Flood Church

i have read all the reviews and people make good points on both sides.
For me I attended the Flood back when they were at SDSU.
I could not put my finger on it then but something was off biblically.
Theology — mostly sound on the surface but when you dive into questions on doctrine, church government, discipleship. and so on they begin to deviate
worship style — very worldy gives headaches they try to hard to cater their message to the marketplace
demographics = outreach to younger crowd
this may you feel like an outcast if you are older
THe leaders seem to embrace emerging church philosophy which is very dangerous
that is why i can never recommend this church.

Been around the block when it comes to churches. This church is the first church that’s felt like home for some time. We’ve done a lot of trying to make church work for us, or trying to serve at churches to make them just work. We went to Flood after tirelessly helping out at older churches in SD for years. We were just tired. The first service Matt, the pastor, found us and introduced himself afterwards. We were challenged by the messages but really came for good REAL people, so we joined a community group.
It’s been 2 – 3 years now. Our prayers have been beyond answered. The community group turned into the a group of the closest friends we’ve ever had. We’ve believed in each other, we’ve encouraged each other, we’ve had fun together, We’ve experienced God’s love as it should be experienced with God’s community. We’ve never cared more for a group of people and have never been more cared for. When I think of Flood, I think of a church that has turned off the legalism, and the judgement, and the rest of it. These are humble people, giving there all to each other because they love God. We’re a part of each others families now, we see each other on nearly a daily basis, and talk often. We cheer at celebrations and we’re sad when trials hit, but we do it together and find God is always close in the midst of it.
My life is different because of what God does through the people at Flood. I have a thousand more reasons and stories to tell, but i really didn’t even intend to write a review. I was just a little confused to see some of the other negative reviews. So no, you won’t find ritualisms, and church etiquette, and rules that don’t matter. You’ll find real people, with real joy, and a real God that is Bigger than the walls of a church program. The craziest thing to me is that we don’t have to ‘try’ and serve anymore, we don’t have to ‘try’ and praise God, we don’t have to ‘try’ and care for the people around us… because everything in us desires to with all of our hearts. Flood may not be the church for everyone, but it was the church for us!
Sneak Peek the services here to see if it looks like home:
— If it looks like a place you could be, then be brave and reach out to meet new people like you. Join a small group, and join in on activities, and find a community that’s got your back.

This church was not bad, just not my style. It definitely is a younger crowd that attends here. I’m still a little confused at who the main pastor is. The worship I thought was good, everyone was pretty engaged. Overall, the deciding factor was it just had a very young immature feel to it. We ended up finding another church that is 20’s and 30’s but more mature and family oriented. That’s ultimately what we were looking for.

So I read some of the negative reviews and I get it … Not every church is for everyone … But let me tell you why I love this church.
When I first moved to San Diego in 2003 I started attending flood with my dorm mate. This is back when it was over by San Diego State. I only went for a couple months, not because it was a bad church but just because I wasn’t fully sure how I felt about my faith.
I became one of those 1 – 3 times a year kind of church goer. Usually during the holidays when my parents asked me to go or when a friend would ask me to try their churches. To be honest this only pulled me farther and farther away from my faith because other churches I attended talked down on other faiths/​religions etc. or they were so concerned with religious ritual that it took away from the message. (I promise I have a point with all of this)
I had been going through a really hard time in my life back in 2012 and I knew I wanted to go to go back to church but my distaste for religion was holding me back. My girlfriend invited me to church with her December of 2012 and it all fell into place. She took me to the new Flood location in Kearny (well new to me … I think they had been at Kearny since 2005 or something like that). I went in, the worship was great, the message was great, Pastor Matt is amazing (he’s just a normal funny guy that loves God, his family, and the 49ers! GOOOOO NINERS! that’s really how he won me over. jk ;)), and the part I loved the most was that the most important thing, or so it seems, to the flood family is getting the word of God out to the public. They aren’t hung up on ritual, or the «you must do x, y, and z for God to love you». They stress the message that no matter how lost, broken, confused, etc we are… God loves us and is ready to be there for us if we let him. I’m not going to lie, I felt something very powerful my first visit back to Flood and I have continued to go ever since.
Not only is service there amazing, the house bands bring the house down during worship, and there are sooooooo many events/​groups to be a part of its ridiculous! Everyone that attends is extremely welcoming and treats you like family from the start.
Anyway, this church is not going to be a perfect fit for everyone but it was for me! So I would say, if you are looking for a new church, come try it out. If you’re looking to start attending church or start attending church again come give it a try. If you need someone to talk to, the pastors and staff are always available! They are so welcoming and accept everyone with open arms.

Pastor Matt and all flood family are a blessing. It is so nice to be able to walk up to Pastor Matt and he has time for you. We love what the church does for the community. Keep blessing us all with your gifts. Our kids love all the Sunday school leaders becuase they treat them like family. We are tr uly blessed to be part of a great church!

I have to agree with the critiques on here. This church is very very immature and also worldly. Controlling leadership structure. Lack of generations. No real worship leader. Just «house bands». What is this, a bar? Walk away. Don’t be deceived by exterior «cool“ness factor. There are way better and way healthier churches in San Diego.

Regular attendee. I enjoy the bands play more traditional songs. Matt is a good teacher. Passionate. There are a lot of things to get involved with.

Well, I tried the flood a couple of times and it wasn’t for us. Great messages however the worship was not engaging or powerful. The worship of course is for the lord but I just can’t get into the heavy metal rock grunge type music. They switch between two bands. The one band with the girl singing was way better than the heavy rock all male band. The worship is not engaging. Most people just sit like it’s a concert. We went unnoticed everytime we were there. You don’t feel any love there or at least we didnt. No one ever approached us or welcomed us. There is also a major lack of diversity both culturally and generation wise. If your young, into rock then this might be the place for you. We just felt out of place and never welcomed. We didn’t feel the love but like I said great messages!

Amazing church — great messages at every church that send out Christ’s message in a way that I can really grasp.
I love the music too. Extremely talented musicians play here! Note that the music is geared towards younger crowds.

Terrible first impression! The very first thing they did was send around the tithes bucket. It made us feel like that was thier first priority. Music was very loud. My husband is a combat vet and has hearing loss, and even for him it was too loud. We had to step out several times because our ears were ringing (and we aren’t that old, we are in our early 30’s!) In general, a pretty young crowd. The staff looks like they could have walked out of a bar in PB, very informal. Call me old fashioned but I think it’s nice to dress conservatively for sunday service.

Yah, Music was SUPER LOUD to the point of damaging ears. Seriously, this loud Christian music has gotta stop. It’s a trend all across America, and it’s a damaging trend. Not to sound Rude but you guy’s are acting irresponsible, by damaging the ears of the people who attend your church. Seriously not cool. Cool sounding music but no cool. Get it? Stop that. Please stop, measure the decibels and make sure there at a safe level. Brought my baby here for a second then left after the loud music. Since when was the church sound synonymous with loud ear damaging music. agh! I’m an old man.

pastor Matt speaks to you in a way you can relate. He helps you understand the word and the true message of the Lord. The worship music is SO amazing. The service takes place at Kearny Mesa High School and they provide 4 or 5 different service times on Sunday which is convenient. The moment I stepped in this church I felt at home, just comfortable. Something that is not common I find at other churches. Anyway, just go and check it out! So awesome!

I dont know how many stars to give.
I was thinking what is the flaw and i finally found 1 the second week i was here. There is no worship leader.
Worship team was mostly guys which means lots of guitar, loud drum, less piano. It wasn’t done well. I know they can do better though.
Preach was okay. They can interpret words of God better. I know that. But for now it is good enough.
I’m a huge fan of praise n worship in church. So it’ll be great to sing some songs that are famous and we know so people can sing along and get to close their eyes, sing and feel the presence of God. Having a worship leader that can lead u to prayer while singing is geat.
I hope they read this and definitely improve.
at least look at hillsong church. they don’t go crazy on the singing and band. they keep it simple. catchy songs. people sing with them. afterall, we come to church to worship Him together and not watch a bad concert.
I can definitely feel God’s presence while i was there. So i’d love to see them grow and get better.

Went here a few time in 2005, great place. The music was wonderful, the sermons were real, and the people were truly trying to help others.
I could post more and more, but truly if you haven’t been here and are looking for a church that isn’t just about how many people they have, and how shiny their bulding is; but is about keeping the word relevant in todays times, keeping the word vibrant, and about helping others. Then this is the place to go.
It should be noted that this is a church for a younger maybe college crowd,. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

young crowd but still decent message.
HOWEVER…
I go after the message to the ‘welcome party’ for new people or those wanting to get involved. And here’s a small yet BIG issue…
The head ‘intern’ looks like she belongs in the bar scene in worldly Pacific Beach on a Saturday night! As she stands there — next to the pastor — to introduce us to their church, her outfit was shocking.
Her shorts were so short they looked like a scarf wrapped around her waist and that’s all. She seemed innocent and sweet, kind of looked like Fieval in a Girly way, but really now??? I glanced around as almost EVERY guy in there had a few stares at the leg-​candy being displayed. Ugh… And I’m not being legalistic either, the other (just so happens to be girls) interns weren’t that much better.
NOTE TO CHRISTIANS: YOU SHOULD NOT DRESS LIKE THE WORLD!!! YOUR PANTS SHOULD NOT SO TIGHT THAT THEY LOOK LIKE YOUR SKIN
If there’s one thing I just simply CANNOT stand — IT’S A WORLDLY ACTING CHURCH!!!
If you know nothing, go here. But please keep in mind everything you see is NOT Christlike

My wife and I moved to San Diego from the Bay so that I could go to SDSU for a graduate degree.
One Sunday we walked into Kearny high school’s auditorium and tried Flood. I was used to pew and hymnal churches, not this kind of church. The crowd was younger. Which I thought was weird at the time. But now I wouldn’t have it any other way. Young people do things. They get behind things. So this church, because it’s filled with young people, does things, out of faith. Like this past year they put on a 1^st annual Halloween Carnival, and a 1^st annual «fripple games» a free sports camp for kids. This year they’re trying to raise money to build a school in Haiti. To me, these are all examples of faith in action.
On a side note: I LOVE that it meets at a high school, forget the «building fund,» the church ain’t the building, it’s the people dude, so let’s put that gorgeous stained-​glass money toward helping the people in our community. Let’s be God’s hands and feet. Let’s bring His love. Let’s bring healing.
The passionate, personal, funny, and often emotional sermons preached by Matt, Scott and others, really challenge me. These guys show how the Bible is relevant TODAY, in so many ways. I’m a musician, and ‘A Gate Called Beautiful’ is simply the best worship team I’ve ever heard. Juanita is gifted.
2.5 years later. Little did we know… we’d come to value and appreciate Flood Church more than San Diego State, as we have really been transformed and overwhelmed by God’s love, and filled with His spirit.

This church really is «Woohoo! As good as it gets!»
What I like most about Flood is how they encourage people to get involved beyond Sunday. They have a bunch of «impact teams» that do housebuilding, homeless and other ministries and they have community groups that are kind of like bible studies, they have events, growth groups, all sorts of options to get plugged in. It is truly one of those places where what you put in is that you get out of it. Definitely check it out! The worship is always great and they do a great job preaching relevant messages that anyone can follow!

… I’ve always wanted to visit a mega church… this definitely qualifies as close enough! … I like visiting different churches across the world to see how differently each expresses their faith and yet… how the message is still the same. It gives me something to think and reflect about how certain things could be done (or not) differently at our church or how I can do things differently!
Musical worship service reminded me of a concert — cool lights, awesome sound, great band, amplified music through an auditorium.
Their preacher and his sermon that day was surprisingly down to earth and relatable. I thought I was going to get lost in a sea of hundreds upon hundreds of people. And… they seem very close for a church this size. If it matters. the ethic mix of the day felt like 80% Caucasian and 20% non Caucasians.
Some cool things — they have a tent for free drinks! Also a little book store and a welcome tent. There’s a sign up table for different tasks they need help with. saw lots of people sign up.
Definitely a cool church, not at all what I expected — really loved the energy. And. being an introvert… I liked the anonymity.

It is inspiring to see so many 20 – 30 somethings worshipping God!
The worship is AWESOME! A friend i took there didn’t appreciate the rock concert-​feel, because he was used to the traditional, hymnal, sunday-​best setup. That’s cool, too. To each his own. Whatever gets you to the pearly gates, dude!
As for me, the dim lights, the passion behind the bands that lead the worship there… it leaves me speechless, and most times, in tears, because I really feel God’s presence there. It’s a beautiful thing, and not too many other places I’ve gone have made me do that. I feel like He’s speaking to my soul, and calling out my name, to get closer to Him.
Pastor Matt is amazing – not only is he funny and realistic, but he always seems to send out a charge to the congregation. He always gives you a goal or something to grow upon, as we all should continuously do, right?
I love this place. I feel so welcome, and humbled. They are really great about community service and outreach, too.
People may have noted that they don’t like the lack of diversity in the congregation, but if you are looking more for the family-​type setup, I hear the earlier morning services have more of those. The evening ones usually are 20 – 30 somethings =) Hope that helps, and inspires you all!

Thank goodness October Inc has decided to switch it up a little. Now each song doesn’t sound exactly like the other one, and I don’t mind participating in the worship poriton of Flood.
One of the things I love most about Flood is that the leadership team, elders, etc. do not judge. They love, they practice true Christ-​ianaity instead of using Saul/​Paul as their leader. They know that Jesus spent time with people that other religious persons avoided, that He spent his life showing love through generosity, spirit, and faith. Flood does a lot of good for the community — but what’s even more important is that their doors and arms are open to anyone and everyone who wants to be there.