Overlake Christian Church

Was here for a concert. The minute your turn off the main road onto their property… The parking lot was so enormous that you couldn’t see the building. You just have to trust that you were going the right way. An overabundance of parking would be an understatement. The front of the building had coverage to keep you out of the weather for easy drop off and there was lots of handicap parking. There was also circular driveway to allow for drop off and pick up. Multiple floors to the building. There’s a nursery preschool and the venue Hall or the chapel. This is a very nice facility.

Modern church seems to mean pablum for the masses.

I have attended this church since I was a young child with my parents, when I grew older I kind of lost touch for a while sadly. I recently started to return to the church and LOVE it here! I love how modern it is and I can actually really relate to all the lessons. They also make it super easy to invite and bring in new people because the service is so well put together. Pastor Mike is amazing and always leads impactful services that really grab people’s attention! The church members are also very welcoming and non judgmental. It is a big church though and can seem intimidating, but everyone is friendly!

I was a member of OCC back in the 1970s in Kirkland and helped it to grow. What it grew into over the years is disappointing to me! My husband asked me to do a Google search to see if OCC still did their Living Christmas Tree and when I saw the reviews, I had to take a closer look. We listened online to the first video sermon by an aging hippie type by the name of Shane Claiborne (his name should have been Shame) who started a New Monasticism commune in Philadelphia. We could only listen to a couple minutes before we went to the next sermon by the Lead Pastor, Mike. I think the only Apologetics he knows is how to apologize for convicting anyone because neither of us saw anything which would go against a «Seeker Friendly» mentality. If you are a Non-​Christian, you might enjoy this church because it now appears to be non-​judgmental and content free. If you are looking for a Christian comedian, Seeker Friendly church who give topical sermons cherry picking Bible verses to support a Liberal agenda, this may be the church for you! I know I could NEVER set foot in this church again, even though I was a member so many years ago. I even went successfully through their Lay Counseling ministry and could have joined their staff. I also attended their Divorce Recovery class back in the early 90s, which ended up being not much more than a Christian «meat market». Most of the men attending were just looking for vulnerable women to date from the class. After reading some other recent reviews, it doesn’t look like that class has changed for the better either. Nope! I won’t be attending OCC again in my lifetime. I have gone back to my roots and am happier listening to expository preaching from the Bible.

Quite judgmental and as fake as fake can get. Pastors who support abusive husbands and try to convince the abused to remain in abusive relationships — no no no. Their recovery ministry on the surface is quite appealing and impressive, and underneath it all are broken people pretending to be what they are not and promoting their own ideals instead of what’s real. This church is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

OCC is an amazing church with a non-​judgmental, highly-​diverse, loving, and all-​inclusive vibe. They’re very casual with no pressure to dress up to feel like you’re formal enough to be admitted. You can tell Pastor Mike’s heart is genuine, which is so important. There’s no pressure whatsoever for visitors; just a free gift on the way out and a feeling that you’re welcome anytime when and if you visit again. They help in any way they can and I’ve, even, heard of them helping families out with groceries. They really care. This church is a great presence of positivity and love!

Updating since we’ve now been attending OCC regularly for over a year (since Jan 2012), have taken a couple group studies and now host a home group.
Why I think OCC is a great church: 1) authenticity — this church walks its talk and puts its money where it’s mouth is, supporting countless local and global outreach missions; 2) leadership — Pastor Mike is so genuine, & humble. He doesn’t preach, but shares his faith in Christ and teaches others in a non-​judgmental, loving manner; 3) pastoral staff — OCC has a big flock and they provide a large staff to meet the needs of the church. I love that Pastor Mike shares the pulpit with the other pastors because it’s let me discover they are all such big-​hearted, gifted pastors; 4) worship — I love the worship service, the music is great; it draws me in and helps me connect with God on many levels. The messages are relevant, fortified by scripture always move me. 5) LifeGROUPS — let’s face it — whether you are a huge church or not, you can’t develop meaningful relationships with others in an hour or two a week. These groups provide settings in homes where you get to know your group members more intimately. Through Pastor Pat and others, the church trains the leaders, mentors them and stays connected.
I am a fan of more contemporary, casual churches but I also want a church that challenges me and helps me grow in my relationships with God and others. For me, OCC does this very authentically and passionately.

AMAZING people, great children’s ministry. Love love the sermons. Lots of ways to get involved in the church. They have amazing coffee. They have their feet in lots of different ministries to get involved in. Amazing amazing kid groups for all ages. From newborn to college level.

Members of this church kept showing at my doorstep to «witness» me, even though I made it quite clear I’m not interested. In the interest of «saving me», they kept showing up to point where I stopped answering the door.
I ended up writing a letter to their pastor asking them to stop coming by my home. I am feeling harassed and completely annoyed. If they have to drag you to the church it’s not worship. It’s more like an institution. I also had run ins with other church members over a real estate deal several years later. They stole items from the home I purchased from them. I just felt that the church’s message is disingenuous with the mainstream Christian faith.

Met up with friends to the Apple Cup this year & watched the Huskies Win !!

Went with my mom this morning for the 9:30 service. Visiting from out of town. First time at the church. I loved the sermon by pastor. Very relevant and well presented. The church is HUGE!!! If my kids were with me they would have loved it. Tons to do for them. Highly recommend.

I am a little biased as this is my childhood church:) J Team member right here!!!
Seemingly large new Church, this place has grown beyond anything imaginable! I was already impressed at how large the original church was, the now City Church in Kirkland. This place would exceed anyones image, so unlike and almost unfathomable.
The service and sermon is very modern, which it was to an extent back in the Pastor Morehead days. A non-​denominational church, you can’t really go wrong:)

Had a great experience at Overlake. Visiting with a friend. Would recommend this church to anyone.

As someone who (along with my wife) have visited nearly every church in the area. Overlake is the first church we really felt at home at. After so much church hopping it was great to find a pastor that taught deep, faithfilled messages without adding human bias into the mix. And making it so easy to apply to our own lives.
The music is fantastic and God centered and we found it so easy to get connected to a lifegroup and form lasting friendships.
It’s an amazing church and if you are a church hopper like we used to be… you need to try this place. And make the effort to get connected into a group. Don’t just be a «church goer»

Overlake is a large church located in Redmond, close to Woodinville, Kirkland and Sammamish. There are programs available from infants to senior but, I can only speak on their Student Life ministries.
I have been involved in the Student Ministries for awhile now and I love it! The Wednesday night worship and group life are amazing. Pastor Rory always gives the best sermons and the worship music cannot be beat! SM should make a worship CD (Overlake has a few CD’s!). The leaders for the small groups are amazing and so invested in their kids lives. I have never felt so much love in such a small place.
I LOVE Overlake!

It’s no secret that Overlakes building is huge. One would expect such a place to be cold, and impersonal. It’s actually quite the opposite. I’ve been to other large churches and have just felt like a number and haven’t gotten to know anyone. When entering the building you are always greeted with many smiling faces and hello’s.
OCC is great in that they have many lifegroups that promote the coming together outside of Sunday services, to fellowship and share faith.
I’ve been going to OCC since this past summer and Mike has been the only pastor, so I can’t speak for how the church was in the past according to previous reviewers. Mike is one of the best teachers I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. He teaches straight from the bible and I leave every time having learned something new or gained some extra insight.
Music wise, OCC has a great band and singers that inspire you to worship and praise God through song. It’s a great start and end to service.
OCC’s motto is that of Love God, Love People, Serve the World. And so they do and I’m proud to be a part of that.

I really like Overlake. It’s got a lot to offer to those who are prefer to mega​-churches​.It has a huge parking lot, with a shuttle bus service for those who park farther away, an espresso stand, a church store, a gym, a children and a teen service. It can be very overwhelming if you’re used to a smaller more intimate environment, but I definitely feel at home when I come here. The only draw back is the building is a little hard to map out and it’s constantly packed. Getting in and finding a good seat can be a little difficult.

I am not Christian, so I don’t typically go to church. But even I know that this place looks more like a convention center than a house of God.

This place was pretty amazing when they had a homosexual pastor. Top notch musical talent weekly heard here. And you could date a different church girl every night of the week and never worry about running into her on Sunday morning /​evening /​Wednesday service /​Saturday night service.
Well as 2012 approaches fast and furiously they’d better pass the offering plate more than the six or seven times they’re doing now and take the money and run.
Meet the Anunnaki. Our creators. Here’s where we find out what that bible verse, «Let US make man in our image,» means. But I’m not so sure we should be too nice to them. There are over 4,000 genetic defects in the human body all because they were in a hurry and so we get cancer, downs syndrome, diabetes and on and on…

OCC became less of a church after Pastor Bob Moorehead. He was an awesome pastor with great style. Too bad he had to be an alleged pervert.
Pastor Rick came in and was the politician of pastors and the place turned into a slick godless mega church. I will say that I have not attended since Pastor Mike took over, but I doubt that the environment has gotten any better.
The chapel is a friggin stadium that’s impersonal and sets the stage for gawdy flashing lights, slick projections and other tacky over-​production that give christianity a bad name. I’m pretty sure they’re spending a small fortune on multimedia, marketing and PR. It just makes me sick. It’s so impersonal, disingenuous and hypocritical.
Their worship style is so awful. They have a small orchestra (what the hell for!!!) and their choir is so so so bad. Instead of doing actual choral songs that might sound good even with their all-​inclusive no-​talent choir, they do awful contemporary choral songs complete with dance moves. It’s so cheesy! Plus, their choir has about 100 members but they amplify them with MICROPHONES! So not only are they unnecessarily louder, you can hear more clearly how bad they are. I can hear individuals shout singing. The whole POINT of a choir is that the sound blends.
And they also continue the awful fad of featuring a showy singer during offering. I came here to praise god (or be forced to by my family), not to worship some fame seeker and stroke their ego about how awesome they sing.
One thing I did like was their periodic collection of monies for people in need. I just hope they really gave it to those in need.
I will never attend this church again since it was built with such excess and lavishness that makes it impossible to teach humility and humbleness. Tithed funds should not be used towards gilding the chapel doors.