The Mission of Awaken Church (the “Church”) is to glorify God by building a city-influencing church. Our church desires to build healthy marriages, families, businesses and communities bringing people into a fresh, real, and powerful encounter with our savior Jesus Christ. Our Vision is to empower others to live a prosperous and successful life through the power of the Holy Spirit and to carry out our Statement of Belief. This Mission will be accomplished through four specific areas: Worship, Evangelism, Disciple-Making and Redemptive Community Life.
Who We Are
Vision & Mission
History
Awaken Church, formerly known as C3 San Diego, was started when Ps. Jurgen and Leanne and their small family moved over in 2005 from friends, family, and familiarity to plant a church. From the humble beginnings meeting in hotels, school gymnasiums, performing arts centers, and at one point a hotel parking lot, Awaken Church has grown from being just a vision in Ps. Jurgen and Leanne’s hearts to now being a multi-campus and multi-generational church seeing lives changed and impacted every week.
Jurgen & Leanne’s Story
Jurgen and Leanne met in Wollongong, Australia where they attended the same church and youth ministry. Jurgen was employed at BHP Steel as an apprentice studying Mechanical Engineering, when he felt the call of God to leave and attend full-time Bible college at Power Ministry School (now known as Hillsong College). They started dating at the end of his first year in Bible College. After graduating, Jurgen moved to New Zealand as part of a Hillsong church plant. After six months of running the youth ministry at South City Christian Life Centre, Jurgen travelled back to Australia to marry his sweetheart Leanne! After their wedding and some tearful goodbyes to family and friends, Jurgen and Leanne traveled back to NZ to resume pastoring the youth at South City Christian Life Centre.
During the seven years they were in New Zealand, Jurgen and Leanne had a profound and long lasting impact on the city of Auckland especially amongst its youth. Jurgen had become a popular speaker in colleges and high schools and had grown and developed the youth ministry at South City CLC to make it one of the largest in the nation at that time. They had also welcomed their first two “kiwi” sons Jordan and Ashley. In the summer of 1998 Jurgen and Leanne felt a strong call from God to move back to Australia. They sold their home and packed up their boys and belongings and planted themselves in one of Australia’s most incredible churches, C3 Church Oxford Falls.
Under the amazing leadership of Pastors Phil & Chris Pringle they were appointed as youth pastors. In the fall of 2001 they welcomed Tommy, their third son and presumably their third and final child! In the seven years they were part of the team at C3 Oxford Falls Jurgen and Leanne grew the youth ministry to over 750 strong and pioneered the hugely successful Phenomena youth conference that hosted over 3000 delegates from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. In the fall of 2004, Pastor Phil approached Jurgen and Leanne about starting a church in San Diego, California. Having never even been to San Diego, they both were hesitant about moving, but it didn’t take long before God confirmed the move. In the summer of 2005, Jurgen and Leanne and their three boys packed up all their belongings and moved to San Diego. On August 20th, 2005, Awaken Church had its first service and an attendance of 50 people. In 2008, after many years of wanting a girl to add to the family, Jurgen and Leanne welcomed beautiful baby Zoe into the Matthesius clan.
Our Executive Team
Stacy is responsible for the Operation teams across all campus including, Welcome, Assimilation, Pathways, Service runnings, Volunteer teams etc. Her passion is to ensure the structures and system of the church are people focused. As people enter the church, they find their place in church where their talents and abilities are developed and deployed. Stacy was born in New York, raised on the mission field in Ecuador and felt called to San Diego to help build a church from the ground up, she is beyond thrilled to be living out her God given Dream with the world’s best people!
Jon is responsible for the business finance areas of the church which also include Pathfinders (marketplace ministry) and Vision Builders. He is also the campus pastor with his wife over Balboa Campus in San Diego. Jon is passionate about seeing business people thrive in their calling to influence culture. Jon and his wife Becky have 3 children and live in El Cajon, California.
Dr. Matt Hubbard has been involved at Awaken Church since its inception in 2006. After 14 years serving, volunteering, and holding a seat on the board, Dr. Matt and his wife Mikala became the campus pastors the Bressi Ranch location in 2017. Dr. Matt Hubbard is a practicing chiropractor with 17 years of clinical practice teaching and applying the wellness principles of chiropractic, and has a vibrant family practice here in the heart of San Diego.
His newest role at Awaken Church is our Executive of Ministries. From missions, connect teams, kids, youth and young adults, he has infused his love for evangelism into strategies that connect, develop and empower the thousands that attend Awaken to further enrich what’s possible when people get connected to the house of God.
Dr. Hubbard is an enthusiast of all things business and health-related and has learned that using his marketplace gifts to build the kingdom has been the greatest adventure so far. He met and married his wife, Mikala, in 2006 and they have three amazing children. Dr. Matt is committed to living a life that inspires others, builds the house, and leaves a legacy.
His newest role at Awaken Church is our Executive of Ministries. From missions, connect teams, kids, youth and young adults, he has infused his love for evangelism into strategies that connect, develop and empower the thousands that attend Awaken to further enrich what’s possible when people get connected to the house of God.
Dr. Hubbard is an enthusiast of all things business and health-related and has learned that using his marketplace gifts to build the kingdom has been the greatest adventure so far. He met and married his wife, Mikala, in 2006 and they have three amazing children. Dr. Matt is committed to living a life that inspires others, builds the house, and leaves a legacy.
Summer is responsible for the Strategic Initiative teams across all campuses including worship, production, theater, conference and event teams. She is passionate about seeing people walk through the doors of our church and encounter God in fresh, new and exciting ways. Summer was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and lived there until she and her husband, Mark, felt called by God to come alongside Pastors Jurgen and Leanne in building Awaken Church. Mark and Summer have three children and live in San Diego, California.
Meet Our Campus Pastors
What We Believe
Articles of Faith
These 9 Articles of Faith do not represent the final authoritative word on biblical doctrine or Christian theology. They reflect the basic tenets of historical, evangelical Christianity.
About God – There is one God the Creator, eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14).
About the Bible – The Bible is the living, inspired and only infallible and authoritative written Word of God and is the foundation of all Christian doctrine (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21).
About Jesus Christ – The deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, His abiding intercession and His imminent return.
About Salvation – We believe in the spiritually lost condition of all people and the essential need for the “new birth” by faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:7).
About Eternity – Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence and man was created to exist forever, either separate from God by sin or in union with God. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. (Dan. 12:2; John 11:25-26; Rev. 21:7,8; I Thes. 4:17).
About the Holy Spirit – We believe in the person and work of the Holy Spirit with His fruits and gifts functioning in the Church (1 Cor. 12:8-10; Heb. 2:3-14). We believe in the sanctifying power of the Holy spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy life (Gal 5:16). We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a gift available to believers subsequent to the new birth, with the normal initial evidence of speaking in other tongues (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:4).
About Healing – The redemptive work of Christ on the cross provides healing of the human body in answer to believing prayer (Isa 53:4-5; Matt 8:17).
About communion and baptism – In the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism by full immersion in water for all believers (Matt 28:19; Acts 2:38; 1 Cor 11:23-26).
About the Church – In the church being the body of Christ, and each member being an active part of a local church, fulfilling the Great Commission (Mark 15:16; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).
Statement of Belief
At Awaken Church, we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As a result, any listing of specific beliefs will fall utterly short in that we accept the teaching of the Bible as our primary source of belief.
We believe in God the Father, the maker of heaven and earth, who made all things seen and unseen through His son Jesus Christ, who was with God and was God before He ever came to earth in the flesh and who now sits at the right hand of God in heaven and the Holy Spirit, the promised comforter, guide, spirit of truth and gift of God (Genesis 1:1-2:7; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:1-3; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 16:9; John 14:26; John 16:13; Acts 2:38).
We believe that mankind was made in God’s image, but all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is defined as breaking God’s law, the penalty of which is death. It is sin that has separated us from God (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23; 1 John 3:4; Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Romans 6:23, Isaiah 59:1-2).
God sent Jesus, who was born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, who had the sins of the world laid upon Him through His beating, who died as a sacrifice to pay the penalty of death for the sins of the world that whoever would believe in Jesus would be forgiven and saved. We are reconciled to God by Jesus’ death and saved by His life. Our salvation is not by works, but by grace through faith (John 1:1-14; Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 4:14-16; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 9:23-28; Hebrews 10:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Acts 13:38-39; Ephesians 1:7; John 3:16, Romans 5:6-19; Ephesians 2:8-10).
Those who believe in Jesus should confess their sins and recognize that they are in need of His sacrifice for sins, that He died and rose from the dead after three days and that He is now their Lord. As a result of this confession, those who believe in God are called to give their life for Him, to turn from their sinful ways, to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As a result, those who believe in Jesus are justified and made righteous in the sight of God. Believers in Jesus reckon themselves as dead to sin and alive to God, no more living as slaves to sin, but as slaves to righteousness (1 John 1:8-10; Acts 2:22-39; Ephesians 4:17-5:10; Colossians 3:1-17; Romans 10:8-13; Romans 4:1-8; Romans 4:20-25; Romans 5:1-21; Romans 6:1-23, Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 4:1-3).
Those who believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit are made part of the church of God, the body of Christ. The believers become the children of God by being baptized into His name and receiving His Holy Spirit. As a result, they become brothers to Jesus, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The individual members and the church as a whole are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a holy life, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God and to serve one another as the Spirit produces fruits and gives spiritual gifts to each member (Romans 8:5-17; Romans 15:13-19; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-20; Acts 1:4-8; Galatians 5:22-23; Hebrews 2:4; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31).
Those who believe in Jesus Christ are new creatures, having God’s laws written on their hearts and in their minds, who live a new life of obedience to the teachings and commandments of God. The saints keep the commandments of God, including the two great commandments, the Ten Commandments and the teachings of God contained through the Bible. The essence of this way is love, which is defined as having benevolent care and concern for others. If you love Jesus, you will keep His commandments; this is what matters to God (2 Corinthians 5:17; Hebrews 8:7-12; Matthew 5:1-7:29; Romans 6:15-23; Matthew 19:17; Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-21; Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:13-14; Revelation 14:12; 1 John 5:3; 1 John 3:22; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; John 14:15; 1 Corinthians 7:19).
The basic doctrines of the church include repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:1-2; Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians 7:9-12; Hebrews 11:6; John 3:36; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-39; John 1:28-33; Acts 1:4-5; Acts 19:5-6; Acts 6:6; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 13:2-3; Daniel 12:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:12-58; John 5:25-30; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 2:1-16; 1 Peter 4:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
We believe that the civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society (Romans 13:1); and the guarantee of liberty of conscience. This guarantee consists of absolute constraint of the government to the civil realm, not interfering or influencing in the spiritual realm of the church. For the believer to see that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed (Matthew 22:21); except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 5:29; 4:19-20; Psalms 103:1-5) who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of the Kings of the earth.
Final Authority for Matters of Belief and Conduct – Awaken Church’s Statement of Beliefs does not exhaust the extent of the church’s beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. At Awaken Church, our Pastors hold the interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application in regards to doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline.
