Central Presbyterian Church at 1920 Canal Street, Merced, California.

The people of this church have shown me what a real loving community is all about. This church cares deeply for "the least of these."

With this church my four children and I have found a spiritual home. I am a young single mother who has been met with nothing but love and understanding from the people of CPC. Please come on Sundays, you will find a community of people who love Christ and adore God, and that are happy to include you no matter where your walk in life has lead you. I have been blessed to have been introduced to this church and I was welcomed not judged - plus the sermons are easy to understand and don't fly above my head. Pastor Dave keeps them entertaining and uses his own past as an example of how even at our lowest we can find God and our sins can be forgiven - trust me he was not choir boy but now is a shining example of how to begin anew in the name of the father.

I have been a regular attender at about a dozen churches in my 40 years and I must say, I have never experienced a warmer, more loving, caring, outwardly focused church body in my life. In a glance from my seat each Sunday morning I can see CASA volunteers, foster parents, adoptive parents, men who teach classes to get ex-con's back on track to employment, women who mentor young teen mothers and on and on. Any who say that CPC is not the real deal are not familiar with the people who make up this congregation.