Shadow Mountain church sets up in Hillcrest

The evangelical Shadow Mountain Community Church of El Cajon now occupies the Grace Campus at 3844 Georgia Street in Hillcrest, the former site of Grace Baptist Church.

Pastor David Jeremiah's views are similar to the controversial "Focus on the Family" religious group in that they are opposed to same-sex marriage.

Commenting in a church-produced video about the grand opening, a parishioner was happy “to get a chance to grow and to flourish in what would be a dark, dark neighborhood.” Said another parishioner in the video: “This church was going to be torn down, and it was going to be used for condominiums.”

Pastor of the Shadow Mountain megachurch, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, is David Jeremiah of Turning Point Ministries. Jeremiah has an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio (where he received his bachelor's degree).

On the American Family News Network in October 2012, Jeremiah spoke about the presidential election, saying: “If we have another four years of moral slippage in our national politic [like] we've had in the last four years, it may not be possible for it to be turned around.”

Luke Terpstra, chair of the Hillcrest Town Council, said of the church members: “I hope they don't take to the street corners to condemn us to hell; that would be tacky. It's a free country; that means all of us.”

San Diego LGBT Community Center CEO Dr. Delores Jacobs and a center spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Reader’s request for comment.