Church on the Rock, Wasilla

The Church on the Rock is a large church the Palin family sometimes attends in Wasilla. Church on the Rock in Wasilla was formed in 2000 by David and LaRae Pepper. They saw a need in the valley area to reach out to people whose lives would be better served though belief in Christ.

The original group held services in the homes of some members but within a year it was obvious that more space was needed for the growing numbers of people attracted to the theology of heaven and hell, good and evil. Church on the Rock has seen steady growth in just 8 years and has been expanding its campus on a continuous basis to meet the demand of more and more converts. Throughout this time, Pastor Pepper has worked at commercial fishing in the summer months to help support his family and his new church.

Pepper’s rhetoric goes beyond that of a conservative Christian. He believes and preaches that the purpose of the United States of America is to glorify God. The young people of Church on the Rock participate in activities of the Third Wave that are aimed at training and leading "Joel's Army" which will take over the United States for the kingdom of God. The youth pastor, Jonathan Walker fervently believes in `teaching abstinence in public schools'.

In speaking about his faith on his website, Pastor Pepper, states: “I believe that God has designed us for adventure and with a purpose to live in the freedom of His Spirit. My heart is to cascade the Joy of Salvation and to be a voice of my savior and friend Jesus’’.
The mission statement of the Church on the Rock reads:

“Live every day with passion and with purpose in Christ”

Christ Centered, Bible based
Spirit-led, Mission minded
Family Focused

What we Believe

God is bigger, better and closer than we can imagine
The Bible is God's perfect guidebook for living
Jesus is God showing Himself to us
Through His Holy Spirit, God lives in and through us now
Nothing in creation "just happened." God made it all
Grace is the only way to have a relationship with God
Faith is the only way to grow in our relationship with God
Evil exists because of sin; God can bring good even out of evil events, and God promises victory over evil to those who choose Him
Heaven and Hell are real places. Death is a beginning, not the end
The church is to serve people like Jesus served people.

These passages are taken from sermons given by Pastor Pepper in 2007; they reflect Pepper’s views on dominionism and in the ‘inerrancy of the’ Bible:

“The purpose for the United States is… to glorify God. This nation is a Christian nation.”
“God will not be mocked. I don’t care what the ACLU says. God will not be mocked. I don’t care what atheists say. God will not be mocked. I don’t care what’s going on in the nation today with so much horrific rebellion and sin and things that take place. God will not be mocked. Judgment Day is coming. Where do you stand?”

“Just giving in a little bit is a disastrous thing…You can’t serve both man and God. It is one or the other.”

Although the Church on the Rock maintains that it is an ‘independent congregation’, it has all of the hallmarks associated with the Assemblies of God and its relatives at the extreme end of the Evangelical-Pentecostal spectrum. Sarah Palin and the Church on the Rock say they are non-denominational – a term that has no real meaning. The phrase ‘post-denominational’ is more apt as it best describes the morphology of the belief system to which Palin subscribes where the lines between denominations have become fuzzy and religious ideologies have become fused into a reworked “Apocalypse Now” script.