Tucked into the south end of Anderson, California, a modest white building sits on a low hill at 4684 Rhonda Road, visible from the surrounding neighborhoods and known for decades as the "Lighthouse on the Hill." It is the home of Neighborhood Church of Anderson and Cottonwood, a non-denominational, elder-led congregation that has gathered on that spot since 1982 and traces its story back to 1971. The church is best known for two Sunday morning worship services, a deep investment in small-group community, a student program that meets in its own Student Center, a children's program called AWANA on Wednesday evenings, and a commitment to praying for and sending missionaries to unreached people groups around the world.
The Lighthouse on Rhonda Road
Neighborhood Church began in 1971 under the leadership of its founding shepherd, Ed Petersen, and a team of elders. They were joined by several strong Christian families from the Anderson and Cottonwood community. Together they set out to plant a non-denominational, Bible-believing congregation that would serve the surrounding region with several distinctives.
For the first eleven years the church had no building of its own. Sunday mornings met in a changing rotation of locations: the Shasta District Fair Grounds, Anderson River Park, and the Seventh Day Adventist Church building in Anderson. Meanwhile, home groups gathered in living rooms on weeknights. In 1982 the congregation built what members affectionately called the "Lighthouse on the Hill," their first and only permanent building, on a modest but practical site at the top of the hill on Rhonda Road in south Anderson. As the church has grown, the facilities have been added onto three times. Today the same campus houses the main auditorium, a Student Center for the high school ministry, dedicated Junior High space, classrooms for children, and smaller rooms used for small groups, recovery meetings, and prayer gatherings.
In 1984 the church sent out its first missionaries, Dan and Shelly Eckley and their four children, who served in Nuremberg, West Germany with Youth For Christ. Staffing grew slowly and carefully: Brad Manley became the first full-time staff member in 1985, Maxine Cambra was hired as church secretary in 1986, and when the Eckleys returned from Germany in 1987, Dan became Neighborhood Church's first Youth Pastor. A second Sunday morning worship service was added in 1996 as the congregation continued to grow.
Two Sunday Mornings, One Family
Visitors today find two identical Sunday morning services at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., each running about an hour and twenty minutes. The music is led by a live band playing contemporary worship songs, and a Bible-based message focuses on discovering more about God in ways that address real issues people face in daily life. A Welcome Team greets people at the main doors to help with questions on a first morning.
The church's stated reason for two services is simple: a second service was added in 1996 to make room for the growing congregation while keeping the same close-knit feel. The two services share the same blended worship values and the same teaching rotation among the elders. Nursery care is available during both services for infants and toddlers age three and younger, opening about ten minutes before each service begins. Children age three through fifth grade begin in the auditorium with their families for worship and are dismissed before the sermon for age-appropriate teaching. On a first visit you may notice that kids carry outline sheets for the sermon and that the front rows tend to fill up with families.
Worship services are livestreamed on YouTube and archived on Vimeo, so anyone who misses a Sunday or wants to revisit a message can watch or listen through the church's online archive. Audio recordings and PDF outlines are also posted for most messages.
Shepherded by a Team of Elders
From its beginning, Neighborhood Church has been led by a team of elders rather than by a single senior pastor. The current team includes three Staff Elders: Nick Braito, Brad Manley, and Ryan Wildauer, and three Lay Elders: Doug Deese, Nat Porter, and Calvin Robertson. The eldership rotates teaching duties on a regular rotating schedule, so the same small team fills the pulpit from week to week rather than a separate preaching pastor.
Brad Manley is the longest-serving staff member and leads the Sunday School hour that runs alongside the services. Jeremy Pagan serves as the Exaltation Pastor and oversees the worship and music ministry. Noah Hadden is the Youth Pastor and leads both the high school and junior high ministries. Five deacons (Ben Claassen, Jess Gregory, Nathanael Lacy, Chris Logan, and Jerry Todd) serve alongside the elders in overseeing financial matters, facilities, and pastoral care. Erin Claassen leads the Women's Ministry. Administrative assistants Julia Bloom and Amber Murray and custodian Mike Little round out the staff team.
The eldership describes itself as following a "multiple leadership" model patterned on the early church, with the elders functioning as spiritual shepherds and teachers. Members and attenders are encouraged to view the elders as approachable, and visitors will find the team available after services for prayer and conversation.
What the Church Believes
Neighborhood Church holds to a classic evangelical doctrinal statement organized around eleven points. They affirm that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, and has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. They believe in one living and true God eternally existing in three equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who execute distinct but harmonious offices in creation, providence, and redemption.
The statement confesses belief in Jesus Christ as God's only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, living a sinless life, dying a substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrected, ascended into heaven, perpetually interceding for His people, and personally and visibly returning to earth. The Holy Spirit is affirmed as the one who convicts, regenerates, sanctifies, gifts, and empowers all who believe, indwelling every believer as an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.
The church holds to the sovereignty of God over all things, the fallenness of all humanity through original sin, and the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Two ordinances are observed until Christ's return: baptism by immersion of the believer into water, and the Lord's Supper in commemoration of His death. The statement closes with belief in the bodily resurrection, the final judgment, the eternal happiness of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.
Members and attenders are also taught to understand marriage as the union of one man and one woman, designed by God as the only moral expression of human sexuality. Women serve fully and equally as heirs of grace, recipients of Christ's saving work, and partakers of the Spirit's gifts; at the same time, the eldership believes that Scripture entrusts the governance and authoritative teaching of the gathered assembly to qualified men.
The Heart of the Week: Small Groups
If Sunday morning is the front door, the small-group network is the living room. Small Groups are described as the primary vehicle for growing deeper in the Christian life. Groups of varying sizes meet weekly throughout Anderson, Cottonwood, Redding, and the surrounding area in homes and other venues. Each gathering involves conversation, prayer, Bible discussion, and practical application, with most groups working through a study guide for a book of the Bible or a topical study.
Groups are also social and missional beyond the weekly meeting: they gather for barbecues, birthday parties, yard work for elderly neighbors, hospital visits, and church work days. Ryan Wildauer coordinates the church's small-group network.
Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Evenings: Students and Kids
The church has two distinct student ministries that meet in separate spaces on campus. ACTS (Anderson Cottonwood Transforming Students) is the high school ministry and meets in the Student Center. On Sunday mornings during the 10:30 a.m. service, high schoolers gather for Biblical teaching and large-group interaction; on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., all high school students come together for student-led worship, fellowship, games, and teaching. The ministry emphasizes outreach, mission trips, conferences, volunteering, and discipleship.
The 180 Junior High ministry serves students in grades six through eight, meeting on Sunday mornings during the second service and on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The name comes from the idea of a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, and the program aims to teach the Gospel, supply students with tools to live faithfully as lights for God's glory, embrace each student as an individual the Lord seeks, provide opportunities to minister to others, and demonstrate a healthy and honest relationship with God.
On Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:45 p.m., the AWANA club runs for children from preschool through eighth grade. The acronym comes from the first letters of "Approved workmen are not ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15), and the program, a non-denominational, Bible-centered children's ministry, involves age-appropriate games, Bible verse memorization, and large-group Bible teaching. Parents are welcome to come in and watch at any point.
On Sunday mornings, children age three through fifth grade attend Neighborhood Kids classes after being dismissed from the auditorium. The first service uses the Gospel Story Curriculum, a three-year, 156-lesson arc that walks children through the Bible as one continuous story pointing to Jesus. Children in grades three through five also use a more age-appropriate "Kids Connect" curriculum. The second service uses the Truth78 curriculum, which incorporates music, Bible study, verse memorization, and a focus on missions and giving. A "First 20" class is available during the worship and announcement time for children whose parents will not be in the main service.
Men's, Women's, and Adult Discipleship
Men's Discipleship is built around small teams of about eight men who meet weekly to dig deeply into Scripture and to encourage one another in discovering, developing, displaying, and declaring joy in God. The ministry is grounded in the conviction that discipleship is God's work of transforming minds and hearts into faithful followers of Jesus Christ, and that God is most glorified in His people when they are most delighted in Him. Ben Claassen coordinates men's Bible study groups.
Women's Ministry offers a variety of small group Bible studies at different times during the week, where women pray together, encourage one another, and deepen their faith. Throughout the year the ministry hosts day retreats, prayer meetings, book clubs, and other events. Women's Ministry Leader Erin Claassen is happy to suggest resources for further study.
The adult Sunday School hour runs alongside the second service, with Brad Manley leading a recurring teaching series on Wednesdays and Sundays. Recent series have included studies through the Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts, the Psalms, and topical series on Christian living.
Neighborhood Recovery
On Thursday nights, Neighborhood Recovery provides open-share small groups for anyone feeling stuck in life, trapped by hurts, habits, or hang-ups. The program is billed as a biblical and balanced approach to overcoming addiction and painful circumstances, based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory. Men meet in Room 202 and women in Room 201 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Members of the recovery groups describe "hurts" as emotional reactions to things like abandonment, abuse, divorce, rejection, unfaithfulness, codependency, or grief; "habits" as addictions to alcohol, drugs, food, pornography, shopping, cutting, stealing, or people; and "hang-ups" as negative mental attitudes such as anger, depression, fear, shame, guilt, unforgiveness, prejudice, ungratefulness, or chronic negativity. The ministry is open to anyone seeking greater wisdom on leading a healthy, free life, not only to those facing deep struggles.
Reaching the Nations
Global missions are a stated core value, and the church partners with international workers by praying for them, financially supporting them, and sending short-term teams. The church aims to invest fifteen percent of its annual budget in global missionary endeavors. Monthly Prayer for the Nations gatherings equip children in grades three through five to intercede for God's work around the world, and worship services frequently include a "Missions Moment" to pray for and update on missionaries.
Short-term trips are sent out at various times and involve extensive pre-field training and post-trip debriefing. The first priority is to partner with missionaries and organizations working to establish Christ's Church among unreached people groups through church planting, leadership training, business-as-missions, or support ministries. The church also partners with cross-cultural workers who reach children, youth, and those who are poor and disenfranchised. A Missions Pastor coordinates the church's global-missions effort and works with the Elder Team to consider financial support for individual short-term trip participants.
Baptism, Communion, and Blended Worship
The church practices believer's baptism by immersion, treating it as the initiation rite by which new believers portray and celebrate their union with Christ in His sin-atoning death and resurrection. Infant baptism is not practiced. The Lord's Supper is observed in commemoration of Christ's death and is administered until His return.
Worship style is described as "blended" rather than strictly contemporary or traditional. The church intentionally draws on traditional, contemporary, and alternative musical expressions, along with prayers and liturgies drawn from previous eras, in an effort to bridge the generations. The aim is to be relevant to the younger generation and the non-churched while not abandoning the church's roots or the contributions of Christians through the ages. Worship is participatory, engaging heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Because intergenerational worship is a stated value, children are welcomed and encouraged to remain in the service with their families. The church has published practical guidance for parents on helping children participate in worship, including bringing a Bible, helping them locate verses, encouraging note-taking, and teaching them to be considerate of others during the service.
Giving and Practical Details
Tithes and offerings can be given online through the church's Church Center giving page. The church teaches that giving is the activity of a steward managing God's resources, done joyfully and sacrificially, and that cheerful, faithful, consistent giving is part of Christian worship rather than a burdensome obligation.
The church office is open during the week and can be reached at 530-365-3331 or by email. The building sits at the top of Rhonda Road in south Anderson and is served by its own parking area on the property.