In early 2000 both the name and ministry of Worship Generation were founded and established by current Worship Generation Senior Pastor, Joey Buran.  As Joey was guest speaking at numerous youth events in the late 90's, he began to notice a greater passion and depth of commitment toward Christ in the youth of the next generation. In March of 2000 the name "Worship Generation" came to him.

A few weeks after coming up with the name, Pastor Chuck Smith invited Joey to begin a weekly Bible study in the main sanctuary at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Joey began doing different topical series through the spring and summer months, targeting the youth of Southern California through the worship and teaching style. During that time, he developed a pattern for worship where he would use a rotation of young musicians.  Names like Jeremy Camp, Scott Cunningham, Phil Wickham, Luke Caldwell (Esterlyn), Danny Donnelly, Tim Chaddick (Reality L.A.), and Zach Vestnys began to be associated with Worship Generation.

Over the next four years, Worship Generation did numerous national tours with it’s worship leaders and bands.  It also produced 3 CDs under the direction of Tim Chaddick and Scott Cunningham.  In the spring of 2005, Worship Generation held it’s final service at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.  Then with the blessing of Pastor Chuck Smith, Pastor Joey would go on to establish Worship Generation Church in nearby Fountain Valley.  The first service for Worship Generation Church was held in late June of 2005 at Shoreline Baptist Church, which would go on to become the permanent location for Worship Generation.

Early on, Pastor Joey began to build a team of leaders who would help co-labor in this new venture of faith.  Among those in this group were Jeremy Foster, Bryan Jameson, Alex Lopez, Garett Frisby, Hector Mora, and Raul Diaz, individuals whose help would be invaluable, and who over time, also became Worship Generation Pastors.  Over the next few years, a healthy church family would emerge to become the foundation of the church congregation.  In 2007, a mid-week Tuesday night service was added and has been in place ever since.

In the summer of 2010 Joey and Jeremy went to England on a three-week mission trip doing outreaches to the surf community with the movie Beyond the Dream. Later in the year, Joey went to South Africa and taught at the Calvary Chapel Pastor's Conference in Cape Town while also doing outreaches with Beyond the Dream.  During this time, God gave the leadership of Worship Generation the vision to plant a new church in the northern region of Orange County.  In January of 2011 Worship Generation planted this new church, Orange County Christian Fellowship, in the city of Orange, under the leadership of Pastor Bryan Jameson.  This is when Pastor Jeremy Foster became the Associate Pastor at Worship Generation, a position he still presently holds.

In 2013, Worship Generation expanded its ministries to include a national radio ministry through Calvary Satellite Network (CSN) and a local radio ministry, in Southern California through KWVE 107.9 FM.  At the same time, Worship Generation Pastor Hector Mora was raised up and sent out to start Vision Church in Long Beach, CA. While Worship Generation continued with a variety of global outreaches, God confirmed in 2013 that a special door of opportunity was opening for extensive and ongoing ministry in the country of Chile.  Going forward in 2014, Worship Generation became involved with numerous trips and support for the Calvary Chapel movement in Chile, the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Pichilemu and the Chilean surfing community.  

In 2014 Pastor Joey was approached by the Chilean Surf Federation for help and assistance in guiding the sport forward in Chile.  Eventually, Joey was asked to become the Head Coach of the Chilean National Surf Team, a position he prayerfully accepted and served in from 2014 to 2016.  Before resigning that position, in the latter part of 2016, he traveled extensively to Chile while also coaching the various Chilean Surf Teams in multiple international surfing events.

From early 2017 through the end of 2018, Pastor Joey served as the Head Coach of the US Olympic Surfing Program. During this time he led Team USA to two world titles. The first was the World Junior Title in 2017. The second was the Adaptive Athlete World Title in 2018. In early December, after much consideration, citing the desire to spend more time with his family, the ministries of Worship Generation, as well as other personal interests and pursuits, he announced his retirement from surf coaching. When he officially resigned as Head Coach of the USA Olympic Surfing Program on December 17, 2018, he was recognized by the USA Surfing Organization as being the most successful coach in their history.

As Worship Generation goes forward in 2024 we see God continue to bring new faces and new friends to our congregation. Additionally, we continue to focus on our international missionary outreaches, investing much of our prayers, time, and resources in support of old and new global outreach endeavors. We are also very excited and anticipative for the upcoming release of Pastor Joey’s book, “Beyond The Dream”. The book is a memoir of his life story which is scheduled for release on September 2nd of this year.

With faith and expectation for the future, the vision of Worship Generation Ministries remains the same: to reach as many people as possible with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, from Orange County to the ends of the earth.