under a cloud of guilt and discouragement. Jesus came to set us free, and that's what Gateway is all about. When you come to a service, we want you to leave with a lift, not a load."

Gateway Church holds its Sunday service at 10 a.m. Youth groups meet on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and on Sunday mornings during the adult service. The women's and men's ministries meet on Tuesdays.