Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Mt. Soledad Presbyterian Church

John Moser
John Moser
Place

Mount Soledad Presbyterian Church

6551 Soledad Mountain Road, San Diego

Pastor: John Moser

Membership: 125

Age: 57

Born: Arcadia, CA

Formation: University of California-Santa Barbara; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena

Years Ordained: 31

San Diego Reader: How long does it take you to prepare a sermon?

Pastor John Moser: I do a lot of work in the summer to lay it out for the year, and every Thursday, my set-aside day, I get ready for Sunday. I was an English major in college, so I write my sermons out and then commit them to memory or use a couple notes. I tell my wife I have to put the sermon in the oven on Thursday to bake a little more and marinate. She looks at me when she gets home from work on Thursday and asks, “Well, is it in the oven or are you still in the kitchen mixing?”

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why did you become a minister?

PM: The Lakers wouldn’t have me. I was all ready to go to the NBA and then I turned 16 and it wasn’t happening. If I was taller, quicker, and could shoot, it would have been a snap. I loved athletics through high school, and so I thought I’d become a coach or a teacher. I started college thinking I would be a public school teacher as a way to give back and impact people’s lives. My parents gave me a good ethic for helping people. Then I was asked to lead a group of junior-high students at my church in Bible study. I was 19 and had already started college — and I was smitten by good responses in the study to who Christ was in the Scriptures. It was clear the kids were hungry for something more in life. It was a lot of fun. That’s when God started tugging on my life through that experience.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PM: We say we’re here to help people love God because God created us; to help people love other people that God created as well; and to reach and serve the world that God created. We think this happens best through a relationship to Jesus Christ, God’s son. It’s only 40 years old, but Mt. Soledad has a history of openness to the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PM: I believe that I’m going to spend eternity with God in heaven. The boundary between now and eternity is more porous in the sense that when Christ came, the kingdom of heaven invaded Earth in a good way. It’s not just after I die. Followers of Christ get to experience the blessings and challenges of being in God’s kingdom here on Earth. Our job is to help introduce the values of that kingdom, which often are sacrificial and countercultural, into our culture. We get a taste of being in God’s presence, of being in a place where God is sovereign. I believe there is judgment, as revealed in the Bible…. We know that Jesus, who is super-loving, spoke of hell. I don’t know everything about hell, and I’m cautious about describing its exact temperature, but I think hell has seeped into the world, too. Look at headlines around the world and even in our own country. But I’ll stand with Jesus — or, rather, behind him and let him do the talking.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

Next Article

Aaron Stewart trades Christmas wonders for his first new music in 15 years

“Just because the job part was done, didn’t mean the passion had to die”
John Moser
John Moser
Place

Mount Soledad Presbyterian Church

6551 Soledad Mountain Road, San Diego

Pastor: John Moser

Membership: 125

Age: 57

Born: Arcadia, CA

Formation: University of California-Santa Barbara; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena

Years Ordained: 31

San Diego Reader: How long does it take you to prepare a sermon?

Pastor John Moser: I do a lot of work in the summer to lay it out for the year, and every Thursday, my set-aside day, I get ready for Sunday. I was an English major in college, so I write my sermons out and then commit them to memory or use a couple notes. I tell my wife I have to put the sermon in the oven on Thursday to bake a little more and marinate. She looks at me when she gets home from work on Thursday and asks, “Well, is it in the oven or are you still in the kitchen mixing?”

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why did you become a minister?

PM: The Lakers wouldn’t have me. I was all ready to go to the NBA and then I turned 16 and it wasn’t happening. If I was taller, quicker, and could shoot, it would have been a snap. I loved athletics through high school, and so I thought I’d become a coach or a teacher. I started college thinking I would be a public school teacher as a way to give back and impact people’s lives. My parents gave me a good ethic for helping people. Then I was asked to lead a group of junior-high students at my church in Bible study. I was 19 and had already started college — and I was smitten by good responses in the study to who Christ was in the Scriptures. It was clear the kids were hungry for something more in life. It was a lot of fun. That’s when God started tugging on my life through that experience.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PM: We say we’re here to help people love God because God created us; to help people love other people that God created as well; and to reach and serve the world that God created. We think this happens best through a relationship to Jesus Christ, God’s son. It’s only 40 years old, but Mt. Soledad has a history of openness to the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PM: I believe that I’m going to spend eternity with God in heaven. The boundary between now and eternity is more porous in the sense that when Christ came, the kingdom of heaven invaded Earth in a good way. It’s not just after I die. Followers of Christ get to experience the blessings and challenges of being in God’s kingdom here on Earth. Our job is to help introduce the values of that kingdom, which often are sacrificial and countercultural, into our culture. We get a taste of being in God’s presence, of being in a place where God is sovereign. I believe there is judgment, as revealed in the Bible…. We know that Jesus, who is super-loving, spoke of hell. I don’t know everything about hell, and I’m cautious about describing its exact temperature, but I think hell has seeped into the world, too. Look at headlines around the world and even in our own country. But I’ll stand with Jesus — or, rather, behind him and let him do the talking.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader