On a quiet stretch of Knollwood Drive in Newbury Park, a stretch of Conejo Valley ringed by hiking trails that climb toward the Pacific, Newbury Park First Christian Church has been gathering families for sixty years. A Sunday morning here means two worship services, a packed Kids Church, teenagers serving alongside adults, and a livestream that reaches far past the zip code. The church describes its mission in plain language: helping people find and follow Jesus. Everything from the children's curriculum to the Celebrate Recovery meetings, from the Rooted small group experience to the long-running partnership with an orphanage in Mexico, lines up under that one purpose.
Six Decades on Knollwood Drive
The congregation marked its sixtieth year in October 2025 with a special service titled Dream On: Celebrating 60 Years, preached by Lead Pastor Ken LaMont. The anniversary looked backward at a generation of founders who risked a great deal to purchase the property the church still calls home, and forward to a renovated Auditorium made possible by the Press On campaign, a sweeping audio, video, and lighting overhaul of the main worship space. The 1995-built auditorium had served the church well beyond its expected lifespan, but by the late 2010s the aging infrastructure was starting to distract from the message. Leadership worked with CCI Solutions to design a complete system replacement, and Phase 1 of that project has been completed.
The campus sits on a single site at 801 Knollwood Drive and includes the Auditorium where Sunday services happen, the Family Life Center where much of the children's and student ministry unfolds, and a lower parking lot that, every October, transforms into a Halloween hub for Trunk or Treat. The lower lot backs up to a hiking trail that connects directly to Sycamore Cove Beach, and each year the whole church uses that connection during Round Up Sunday, hiking, running, or biking down to the coast for an evening of baptisms in the surf.
Two Services, One Livestream, Communion Together
Sunday mornings gather at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., both in-person in the Auditorium. The 10:30 a.m. service is also broadcast live in three places: a dedicated Online Living Room with an interactive chat and live hosts, the church's YouTube channel, and its Facebook page. The Online Living Room is designed to feel like a gathering rather than a broadcast; hosts pray for prayer requests in real time, and the chat box keeps attendees in conversation throughout the service.
The worship team, called Encounter Praise, draws on a blend of celebratory and reflective modern music. Songs range from energetic congregational favorites to intimate, responsive moments. Communion is celebrated together during services, and online attendees are invited to prepare bread and juice ahead of time so the whole church can take the elements at the same moment. Those tuning in via YouTube or Facebook are encouraged to cast the stream to a TV for the best experience, while still keeping the Online Living Room open on a phone or laptop for community features.
Biblical, expository preaching runs alongside the music. Messages are described by the church as deeply biblical and rich with relevant application, designed to encourage and challenge followers of Jesus as they live out their faith during the week.
Kids Church on Sunday Mornings
Children from birth through fifth grade have a full program running during both Sunday services. Families check in downstairs in the Family Life Center lobby, and from there kids are walked to age-appropriate rooms.
- Nursery (0 to 36 months) welcomes babies and toddlers into a space designed for more than babysitting. Volunteers pray for little ones by name, and a Nursing Mom's room is available for mothers who want a private spot during the service.
- Preschool (3 years through Kindergarten) begins with an Opening Assembly in room F12, where preschoolers join the elementary kids for worship and a welcome, then head to their own hallway for a puppet-led Bible story and hands-on activities.
- Elementary (1st through 5th grade) gathers in F12 for the Opening Assembly, then breaks into grade-level Bible study groups, large group worship, object lessons, games, and memory verse work.
Security is taken seriously. Every volunteer on the Kids Team is background checked and must complete a detailed application. Classroom doors are locked from the outside, a safety team is on site, and parents receive a security receipt required for pickup. Children earn Kingdom Points for reciting memory verses and bringing Bibles, which they can spend at the Kingdom Store held one or two times a month.
Parents looking for at-home reinforcement can find weekly take-home sheets, coloring pages, and memory verse lists published for each Sunday and Wednesday lesson on the Kids Online page. A whole library of recommended family devotionals, parenting resources, and kids Bible apps rounds out the curriculum for use at home during the week.
LIFT on Wednesday Nights
From September through April, children ages three and a half through fifth grade return midweek for LIFT, a program that runs from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center gym. The evening opens with an all-ages assembly featuring worship songs, games, and the weekly memory verse, then breaks into rotating small groups for Bible story, science, and snack time. Registration runs $50 per child or $130 per family max for the semester, and includes a tote, a t-shirt, a memory verse punch card, and a closing ceremony with awards.
Children's Ministry is led by Crystal Stenner as Children's Ministry Director and Anna Milbourn as Ministry Coordinator, with elder oversight from Sean Johnson. The church also holds twice-yearly Child Dedications in May and November, parent-and-child baptism classes, and a high-energy Vacation Bible School week each summer for ages three and a half through fifth grade.
Impact YTH for Students
Middle and high school students are intentionally woven into the larger church body on Sunday mornings but have their own dedicated midweek gathering called Impact YTH. The student ministry exists to create transformative opportunities for young people to encounter God through worship and discipleship, to foster authentic Christ-centered community, and to extend compassion to others.
Impact YTH meets for a midweek hangout where students connect with friends and volunteer leaders, hear an engaging lesson, and break into gender- and age-specific small groups. On Sundays, students are encouraged to serve in roles alongside adults, building intergenerational community. Overnight trips, including winter and summer camps, weekend retreats, and mission trips, give students the chance to grow in faith and form lifelong friendships. Students also take on service projects and special gatherings throughout the year.
Every volunteer who works with students is vetted through the Ministry Triangle, including an interview with the staff member, the elder, and the ministry coordinator, and a background check. Student Ministry is currently coordinated by Ryan Dowding, with Juan Palomino as staff lead and George Wu as elder.
Life Groups, Rooted, and the Round Up
The heart of adult discipleship is the Life Group network. Life Groups are small gatherings of about six to fourteen people who meet weekly for one to two hours, with a leader who facilitates open, respectful conversation around Scripture and life. Many groups share meals, serve together, and stay in touch between meetings. Childcare solutions vary: some groups have none, others share sitters or take turns hosting.
For those just starting out, Rooted is a ten-week small group experience designed to ground participants in the essentials of the faith, build community, and send them out into the church's ongoing ministry. Rooted runs two to three times a year and includes a suggested donation of $30 per person to cover materials, snacks, and a closing celebration dinner. Each Rooted cohort includes a Prayer Experience held at Conejo Creek Park and a Serve Experience that connects participants to local mission work.
Twice a year, the whole church gathers for Round Up Sunday. The day begins with a single unified worship service at 10:00 a.m. and continues down the trail to Sycamore Cove Beach, where the church celebrates with a barbecue, baptisms in the ocean, and a sunset worship service. Hikers, runners, and bikers travel in three groups with guides, supplies, and first aid; those who prefer not to hike can drive to the beach and meet the rest of the church there.
Men's Ministry: Breakfasts, Retreats, and Service Teams
Men's Ministry is built around the conviction that men are stronger together. Scott Bauwens serves as Ministry Coordinator, with Ken LaMont as staff and John Grubaugh as elder. Regular touchpoints include monthly Men's Breakfasts with a guest speaker, a senior men's table that gathers the third Thursday of each month at Pickles Restaurant, two to three Bible studies a year, a Monday night Bible Study Fellowship group hosted at NPFCC from 6:50 to 8:30 p.m., annual retreats at Angeles Crest Christian Camp in April and Hume Lake in October, and Run for God, a couch-to-5K group that combines running with Bible study.
Service teams channel that energy outward. On the first Wednesday of each month, volunteers meet at the church parking lot at 3:00 p.m. to help serve meals at the Ventura County Rescue Mission. On the first Friday of each month, a team cooks at the Family Life Center at 3:00 p.m. and serves a hot meal to residents at the nearby Premier Inn at 4:45 p.m. Other teams help with church repair and maintenance and ad-hoc helping hands projects.
Mentorship @NPFCC connects men with other believers who can encourage, challenge, and hold them accountable as they follow Jesus, lead their families, and serve their neighbors.
Women's Ministry: Bible Studies, Sewing, and the Outdoors
Women's Ministry, led by Ministry Coordinator Kellie Ayon with staff oversight from Crystal Stenner and elder support from Scott Bauwens, provides a wide range of ways for women to build life-giving relationships. Two Bible study options run on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings during the school year, alongside a campus-wide Monday night BSF group for both men and women. The Sew What group meets in the Family Life Center every Wednesday morning from 9:00 a.m. to noon, sewing quilts for Senior Concerns Meals on Wheels and the Ventura Rescue Mission, layettes for the Ohana Health Clinic, and pillowcases for Ryan's Case for Smiles.
Other recurring rhythms include Moms Meet Up, a Friday morning gathering for moms of young children, Cooking with Linda, a Ladies Night Out, a weekly women's hike called Trails for Prayers that meets the first and third Fridays, and seasonal paddleboarding on Wednesdays during the summer. A meal train network lets women ask for or offer meals when a friend is in need.
Worship and the Encounter Praise Collective
Music at NPFCC is anchored in Colossians 3:16: Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. The church's aim is to encourage and challenge one another while inviting the indwelling Word of Christ through music, and to see that worship spills out of the Sunday gathering and into the rest of the week.
The worship collective, Encounter Praise, is made up of servant-hearted musicians called and equipped to help the local and global church encounter God through song. In 2022, Encounter Praise released its first live album, Christ Be Magnified (Live), available on major streaming platforms. The collective continues to write and record original music to serve the church. Anyone interested in auditioning for the praise team or the sound, video, or lighting crew is invited to complete the application on the Encounter Praise page.
Celebrate Recovery
Friday nights at NPFCC belong to Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered, gospel-focused program built around eight principles from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The ministry describes itself as recovery that gospel, in motion, the gospel in practice. CR meets every Friday from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., beginning with a shared dinner at 6:00 p.m., followed by a large group session featuring a lesson, personal testimony, or special guest speaker. Open Share Small Groups from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. focus on specific areas such as Hurts, Habits, and Hang-Ups (for men and women), Chemical Dependency (for men and women), and Co-Dependency (for men and women). Newcomers 101 meets in the Ed Center Student Room to help newcomers get connected. The night closes with the Connection Café from 9:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Celebration Place, the children's companion program for ages six through twelve, mirrors the adult curriculum in age-appropriate ways so families can walk through the recovery journey together. Step studies are also available for those ready to dig into the twelve steps. Juan Palomino serves as staff lead, with Chris Syverson as elder.
Missions: Locally and Globally
Compassion is one of three core values, and the church's mission efforts stretch from the immediate neighborhood to the other side of the world.
Local: Every Friday and Saturday morning, volunteers pick up donated food from local Albertsons and Trader Joe's markets and bring it back to the Family Life Center, where other volunteers set up a food pantry open to the community at 9:00 a.m. The pantry offers fresh produce, bread, milk, cheese, canned goods, and other staples. On at least one Sunday a year, the church partners with a local mobile home park, neighbors, and ACTION to identify needs and mobilize volunteers to meet them, painting schools, doing yard work, and tackling plumbing repairs. A Jail Ministry sends volunteers to the Ventura County Jail to read the Bible, pray, share testimonies, and listen to inmates' stories. The church also supports Ohana Health, a Christian pregnancy clinic in Thousand Oaks that offers free testing, ultrasounds, education, and support.
Global: The Kirschenmann family serves on the board of Niños de Baja, an orphanage in Ejido El Porvenir, a farm town south of the California border that provides a home for children who have been abused or abandoned. NPFCC sends a mission team to Niños nearly every year at spring break and again in early December to deliver Christmas Blessing bags and help with the celebration. Other global partners include international church-planting ministries in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador; TCMII (Haus Edelweiss), an accredited seminary that trains pastors from eastern Europe and central Asia; Hope For Cambodia, which has planted over 150 churches since 1992; White Fields Overseas Evangelism, which supports a church plant in St. Marc, Haiti; and the Anna Enoch Orphanage in Liberia, where pastor Steven Enoch and his wife Anna care for eighty children orphaned by civil war. The church also supports Adopt Hope, Angeles Crest Christian Camp, Hope International University, Stadia church planting, American Rehabilitation Ministries, and Christian Ministry Fellowship International, which runs La Iglesia Nueva Vida (New Life Christian Church) for the urban poor.
Little Steps Preschool
Little Steps Preschool, a ministry of Newbury Park First Christian Church, has been meeting the preschool and childcare needs of the community in a safe, nurturing Christian environment for decades. Clarissa Schuyler leads the school as both pastor and ministry coordinator, with Ken LaMont serving in elder oversight.
Little Steps is open from September through June, following the Conejo Valley Unified School District calendar as closely as possible, and offers summer programs from mid-June to mid-August. Hours run from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for Full Care, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for Extended Care, and 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for Preschool, with a Lunch Buddies option from noon to 1:00 p.m. Families can choose two, three, four, or five days a week. Each day balances outside exploration, cognitive group time, hands-on learning centers, snack, Bible, thematic group time, lunch, nap time, and free choice. Teacher-to-child ratios are kept low, two teachers per ten two-year-olds, and one teacher per ten three- and four-year-olds, so each child is known by name.
Enrollment information is available by emailing Clarissa Schuyler or calling (805) 498-8443 to schedule an appointment.
Volunteering, Next Steps, and Getting Connected
Volunteers are the backbone of NPFCC. The church runs a volunteer interest form on its Elexio Community platform, and every ministry has a triangle of leaders, a volunteer Ministry Coordinator, an elder, and a staff member, who help newcomers find a good fit. A volunteer page lists current openings, and the church encourages new attendees to consider joining a Life Group, signing up for Rooted, or simply coming to the next Next Steps gathering.
Next Steps is a casual lunch hosted in the Encounter Café in room F23 of the Family Life Center. Lead Pastor Ken LaMont shares the church's history, vision, and values, and walks attendees through the opportunities available. Lunch and childcare are provided.
Those ready to give can do so online through the church's giving platform, where recurring and one-time gifts can be directed to the general fund or to specific projects like Press On. The church also publishes weekly financial snapshots and annual ministry reports for transparency.
What the Church Believes
NPFCC holds a brief, plainly written statement of faith built around seven core doctrines. The church believes in one God, who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all-powerful, all-knowing, and completely loving and just. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, was miraculously conceived, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, was crucified, died, was buried, resurrected, and ascended to heaven, where He will return. The Holy Spirit lives within every believer, teaching truth, developing Christ's character, and giving spiritual gifts for the building up of the body. The Bible is the written revelation of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, trustworthy, and the final authority for faith and life. All people are created in God's image, with inherent value, and all have sinned and broken their relationship with God. Salvation is a gift from God, received by trusting in Jesus Christ, demonstrated by believing, repenting, confessing, and being baptized by immersion. The church is not a building but the community of believers, gathered locally to encounter God, build community, and extend His compassion to the world. Church membership is open to baptized followers of Jesus who commit to faithful attendance, giving, and service.
The Heart of the Church
NPFCC describes itself as a beautiful mess, full of imperfect people relying on grace as they find and follow Jesus. Visitors are encouraged to come as they are, not as they think the church would accept them. The congregation looks like family, and family is sometimes messy, but the church insists that everyone needs a place they can call home. That conviction shapes everything from the Sunday welcome to the way Rooted groups pray for one another, from the food pantry on Saturday mornings to the late-night text thread of life group leaders. Whether someone arrives on a Sunday morning with a Bible in hand, a newborn in the nursery, or simply a question about who Jesus is, the church's posture is the same: open hands, open arms, and a willingness to walk the road together.