OUR HISTORY

Church on the Beach is a teaching ministry that has been ministering to the lost, strengthening lives and raising up leaders since 2014.

This congregation began in the apartment of our Elder, Steve Rassel, and his wife, Romie, in 2013. They opened their home to English speaking people in the ex-pat community in Salinas, Ecuador. Pastors Buff and Lana met them that same year and found that Steve, Romie, Buff and Lana all desired to establish an English-speaking church in the city of Salinas. In July 2014 the church began. Our first meeting was in the salon of the Torremar apartment building. From there we moved to another location on the Beach. The owner decided to sell the property, so the facility was no longer available. We then leased the Artesanos Building behind the Lions Club in Salinas for six years.

The congregation began to grow and before long English-speaking Ecuadorians were attending the services. Then, they brought their spouses, friends, and family members. To meet their need, we used audio receivers and translated our services in sync with the messages.

We all smile about those early days because there would often be a delay effect in the services. The English people would laugh and then a few seconds later the Spanish people would laugh.

Our church family grew to the point that we had to separate our services because we outgrew the sanctuary. In February 2019 the two congregations began to meet separately. The Spanish congregation was led by our Associate Pastor, Willy Rios. Pastor Will takes the notes from the English services and translates the message into Spanish so both congregations hear virtually the same message.

In late 2019, Pastor Buff began to speak the need for our own facility and we began to believe for the funds to come in to build debt-free. Our plans to build our own facility materialized in 2021 when we built our current facility right in the heart of Salinas. God has richly blessed our congregation and we were able to move into the facility debt free November 21, 2021.

Pastors Buff and Lana Ness founded the congregation on faith and love. They remind us regularly that we “walk by faith and not by sight”. (2 Corinthians 5:7) They both are strong teachers of the Word of God who desire to see God’s people walking by faith which works by love in every area of their life. They are committed to seeing God’s people living in victory: spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

We are a Spirit-led, “all things are possible through Christ” church where the presence of God is always welcome in our services, allowing the Lord to move through the gifts of the Spirit.