How We Started

Lighthouse Christian Fellowship began in November 1999 with a small group of believers who had a desire to share God’s love with the community of Chula Vista, this group was led by Pastor Sam and Angie Mascareno.

Lighthouse began meeting in the Chula Vista Hills Elementary School auditorium with all the challenges that came with it. Our church view and sound system, nursery equipment, instruments, and everything we needed were transported every Sunday and Wednesday night on a trailer that was kept at a member’s house during the week. During our time at Chula Vista Hills we were blessed and God’s spirit moved changing lives.

During our first three years God helped us reach out into our community and our membership grew. We learned to give faithfully to His work and in October 2002 we purchased our current campus. In 2004 we could no longer accommodate our members and guests with one service and we began having two Worship Services on Sundays.

In 2006 our First Lady Angie Mascareno founded Happy Harbor which caters to the needs of our children ages newborn to kindergarten in a fun and exciting setting where our children can learn about God in a wonderful safe environment.

In 2008 we had many guests and members coming through our doors and we were faced with the challenge of connecting so many people together. It was during that time we incorporated “small groups” in home Bible Studies…Lighthouse Connect Groups. We currently have 40 Connect Groups, over 400 people meeting in homes throughout the Chula Vista and San Diego communities during the week. Also in 2008, we reached a great milestone with God’s help and accomplished the Ours in Five program Pastor Sam instituted to pay our church off, in full, in five years.

Pastor Sam’s vision for reaching our community has not waivered, his passion has only increased. In the summer of 2010 our Lighthouse Vacation Bible School involved over 400 children and staff. Our Winter Concert series introduced exciting contemporary Christian recording artists to our Sunday Worship Experience.

2011 promised to bring new and exciting changes to Lighthouse. In January 2011 we relocated our Sunday Worship Service to our Lighthouse Fellowship Hall to accommodate the increase of members and guests and increase our seating capacity by 100 seats.

Our Lighthouse Kid’s Worship Center (our former sanctuary) can accommodate 250 kids. The Worship Center has an expansive stage with state of the art technology where a live band plays and praise singers and dancers lead everyone in Praise and Worship. The teachings are Bible based and interactive with dramas incorporated into the lessons that come to life.

With God’s help we have become a thriving fellowship of believers that enjoys serving God, serving others and living meaningful lives of purpose. We have a strong vision to become a great church that is equipped to meet the needs of our community and we are excited about the great future that awaits us, as we continue to seek to shine brightly, and love out our motto, Real.Life.Faith.