Tulare Community Church was started by a small but determined group of families in 1972. This congregation of approximately 10 families had the blessing of Southern California Classis, and started meeting in the cafeteria at Wilson Elementary School.

During the organization period, the new congregation used the name “Central Valley Reformed Church;” however, the Southern California Classis strongly recommended “Tulare Community Church” because there were not enough families with RCA background to fill this church. It needed community people. The Reverend Chet Droog was a big help at this time in the organization of the church. The Reverend Richard Groenhout was called as our first pastor and served a little over a year. This was not a good beginning for a young start up church.

The Lord then blessed us with the Reverend Edward Fikse. With his first service in March of 1975, there was a new excitement at Tulare Community Church. Land was purchased adjacent to Highway 99 off Gem Street. A small building was built and the church had a place to call home. Reverend Fikse served until 1982. By the grace of God and Pastor Fikse’s leadership, a multi-purpose building was built and the main sanctuary was completed in the early part of 1980. Reverend Fikse experimented with a “drive-in” church, but it was discontinued after a valiant effort.

In October 1982 the Reverend Marvin Wassink was installed as the third pastor of TCC. Under his leadership the church maintained steady growth. It should be noted that during this period an influx of families with RCA background moved into the area from Southern California. Pastor Wassink resigned his position in early 1991.

A search committee was formed and the Reverend Doug Van Gessel was given a call/contract for three years as interim pastor. Tulare Community Church continued to grow and be blessed under his leadership.

In June of 1996, Pastor Tim Vink was installed as the pastor of Tulare Community Church. We welcomed Pastor Tim with his vision of community outreach and new church planting. In April 1999, our first daughter church, Sunrise Community Church, was born. Pastor Russ Siders was called to pastor this bilingual community, which worshiped in the Activity Center of TCC. Since then, Tulare Community Church has assisted in ten additional church plants and shares its facility with two of these congregations.

During the time Pastor Tim was at TCC, several other staff positions were created to keep pace with the growing congregation. A part-time Minister of Music position began in 1996 and progressed to a full time position in 2003. In 1998, a part time Children’s Ministry position was created. In 2001, Reverend Ed Fikse returned part time as Minister of Care and Visitation. In 2003, Steve Duyst, who has been on staff since 1986 as the Youth Pastor, became a Commissioned Pastor and assumed the role of Pastor of Community Life. A new Youth Pastor was hired and assisted by a part time youth intern. In addition to the regular staff, each summer since 1999, TCC is blessed with an intern from Western Theological Seminary. They learn by assisting with church programs according to their gifts and interests.

In 2002, Pastor Tim became the Classis Minister and dedicated 25% of his time to this position. As his workload there increased, TCC developed a “teaching team” to facilitate Sunday morning worship. In January 2005, Pastor Tim’s position at TCC changed to Apostolic Regional Missionary and Pastor Steve Duyst became the acting Senior Pastor.

The year 2005 proved to be an active and transitional year for TCC. Reverend Tim Vink moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to fill the national position as the RCA’s Pastor of Church Multiplication. Amy Richmond transitioned from interim, to TCC’s full time Children’s Ministry Director. At the same time, Socorro Sandoval accepted the position as Interim Youth Director and Jim Ziessler as Interim Director of Worship Arts. Then in November, with great joy and enthusiasm, the Rev. Mark Schwarz was installed as TCC’s new Senior Pastor.

The year 2006 was an active and exciting year for TCC. In addition to a search for a full time Youth Pastor, TCC called Rev. Roger Peterson for the position of Pastor of Church Multiplication which includes responsibilities in Church Planting, Small Group Ministry, and Evangelism. The Bus Outreach Ministry Team continued to expand its ministry to the high need areas of Tulare. The Worship Center renovation was completed, and the first Worship Service was held at the end of May. This renovation gives TCC much more space for worship (a seating capacity of 550). The renovation also gave us two spacious bathrooms, as well as, a spacious lobby and outdoor covered patio area for rich fellowship before and after the services. We were able to have an amazing Grand Re-Opening in the fall and the people of TCC invited many to become part of the church. The church grew significantly that year . . . and for this we thank God for His amazing provision.

2007 was another exciting year of ministry. After much prayer and discernment, the church hired Scott De Leeuw as Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, and Socorro Sandoval as Assistant Youth Director. This ministry team would oversee, nurture, and challenge students to a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ. We have also seen God’s hand moving, as we now have churches planted in Fresno, Bakersfield, Tulare, Visalia, and even Ensenada, Mexico. We also saw God’s blessing with a fresh launch of Men’s Ministry, and a resurgence of the Evangelism Ministry. Another exciting movement of God was a new ministry called “Leader’s For The Harvest”, that helps train leaders for a lifetime of Kingdom work. Probably the most exciting thing going on was a ministry called “Walk This Way”. This ministry is a city-wide cooperative effort to reach our city for Jesus Christ. Over 20 churches in Tulare have bonded together to make a bigger splash in the city of Tulare. This includes the churches unifying together and carrying out a six-week Campaign that will strategically touch the people of Tulare. We are confident that God is going to do a great thing here in our church and in our city.

2008 proved to be another year in which God was actively at work in all aspects of ministry at TCC. Kevin Hofer was hired as the Director of Worship Arts. He has also brought with him Charlotte his wife for additional ministry support. In the growth area of the church, we saw 75 new members added to our congregation. With this growth, we felt it was necessary to add another Youth Pastor. Those shoes were filled by Jeff Atherton. Jeff’s scope of ministry is with the young married couples and high school youth. The church office was getting more and more cramped so it required a remodel and reallocation of space to better serve all those involved. Reaching Higher, a community youth outreach program that mentors and tutors kids after school has expanded to four sites. One potential site is a building that was purchased for this program. In the fertile field of church planting in the Central Valley we are involved with six new church plants. We are also involved in 2 church start ups in Ensenada, Mexico. Men, Women, and Children’s Ministries are strong and being blessed each day.

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Pastoral Staff