Anchor Baptist: to exalt our savior

• Anchor Baptist Church
• Contact: 8245 Ronson Road, Suite D, San Diego 619-804-3413 www.anchorbaptistchurchsd.org
• Membership: 45
• Pastor:  David Cajiuat
• Age: 55
• Born: Bajuio, Philippines.
• Formation: Ambassador Baptist College, Shelby, North Carolina
• Years Ordained: 15

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend preparing your sermon?

Pastor David Cajiuat: My sermons are more exegetical—expository and sometimes textual. Occasionally, I’ll also deliver a topical sermon. I spend about six to eight hours preparing, if I have time, during a typical week, on one sermon alone.

SDR: What’s your main concern as a member of the clergy?

PC: There’s been more of a need for revival, a spiritual awakening, not just in our church, but in America as a whole. I would love to see a major spiritual awakening out here on the West Coast. We’ve seen it happen on the East Coast, but nothing has happened on the West Coast. Once a week, one Sunday a week, I am preaching on revival. I urge an awakening to Jesus Christ, to scripture, to holiness, and to a desperate need for prayer and dependency on God, sharing the gospel and soul-winning and dealing with sin.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PC: The last time we talked, I was the pastor of Metro Baptist Church. In 2018, we found this piece of property in Kearny Mesa, and when we found the piece of property, several of our charter members asked if we could change the name of our church since we were going to be changing all our literature anyway, because of the address change. I asked why, and they thought “Metro” had a bad connotation they didn’t care for, so they said that they would rather have the name changed. I brought it up to the church and I said, “If we’re going to change the name, it has to be Biblical, it has to have a reference to Jesus Christ and it had to be apropos to our city.” Someone suggested, “Anchor Baptist Church—Hebrew 6:19.” This verse speaks about Jesus being the anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast. “Anchor” also fits because San Diego is nautical — with the Navy and Coast Guard as well as with the beaches and marinas. It was perfect for us. Our mission is to exalt our savior, win souls by introducing people to our savior, and to build one another up for the cause of Christ. We’re a group of imperfect people seeking to learn more about our perfect savior, Jesus Christ.

SDR: What one book has had the greatest influence on your ministry?

PC: The Knowledge of the Holy and the Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. This writer was a deep, profound thinker, and focused on the substantive spiritual walk with God. The book made me think about having the spiritual knowledge of God in the sense that he is more real than most people think in the superficial scriptural way. We learn from Tozer that one can deeply have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The way he writes is so profound; he’s my favorite earthly writer.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PC: An individual who has placed his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in him alone and his finished redemptive work and the resurrection of Jesus Christ will go to heaven. That’s where I’m going to go. Scripture says in John 3:16, “and whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Luke 16 also makes clear that the one who dies without Jesus Christ spends eternity in hell.