Learn. Love. Serve.
On a quiet stretch of West Valencia Mesa Drive in Fullerton, Emmanuel Episcopal Church makes an unusual first impression. The sanctuary is hexagonal, and the altar sits on the floor in the middle of the room rather than against a wall. On a Sunday morning you will hear three Hallelujahs sung in a row, and you may need to set aside a few extra minutes when the peace is passed. Emmanuel has been described, even by its own people, as "not your average Episcopal Church," and the building and the bulletin reflect that from the first visit.
The congregation's short motto is three words: Learn. Love. Serve. The welcome is famously broad. "We are big huggers," the church says, and the list of people welcomed includes "Asian, Hispanic, Black, or White, male or female or transgender. Three days, thirty years, or 103 years old. Buddhist, Roman Catholic, agnostic, or a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church. Single, married, divorced, separated, or partnered, straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual." The same statement is repeated in nearly every description of the parish, because at Emmanuel it really is the point.
A Hexagonal Sanctuary and a Twelve-Point Compass
Emmanuel lists what it calls its "12 Points of Light." Together they describe a community shaped by the gifts of the Holy Spirit rather than by inherited expectation.
- The Holy Spirit is alive and well, and living at Emmanuel.
- Emmanuel is an inclusive and welcoming congregation.
- The congregation is home to the three-fold Hallelujah, sung three times in a row.
- The sanctuary is hexagonal with the altar in the center.
- The altar is on the floor in the middle of the sanctuary.
- The priest sits in a pew during the Liturgy of the Word, not in a special chair.
- The congregation likes to sing.
- Passing the peace may take five minutes or more.
- Emmanuel is a place of healing.
- Emmanuel believes in the power of prayer.
- Emmanuel is spirit-led and grace-filled.
- Emmanuel believes love is a verb.
The shape of the room, the absence of a chancel step, and the pew where the priest sits are not architectural quirks for their own sake. They are meant to break down the distance between pulpit and pew, between clergy and lay people, between worship leader and worshipper. The traditional form of Episcopal liturgy is followed, but the feel is casual and contemporary. People laugh, cry, pray silently, are prayed for, sing loud, clap their hands, dance in the aisles, sit quietly, or do all of the above.
From the YMCA to Valencia Mesa
Emmanuel began in 1963, when Father Paul Edwards was appointed by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to plant a new church during the population explosion that followed the 1950s in north Orange County. The first Eucharist was celebrated at the North Orange County YMCA. Three acres of land were purchased on Valencia Mesa Drive, and in 1970 the hexagonal sanctuary was built.
Father Paul served for thirty-two years as the first rector. After a sudden and profound spiritual experience, he became a leader in the Episcopal charismatic movement of the 1970s, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit became a permanent part of Emmanuel's identity. In 1983 he was joined by Father Rob Bethancourt, a young priest, musician, husband and father. Together they were known as the "Grace Brothers," and under their ministry Emmanuel grew into a Spirit-filled, outreach-minded community.
Father Paul retired in 1995. Mother Lyn Crow joined Father Rob as associate, serving until his retirement in 2007 after thirty-four years of ministry. Mother Lyn's gifts of music, prayer, contemplation and compassion shaped the next chapter. The Reverend Holly Cardone arrived in 2019 as Emmanuel's third rector. She encouraged the Emmanuel Community Garden, which now grows fruit and vegetables for local food banks, and she navigated the parish through the COVID-19 epidemic, introducing streaming worship through Facebook and Zoom and daily prayer and Bible studies through Zoom. She also started the "Parking Lot Pulpit," where services were held outdoors with congregants sitting on folding chairs beside their cars.
The Reverend Bill Garrison served as Interim Rector beginning in 2023, following ten years as Rector of St. Matthias in Whittier. In 2026, the Reverend Hart T. Roussel joined Emmanuel as the church's Priest in Charge. A native of Louisiana, Father Hart was ordained a Roman Catholic deacon in 1988, was received into The Episcopal Church in 1996, was ordained a deacon in The Episcopal Church in 2024, and was ordained a priest in 2025. He holds an MA in Theology from the Catholic University of America, an Executive MBA from the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, and a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Bloy House. He retired in 2026 from a career in university advancement, having served Claremont Graduate University, Western University of Health Sciences, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Fullerton.
Sunday Mornings at Nine
Holy Eucharist is celebrated every Sunday at 9:00 a.m. in the sanctuary. For those who cannot attend in person, the service is also streamed on Facebook. Worshippers are sent out, in the church's own words, "renewed, reinvigorated and revived, to spread the love of Jesus everywhere you go."
What to expect: a Spirit-filled service grounded in ancient ritual with a contemporary spin. The homily is preached from the floor rather than from an elevated pulpit. The priest sits in a pew during the Liturgy of the Word. The passing of the peace is unhurried, so plan on lingering. After the service, coffee hour is held in Havermale Hall. Parishioners talk about being welcomed with smiles and hugs, and about being folded into the community quickly by people who mean it.
There is no published dress code. Worshippers describe everything from jeans and sandals to Sunday best and heels; one long-time member summed it up as a place "where people wore tie-dye and sandals, and dressed up in their Sunday best and put on their high heels and lipstick." Visitors who would rather stay home can join online; the church notes that "if church in your pj's is your speed, you can join us on Facebook."
The Long Peace and the Threefold Hallelujah
Two small details define Emmanuel's worship for first-time visitors. The first is the threefold Hallelujah: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, sung three times in a row. It began as a charismatic marker and has become a signature. The second is the passing of the peace. At many Episcopal parishes the exchange is brief; at Emmanuel it can stretch past five minutes as people move around the hexagonal sanctuary greeting one another, laying hands, and praying. Newcomers are folded in rather than waved past.
Healing is taken seriously. People may be prayed for during the service, and the parish lists prayer as one of its twelve points of light. A Prayer Request form on the parish channels requests to the prayer chain.
Wednesdays: Midday Prayer, Bible Study, and Taizé
Wednesdays carry their own rhythm. Father Bill Garrison's Bible Study meets on Zoom at 11:00 a.m.; a study packet is available in advance, and noon prayer follows the Bible study for those who want to stay.
Beginning in October, Fr. Hart offers a brief midday worship in the sanctuary from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. When the priest is unavailable, a designated lay person leads a midday prayer service in the same half-hour. It is built for people who need a moment of quiet or a spiritual lift in the middle of the week.
On the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 p.m., the sanctuary hosts a Taizé prayer service. Taizé is an ecumenical prayer practice that grew out of the community founded in 1941 by Brother Roger Schütz in Burgundy, France, weaving meditative singing, scripture, brief readings, extended silence, and prayer. Emmanuel began offering Taizé worship with the help of one of its own parishioners, Karen Carr, who envisioned a L'Arche community in Orange County. Father Rob Bethancourt, Mother Lyn Crow, Karen, and others offered the first Taizé services together, and they have been a fixture ever since.
Men's Bible Study on Saturday Mornings
On Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., Pastor Don Koepke leads a men's Bible study over Zoom. The group studies the gospel text for the coming Sunday, so the conversation carries directly into the next morning's Eucharist.
Carolyn Cardamis and the Collects
One quiet ministry at Emmanuel is the writing of Carolyn Cardamis, a parishioner whose original collects are shared on the parish site. They are original prayers in the collect form: petitions addressed to the Father, shaped around a single image or metaphor, and closing with "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Amen." They are read for their devotion as much as their craft.
Million Meals and a Dream of Lew Lardie
Outreach is funded separately from Emmanuel's operating budget. Donations to the General Outreach Fund are kept apart from regular giving, and a parish General Outreach Committee decides where the money goes.
The largest of these programs is Million Meals. It began in the 1980s, when the late Emmanuel parishioner and former Senior Warden Lew Lardie, a retired Procter and Gamble executive, set a goal of feeding more than one million people. The method is simple and communal. Small containers are placed where families eat, and coins are dropped in at every meal. A few times a year the parish holds a Million Meals Ingathering, when containers are returned and the coins counted. Emmanuel has now provided more than 9.5 million meals through the program.
L'Arche Wavecrest
L'Arche Wavecrest is a home in the city of Orange where developmentally disabled adults live with others from the Christian community. It grew out of a vision first shared with Father Paul Edwards by Emmanuel parishioner Karen Carr and was founded in 1995 with Father Rob Bethancourt, Mother Lyn Crow, and Karen on the planning team. Mother Lyn later served on the founding board. L'Arche is an international federation of 159 communities in 38 countries, and Emmanuel continues to support L'Arche Wavecrest as part of L'Arche USA and L'Arche International.
Pathways of Hope and the Community Garden
Pathways of Hope began in 1975 as Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Service (FIES), a ministry to people in Fullerton who were housing- and food-insecure. Today Pathways of Hope runs three shelters, rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, homeless prevention services, and housing for chronically homeless and medically fragile individuals. The organization also operates "The Hub," a food pantry in Fullerton, with additional pantries at Fullerton Community College and Cypress College.
Emmanuel partners with Pathways of Hope in several ways. The Emmanuel Community Garden supplies The Hub with fresh fruit and vegetables grown by parishioners. Emmanuel also collects backpacks filled with school supplies for Fullerton K-12 students and runs drives for socks, blankets, hygiene kits, and non-perishable food, particularly during the holidays. Donations for Pathways of Hope can be made through Emmanuel by writing "Pathways of Hope" on the memo line of a check made out to the parish.
Laundry Love
Laundry Love partners with local laundromats to help people who are struggling financially wash their clothes. Emmanuel joins with Blessed Sacrament in Placentia in this community ministry. Donations can be made through Emmanuel by writing "Laundry Love" on the memo line of a check made out to the parish.
Emmanuel Early Learning Center
Sharing the campus is Emmanuel Early Learning Center, a preschool that has been part of parish life for decades. One long-time parishioner, Elizabeth, described her thirty-year ministry at Emmanuel Preschool as a place where she "received more than I could ever give." The center operates as a separate organization but is identified by Emmanuel as part of its ministry footprint.
Pastoral Care and Prayer
The parish takes pastoral care seriously. "It is better that we hear twice rather than not at all," and anyone who knows of a need is asked to contact the clergy or the parish office. A prayer request form on the parish site channels requests to the prayer chain. Office hours are Monday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tuesday 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The phone number is 714-879-8070, and the parish administrator can be reached at emmanueloffice1145@gmail.com.
The Welcome, in Their Own Words
Every page on the Emmanuel site closes with the same line. "We welcome you and want you to know that God loves you. No exceptions." The parish is a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and is part of The Episcopal Church, a tradition that has ordained women to the priesthood since 1976 and has called women to serve as bishops, including Barbara Harris, the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion in 1989, and Katharine Jefferts Schori, who became the Presiding Bishop in 2006. Emmanuel has long identified with that stream of the church's life, and the people who come through its doors reflect it.
Sunday is at 9:00 a.m., the sanctuary is hexagonal, the altar is on the floor, and the Hallelujahs come in threes. For more than six decades, that has been enough to make Emmanuel feel like home in Fullerton.