First, I should like to say that visiting a church from out of town and finding a church to join and worship with regularly are two very different things to undertake. If you want to join a church and be actively involved in the life of its congregation, stability really is key. If what you want is to find a place to grow roots and be part of the community, CFC, as a medium-sized evangelical church with lots of Chinese families and a more diverse young crowd, can be a really good place to do that. I commend Tiffany H's review to you if you haven't read that one. Below are some qualifications and updates I would give.
I. Doctrine.
The church's official teaching position, which people agree not to contradict in their official teaching capacities, does imply Arminian and Premillennialist (possibly Dispensationalist) positions. The two articles of this statement that I would call Arminian affirm 'Unlimited Atonement' and 'Resistible Grace'. That said, there are mainstream Reformed views that would not necessarily conflict with these statements as written. The article on unlimited atonement says simply that Christ has died for every human who has ever lived, an affirmation that does not in any way conflict with the 'Calvinist' Canons of Dort: the point of contention between Reformed and Arminian interpretations of predestination in the atonement is whether Christ died with an absolute intention to secure anyone's salvation, not whether there is a sense in which Christ died for everyone and makes a well-meant offer of life to everyone. Likewise, the article on resistible grace does not deny the existence of irresistible grace, contenting itself with affirming that there is such a thing as resistible grace. As for Premillennial views of the 'end times', others have taught students about the Premillennial, Amillennial and Postmillennial systems without definitely ruling out the other two. Those who disagree with Arminianism and Premillennial eschatology will not be turned away from serving as Bible study leaders, but they ought to be aware that CFC generally presupposes these theological ideas.
II. Other Stuff.
As of 2011, Pastor Ken has moved up to Oregon, so the youth minister, Chris Yen, has become the English pastor. Pastor Chris (or Kiki, as he's sometimes called), being less intellectually inclined than Pastor Ken, preaches less doctrinally and more pietistically, though the words of Scripture are still the heart of his preaching. In my opinion, sound doctrine, intellectual seriousness, genuine feeling and poetic eloquence are best combined in the sermons of John Donne (yes, that difficult, badass English Renaissance poet who used to be a playboy), but everyone has to start from somewhere. For better or for worse, Pastor Chris's sermons rely more heavily on personal illustrations than on intellectual development of the truths revealed in Scripture.
If one wishes to read patterns, it's also become clear that the number of young graduates from CFC going into ordained ministry to pastor and plant churches has seen a lull since about 2005, if not a little earlier. Though I have my own thoughts on this trend, I don't have full explanations. One thought I have is that Pastor Ken used to be more heavily involved in the college ministry than he was later on. Seventeenth-century pastors Richard Baxter and George Herbert (who wrote /The Reformed Pastor/ and /The Country Parson/ respectively) are good examples of how a parish is well-served by the kind of pastor who visits parishioners regularly. But as stimulating as it was to work closely with college students, especially the leader committee ('Council'), I think Pastor Ken must've grown tired over the years, because a lot of the pastoral involvement became the work of the Crossroads Advisors, whose role was introduced in 2007. This, at least, is the current state of things.
A few more things of note:
Agape, the junior and senior high school fellowship, currently has no youth pastor; the director is a layman, Melissa Wong.
Use of the NASB in Crossroads has almost completely shifted to the ESV; Pastor Chris usually preaches out of the NIV. read more