New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Andy Quient

Can First Baptist Church of Santa Ana make a comeback?

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Andy Quient, Churches and Religion, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The First Baptist Church of Santa Ana (FBC) sold their church to Newsong, a modern Christian Church that at the time was based in Irvine, last year. Newsong has since moved their entire operation to that Santa Ana location, at 1010 W. 17th Street.

FBC was slowly fading away when the deal with Newsong was consummated. The congregation was moving away and passing away. And Newsong was eager to expand their operations into Santa Ana. It seemed like a win-win deal.

Now however the remaining FBC congregation appears to be having second thoughts. Continue reading→

Can Newsong bring new life to Santa Ana’s First Baptist Church?

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Editor Posted in Andy Quient, Churches and Religion, Dave Gibbons, Entertainment, irvine, Koreans, Latinos, Santa Ana 6 Comments

Dave Gibbons at First Baptist of Santa Ana

William H. Spurgeon, the founder of the City of Santa Ana, purchased seventy-six acres of land from the Yorba heirs in 1869 and laid out what was to become the Orange County seat. With only six or eight homes in the place and about one hundred fifty souls, thirteen people organized First Baptist Church of Santa Ana on a Saturday in March of 1871, at the local school house.

Services were held in the school house until the first church was built in 1876. The cost was $4000 and it was located on four lots donated by Spurgeon at the corner of Main & Church Streets. The interior was unfinished for a number of years and financial problems were so severe during the first 10 -12 years, that the property was sold for taxes several times. At one point, members mortgaged their homes to pay off the church obligations and one member lost his home because of this. And Santa Ana developed, so did the church. As many members were from surrounding area, certain groups took their letters and established in neighboring cities. Continue reading→

Newsong Church Pastor Dave Gibbons to speak in Santa Ana on 9/5

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in Andy Quient, Churches and Religion, Dave Gibbons, Entertainment, Santa Ana 16 Comments

Newsong Church Pastor Dave Gibbons is going to be present at the Santa Ana First Baptist Bible Study & Potluck set for this Wednesday evening, at 6 pm.

Gibbons will be participating in a Q & A, right after the potluck, at 6:45 pm. Gibbons is also prepared to lead a Bible Study as well. Continue reading→

Dave Gibbons’ Newsong Church gets a second chance to minister in Santa Ana

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in Andy Quient, Arts and Culture, Churches and Religion, Dave Gibbons, Santa Ana 13 Comments

The artists at Downtown Santa Ana’s Santora Building have no idea what they missed out on when they rejected the proposed purchase of that building by the Newsong Church. I found out today that they missed out on more than they could have imagined.

A few weeks ago I approached Pastor Andy Quient, my minister at Santa Ana’s First Baptist Church – a historic congregation that first met in 1872. I knew that Newsong’s minister, Dave Gibbons, had expressed a desire to minister in Santa Ana. I had a feeling that he still felt the same way. Quient’s challenge at First Baptist has been filling a church that has lost many of its parishioners over time. Continue reading→