Katrina Orozco

Review of EastLake Church

The WORST greeting ever. I recently moved to Cali ...

The WORST greeting ever. I recently moved to Cali from Texas and was going to give this church a try since it seemed very similar to the church I went to back home. I arrived with my 10 month old daughter only to be greeted (more like stopped) at the entrance. I felt like the greeters were security guards more than anything. I didn t receive a good morning or God bless you or ANY sort of greeting. Instead, I was told I needed to go to the infant room. I explained I didn t want to go and my daughter is used to attending church and does very well. I was told it wasn t a choice but a rule that I couldn t be in the main room with my daughter because of the loud noise. I left and went home to grab her headphones and thought, ok, I ll attend the next service with my daughter and her ear phones. 11:00am came around and I headed back. Once again, I wasn t greeted but rather stopped by their security they call greeters. I was again told where the infant room was and again told I wasn t allowed in the main room with my daughter. I explained how I tried to attend the earlier service and was told it was too loud for my daughter and that s why I wasn t allowed in. I also showed the greeter my daughters head phones and explained that she is used to attending church with me and does great with/without headphones. This lady then proceeded to tell me that it s a rule that children below a certain age aren t allowed in regardless if she has headphones. I explained that I didn t want to sit in the infant room because I wanted to receive the FULL service and to be honest, being in an infant room doesn t provide the same experience as being in the main room. I was still denied being allowed in. This made me very emotional because I am going through lots of things in my life and concerning my family and I definitely felt the need to hear the word of God today, more than any other day, yet this church denied me that. So after this horrible experience, I walked away in tears and unfortunately uncontrollable sobbing. Yet, thank God for my wonderful church back in Texas (Livingway Family Church in Brownsville, TX) I was able to call and receive prayer over the phone INSTANTLY which allowed me to peacefully drive home. Back in Texas I attended a church that LOVED everyone and didn t force moms to be segregated from the church because of their small children. Attending Livingway church truly showed me how they embraced LOVE for one another and the BEAUTY of being a mom. I ve never felt such an unwelcoming for ANY church I ve attended like the way East Lake Church made me feel today. Never EVER would I recommend this church to anyone!