Heritage Baptist Church sits on three acres along Merced Street in San Leandro, a corner of the East Bay where the city gives way to residential blocks and the rhythm of weekly services has marked the neighborhood since 1999. The campus holds roughly 44,000 square feet of worship, classroom, and office buildings, and it stays busy every day of the week with classes, choirs, youth gatherings, and Bible studies for every age from the nursery through college. A second congregation meets about thirty minutes away in West Contra Costa, and the church describes its heartbeat as reaching the Bay Area with the gospel of Jesus Christ while strengthening the people already inside its doors.
From a Prayer Meeting in 1999 to a Three-Acre Campus
Heritage Baptist Church began with its first service in January 1999 in downtown Oakland. It grew through several locations as a small group of believers worked and gave to put down roots, eventually settling on the Merced Street property in San Leandro that the church still calls home. The story the church tells of itself is intentionally plain: growth has come not from special programs or personalities, but from what it describes as faithfulness to Bible principles. The San Leandro campus was assembled over years of sacrifice by the congregation, and the property has become the hub for a wide range of ministries that run throughout the week.
Dr. Alan Fong, who had been part of the core group that helped plant the church, was called as senior pastor in November 2004. Raised in a Roman Catholic home and saved in 1971, he came into the pastorate after years of lay ministry and the mentorship of several independent fundamental Baptist pastors. He is the author of the daily devotional My God Morning and the new-believer book The Right Start, and he serves on boards connected to church planting and overseas missions.
Sundays and Wednesdays on Merced Street
Visitors who arrive on a Sunday will find a full morning waiting for them. Heritage holds two morning worship services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., followed by an evening service at 5:00 p.m. The Wednesday gathering combines prayer with a service at 7:00 p.m. Each service is livestreamed online and archived so that people who cannot be there in person can still follow along or catch up later.
The atmosphere is described as friendly, with inspiring music and strong, Bible-centered preaching. There is no dress code. Ministry leaders and many members wear traditional Sunday clothes, but guests are welcome in whatever they have on. First-time visitors are not expected to give; the offering is reserved for members and regular attendees who consider Heritage their church home. The church describes its goal for guests simply: that they would find a warm family spirit, truth from God's Word, and a place to grow in grace.
When you pull into the lot, parking attendants will help you find a space and direct you to the Heritage Center, where a hospitality greeter will meet you and help your family get where you need to be. The church provides a printable visitor map so you can see the layout ahead of time.
Kid Avenue: From Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Heritage's children's ministry is called Kid Avenue, and it runs on every service hour. The nurseries serve newborns through three-year-olds during the 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Sunday services, the 5:00 p.m. Sunday evening service, and the 7:00 p.m. Wednesday service, so parents can attend any gathering on the weekly schedule.
Preschool and kindergarten classes meet at 8:30 a.m. and again at 10:00 a.m., with Bible songs, stories, crafts, and memory verses designed for four- and five-year-olds. First through fifth graders come together for a combined class at 8:30 a.m. with singing, games, and a Bible lesson, then split into separate boys' and girls' classes at 10:00 a.m. for the second hour. Safety and check-in procedures are in place at every age level. Children's Director Daniel Lee oversees the program.
On Saturday afternoons, Heritage runs GLOW, a free club for K5 through fifth graders that meets from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. on the San Leandro campus. GLOW features singing, games, and a Bible lesson focused on character, and it is led by Quang and Sherry Ta.
Teens, Middle Schoolers, and the Youth Floor
The youth ministry at Heritage meets teens in middle school, high school, and the in-between years. Sunday Bible Groups for middle and high schoolers meet at 8:30 a.m., and high school teens gather again on Friday nights at 7:00 p.m. for Youth Fellowship, a weekly alternative to the weekend that the church describes as a safe place to make friends and grow spiritually. Middle schoolers meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. and again on Sunday mornings through a ministry called Fellowship 412, designed to give younger teens a constant community during the years of physical and emotional change.
Youth Pastor Amado Tadiarca Jr. leads the ministry alongside a team of volunteers. The church says the program is built to help teens know and embrace truth in a culture full of confusion, and to give them a place to grow in biblical courage and wisdom no matter where they are in their faith journey.
The College Group: Saturdays and Sundays for Students
College students from across the Bay Area and from out of town find a home at Heritage through a ministry that meets twice a week. Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. bring a Bible study built around school, faith, work, and family, with conversation aimed at helping students apply God's truth to everyday life. Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. are reserved for College Fellowship, a lighter gathering with games and a practical Bible lesson meant to lighten the load during exam season and the long weeks of the semester.
College Director Erwin Gutierrez and his wife Kat, along with Carlo and Cindy Pineda, lead the group. The church frames the ministry as a counterweight to the peer pressure students face, and as a place to deepen faith in Jesus Christ.
Five Growth Groups for Adults
Heritage organizes most of its adult discipleship around Sunday morning Growth Groups, smaller classes where members study the Bible together and apply it to the season of life they are in. Five groups meet every Sunday:
- ACTS (Career Growth Group) for young single adults, meeting at 8:30 a.m. with weekly gatherings, monthly service opportunities, and quarterly activities.
- Cornerstone, meeting at 8:30 a.m., a community that seeks to strengthen the walk with Christ and with one another week by week.
- Higher Ground, meeting at 10:00 a.m., a family-style class that combines Bible study with regular activities and lasting friendships.
- Heirs Together, meeting at 10:00 a.m., a group of couples who want to grow closer to their spouse and children by following Christ in everyday life.
- Homebuilders, meeting at 10:00 a.m., a small group of families learning from God's Word how to build individual lives, marriages, and children according to God's plan.
For people who want to go further, the Discipleship ministry offers the New Foundations Class, a one-on-one or small-group course that pairs new or growing believers with an experienced Christian for guided study. The curriculum walks through twenty-six lessons, from Assurance through Zion, covering the basics of Christian doctrine and daily walk.
The West Contra Costa Campus
About thirty minutes from San Leandro, Heritage Baptist Church of West Contra Costa meets at the Little Tree Montessori International School on Tassajara Avenue in El Cerrito. Coffee is served at 10:30 a.m., and the worship service begins at 11:00 a.m. The church describes the gathering as Christ-exalting worship with an encouraging Bible message, and visitors can plan a visit or watch past services online to get a feel for the ministry.
Heritage en Español y 中文
Heritage serves its Spanish-speaking and Chinese-speaking neighbors through two dedicated outreach arms. The church maintains Cielo, a Spanish-language presentation of the gospel and a path to trust in Jesus Christ, and a parallel Chinese-language version with the same core teaching drawn from Scripture. The gospel presentation is also available in English, Tagalog, French, Hindi, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Vietnamese, Sinhala, and Swahili, reflecting the multilingual reach Pastor Fong says the church is uniquely positioned to serve.
What Heritage Believes
Heritage describes itself as a culturally diverse, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, Bible-living, independent, fundamental Baptist church where Jesus is preeminent. Its statement of faith centers on the classic doctrines of the Christian faith: one triune God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, who accomplished redemption through his death and rose physically from the grave; the present ministry of Christ as exalted High Priest at the right hand of God; the work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating, indwelling, and gifting every believer; and the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament. The church holds that the King James Version is the official and only English translation used in its ministry, and that the Bible should be interpreted according to its normal grammatical, historical, and cultural meaning.
The church teaches that humanity, created in the image of God, fell in Adam and is unable to remedy its lost condition apart from grace; that salvation is the free gift of God received by faith in Jesus Christ; that the true believer is eternally secure in that salvation by the grace and power of God; and that Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence. Heritage affirms that God created the universe in six literal twenty-four-hour periods and rejects evolution and related theories as unscriptural. The church also looks for the personal, imminent return of Christ, who will rapture his church prior to a seven-year tribulation and then return personally to establish his earthly Messianic Kingdom promised to the nation of Israel.
Next Steps: Jesus, Baptism, and Growing
The church frames the Christian life as a series of steps and invites newcomers to take them at their own pace. Step 1 is choosing Jesus, an introduction to the gospel and an explanation of why his death and resurrection matter for every person. Step 2 is baptism by immersion, which the church describes as the outward expression of the inward decision to follow Christ and the first step of obedience after salvation. Step 3 is beginning to grow, where newcomers are paired with a mentor for the New Foundations Class and connected into a Growth Group, a discipleship ministry, or a service opportunity.
Prayer, Giving, and Staying Connected
Heritage operates a Prayer Works ministry with a prayer hotline at (925) 364-5075 and an online prayer request form. Requests are assigned to individuals or groups for follow-up prayer, and the church follows up with email or phone as appropriate. Daily encouragement is available through Pastor Fong's devotional blog, My God Morning, which delivers a short Bible-saturated devotional to inboxes each day.
Giving is handled through Pushpay, with options for regular tithes, Faith Promise Missions giving, and contributions to the Building Fund that supports the purchase, expansion, and improvement of the Merced Street campus. Donors can also access their giving statements through Pushpay.
Sermons are archived and available online, services are livestreamed every week, and the church's calendar can be subscribed to in Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook. Whether you are stepping through the door of the Heritage Center for the first time, watching from home in another time zone, or pulling up to the El Cerrito campus on a Sunday morning, Heritage Baptist Church describes its mission the same way: to love God, serve others, and make a difference to the community and to the world through world missions.