Check Out Curt Beeson’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Curt Beeson.

Hi Curt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in the LA area. In fact, my family has deep roots in LA. Grandparents (LA High School, Manual Arts HS), Parents (Westchester HS, North Hollywood HS), and all of my parents and grandparents went to USC. I was born in Inglewood and grew up primarily in Palos Verdes (PVHS class of 1986). I went to USC and met my wife there (Married in 1990 – just celebrated our 35th anniversary). I studied business and started work as a financial analyst in the early 90’s. During that time I volunteered in our church and grew to love Youth Ministry. I discovered that there were career opportunities in the church, and began to dream about a future life in ministry. In 1994 I had a watershed moment – I was offered a Youth Ministry full-time position in Hawaii and also a new job opportunity in LA. I followed my dream and accepted the Youth Ministry job, which began my 30+ career in ministry. We were in Hawaii for 2 1/2 years, then moved to Quincy, CA (in Sierra Nevada mountains north of Lake Tahoe), where we ministered for 18+ years. During our stays in LA in the early 90’s our first 2 daughters were born. In Hawaii, our 3rd daughter and 1st son were born. Then in Quincy our 2nd son was born. Yep – 5 kids. Life was full of school, sports, and mountain living. We were blessed! In 2015, I was offered the Senior Pastor position at The Rock Covenant Church in Manhattan Beach. We accepted and have been serving there for the past 10 years. Our life in LA is incredible. 3 of our adult children (and 1 grandchild) and their spouses live close by in LA. Our daughter lives in NYC and is going to be married this October. Our youngest son lives in Scott’s Valley.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The early struggle was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and career. USC gave me great skills in business, but my passion was in the church. The struggle early was to figure out how to leave the business world and start in church ministry while raising a family. God directed out path to Hawaii (serving at the church where Lori, my wife, grew up). Hawaii were tough years trying to raise a family in a beautiful, yet isolating, setting. We learned a lot about ourselves and discovered we wanted to be closer to family in CA. Later in ministry years I felt a call to Senior Leadership in church ministry. Although we loved our community in Quincy, there was not the opportunity we desired. This was a struggle for a few years while our kids finished High School and we lacked vision for the future. The opportunity at The Rock was exciting and hard at the same time. We had an incredible opportunity, yet had to leave a community we loved. The decision to move back to LA was the best decision possible. Being close to our parents, our children, and the city we love was exactly the right move.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m the Senior Pastor at The Rock Covenant Church in Manhattan Beach. My role involves preaching, teaching, leading small groups, caring spiritually for people individually, and leading the vision of our church. I believe I’m known for personal, relational care of people. I’m passionate about God’s vision for community in the church. I love to gather people together in community. In the church world, we can be distracted with seeing numerical growth in churches, budgets, buildings, and generally promoting ourselves. Our vision at The Rock is to be free from cultural expectations and personally care for people in our community and in our church. I’m proud of the fact that we gather during the week in living rooms of people in our church to host Bible Studies, Theology Classes, Prayer Groups, and general community gatherings. People from the community and other churches are welcome to join. I’m super proud of the fact that we minister to whoever is in front of us. I pray that we follow the call of Jesus to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor. What set’s us apart is the freedom to be a small, community church that focuses of who God calls us to be. It turns out that is a small church that sees people come and go, but cares deeply for people while they are with us. We have also seen people from all walks of life worship with us. People from different backgrounds, careers, ethnicities, nationalities, and interests. All gathered together to be the local community of God.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
The Bible is our primary source! I enjoy books written by contemporary Christian authors, as well and authors from past centuries. I’m particularly thankful for Christianity Today’s “Bulletin” podcast. It has been helpful to sort through the Christian faith’s intersection with culture and politics.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rock-church.com
• Instagram: @therockchurchmb
• Facebook: The Rock Covenant Church
• Yelp: The Rock Covenant Church