Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On January 2, 2003 The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "a survey being conducted by New Venture Christian Fellowship about its expansion plans is rankling some of the church's neighbors in the Ocean Hills neighborhood. They think some inquiries, about ethnicity, for instance, are inappropriate. 'The questions are questionable,' said attorney Everett DeLano, who has spearheaded some of the opposition to the church's expansion plans. The church's pastor, the Rev. Shawn Mitchell, admitted that the survey asked about race but said it was standard procedure.  He also denied a charge by some of the people polled that questions indicated certain council members supported or opposed expansion plans. New Venture serves a racially diverse congregation of nearly 4,000 people, according to Mitchell.  It plans to add a high school to its elementary school and build a stadium and gymnasium, bookstore/cafe, additional parking spaces and a pedestrian bridge over Mystra Drive near Cannon Road."