A Brief History of CCC
In the Beginning...
Once upon a time, in a tiny metropolis, there lived an associate pastor named Shawn Robinson. He had a lovely wife, Patty, and three children that he adored, Benjamin, Rachel, and Bethany. Now Shawn was happy and contented working with the high school and college students at the little megachurch, Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church. But, God had other plans for Shawn.
Within a fairly short time period, three groups of churches asked Shawn to consider taking the position of senior pastor at new churches. Each time, it seemed that the new position was a sure thing, and then the opportunity dried up. Shawn and Patty thought to themselves, what's up?
The idea of pastoring a new church (called "church plant" in Christian-speak) was not a new one for Shawn. Years earlier, a pastor friend, Jim Hewett, had told him that he thought God had given Shawn the gifts and abilities to be either an associate pastor at a huge church, a senior pastor at a large church, or the pastor of a church plant.
So the three church plant "opportunities" got Shawn and Patty to thinking, "Maybe we could plant a church with Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church as the 'mother' church!" When they started considering where they could plant a church, they naturally thought about their home community, Clayton, which didn't have a church in the vicinity of the downtown area.
Excitedly, Shawn invited the other pastors of Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church to come have lunch with him in Clayton. He drove them around Clayton and told them of his dream of a church for young families, located in the heart of Clayton. The other pastors, and later the leaders of Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church, were excited with Shawn's plans and told him to go ahead.
Shawn knew he couldn't start a church all by himself, so he started asking friends and former youth leaders to join him. God brought other people who had a dream for church planting to Shawn and Patty's doorstep. Soon there was a core team of 12 excited, scared people.
In July 1995, Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church held a general meeting for all who were interested in the new church plant. 175 people came who were willing to give their support - in the form of money, prayer, future attendance, or to help "do church".
Then a dark cloud of opposition formed over Shawn and Patty's plans. Not wanting to name names or point fingers, the story resumes with Shawn leaving the Presbyterian Church, USA denomination (kinda like a corporate holding company for churches). Later, the new church associated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination. Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church was no longer the "mother church", but the new church had its blessings and good wishes. It was not a church split.
In the spring of 1996, the core team and others attended leadership classes and conferences. On May 4, 1996, the First Annual Banquet publicly kicked off the new church. Informal services were held at the Clayton Public Library on Sunday afternoons throughout the summer. Usually around 30 to 40 people attended, and the core team wondered if Shawn's dream of a thriving, growing church was just that, a dream.
On September 22, 1996, Clayton Community Church opened "its" doors at Diablo View Middle School for its grand opening service. Over 300 adults and 100 children came, blowing the socks off of everyone's, including Shawn's, expectations.