Hillside Church Family, 

I joined Hillside Church as your Lead Pastor in July, 2016, and I have been amazed at how this church has cared for and loved my family over these last three and a half years. We are proud to call Hillside Church home! God is certainly at work in this place and we’re excited for our future! In my tenure at HIllside, we’ve seen God work in amazing ways. Here’s a few highlights of our expanded and deepened ministry impact:

• We’ve welcomed new staff! In the last 18 months we welcomed four new pastoral staff to Hillside- Dave Dearinger (Executive Pastor), Chris Gee (Students & Discipleship), Pete Kilian (Worship & Creative Arts) and Mark Stickler (Student Ministries).

• Our preschool continues to grow. We’ve seen our enrollment go from 9 kids at launch in September 2018, to over 35 enrolled just 12 months later. 

• Iglesia Libre en Cristo has doubled to an average attendance of 140 people each week.

• Our Kids Club outreach has more than 20 volunteers sharing the gospel with over 70 kids every week. 

• Our Children’s Ministry has almost doubled their attendance on Sunday Mornings. 

As we look at all God has done, and as good stewards, we need to be prepared for the opportunities God is placing in front of us. For this reason, we are launching our two-year initiative called “Foundations for the Future.” Foundations for the Future is about taking the growth we’ve seen in these last three and a half years, and making the necessary adjustments to our ministry strategy and facilites to help propel that growth into the next generation of Hillside Church. It’s my prayer that you’ll join me in this initiative for the future of Hillside Church and the advancement of the Kingdom of God beyond our four walls and into the community around us.

Blessings, Keith C.

Ministry expansion

As we look at the future ministry of the church, one area that has been on the hearts of leadership going back to our BEYOND HILLSIDE PLUS task force in 2015, was the idea of multiplication and growth through church planting and church revitalization through multiple campuses. As Hillside has grown in number at our own campus, both within our English and Spanish speaking congregations, parking and overall facility space has become limited, with no room for expansion. 

Concurrently, as we have grown and our overall presence in the surrounding communities has increased, so have opportunities for ministry expansion. Hillside has been approached multiple times in the last 12 months to pursue opportunities to revitalize struggling churches through an acquisition and multi-site model. Our ‘Be One, Build One, Bring One’ mission includes Hillside reproducing healthy churches throughout the Bay Area.

 Facility Opportunities

With continued growth, we recognize the need to invest in improvements to our hospitality space to help foster community, both within the body of believers and our guests. Our plans in this area include expansion and updates to our main lobby, reconfiguration of our Children’s Ministry lobby and check-in area and outdoor facility improvements. 

In our main lobby, we will push the entrance doors out to the current edge of our building, adding over 350 square feet of usable space. This will give us increased flexibility for mobile coffee stations, event registration, and our information center. Improved sound treatment and worship center doors will also help with noise control in this busy part of our building.

In the Children’s Ministry lobby, our goal is to create a defined space for families to check in each week. We will do this by removing a small section of wall and creating a check-in station that is efficient for Hillside families and intuitive for guests to navigate. This will also create a clearly defined entry point, increasing security for this important ministry area. 

Plans for outdoor facility improvements include the reconfiguration of our parking lot, the addition of a front patio, an updated playground, and new deck. 

Regrading and resurfacing our parking lot not only provides us with a safer, more efficient parking area, it also allows us to place handicap accessible parking right at the entry point to our building. These parking spots will sit directly in front of our new outdoor patio, which creates much easier handicap entry to the building. The new patio space will allow us to enjoy outdoor fellowship on beautiful California days; providing outdoor seating and helping ease the congestion that we currently experience in our lobby. 

The playground will be upgraded by replacing our current play structures with a single play structure, rated for ages 2-12, and by adding an area of grass that will give our Children’s Ministry and Hillside Preschool greater flexibility during their time outside. 

Finally, a new deck will be built over our existing outdoor stairs. This adds even more outdoor space for fellowship while continuing to provide access to the lower parking lots and connection to the new playground. 

How do I get involved?

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”

2 Corinthians  9:10