History of Calvary

Chapel Calvary Chapel is a non-denominational Christian church which began in 1965 in Costa Mesa, California. Calvary Chapel's pastor, Chuck Smith became a leading figure in what has become known as the "Jesus Movement." It has been estimated that in a two-year period in the mid '70s, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa had performed well over eight thousand baptisms. During that same period, we were instrumental in 20,000 conversions to the Christian faith. Our decadal growth rate had been calculated by church growth experts to be near the ten thousand percent level. A remarkable pattern kept repeating itself. As soon as we moved into a new building, our fellowship would already be too big for the facilities. In two years we moved from our original building (one of the first church buildings in Costa Mesa) to a rented Lutheran church overlooking the Pacific. Soon thereafter we decided to do something unprecedented at the time and move the church to a school that we had bought. The building did not match up to code so we tore it down and built another. But by the time the sanctuary of 330 seats was completed in 1969, we were already forced to go to two services, and eventually had to use the outside courtyard for 500 more seats. This was all fine in good weather. But by 1971 the large crowds and the winter rains forced us to move again.

We bought a ten-acre tract of land on the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana border. Orange County was quickly changing and the once-famous orange orchards were making way for the exploding population of Los Angeles. Soon after buying the land, we again did the unprecedented and erected a giant circus tent that could seat 1,600 at a stretch. This was soon enlarged to hold 2,000 seats. Meanwhile we began building an enormous sanctuary adjacent to this site. By the time Calvary Chapel fellowship had celebrated opening day in 1973 moving into the vast new sanctuary of 2,200 seats, the building was already too small to contain the numbers turning out. We held three Sunday morning services and had more than 4,000 people at each one. Many had to sit on the carpeted floor. A large portion of floor space was left without pews so as to provide that option.

Calvary Chapel also ministers over the airwaves, and this must account for many of those who travel long distances to fellowship here. A Nielsen survey indicated that our Sunday morning Calvary Chapel service is the most listened-to program in the area during the entire week.

As of 1987, Calvary's outreach has included numerous radio programs, television broadcasts, and the production and distribution of tapes and records. The missions outreach is considerable. Calvary Chapel not only supports Wycliffe Bible Translators, Campus Crusade, Missionary Aviation Fellowship, and other groups, but we donate to Third World needs. We then built a radio station in San Salvador and gave it to the local pastors there. We also gave money to Open Doors to purchase the ship that, in tandem with a barge, delivered one million Bibles to mainland China. Our financial commitment to missions exceeds the local expense budget by over 50%.

Today, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, the church which only had twenty-five members has established more than five hundred affiliate Calvary Chapels across the world and is among the world's largest churches with more than thirty-five thousand calling it their home church. It is one of the ten largest Protestant churches in the United States. By the Spirit Calvary Chapel isn't an ambition fulfilled. It isn't something where I thought, “I’d like to have a huge church.” I was so worn out, tired, over-the-hill that I thought 250 was all I could handle. What happened has happened through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not by my might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Since we didn’t have to strive to gain it, we don’t have to strive to maintain it. That’s beautiful, because I can still be relaxed and still be Chuck. I don't have to worry about anything, because it’s His church. Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” After realizing that it's His church and His work, I just sit back, enjoy it, and watch Him do the work. What a thrill to see God do what we couldn't do at all! Outreaches As the Lord began to draw people to Calvary Chapel from all over Southern California, those who were driving many miles to the services here began to request that Calvary Chapels be opened in their own communities. As a result, we began to start Bible studies in many of the communities in Southern California. These Bible studies have subsequently developed into regular churches. Now there are several Calvary Chapels in the Southern California area with memberships of several thousand people. People would move from Calvary Chapel to other areas of the United States. As they would look for a fellowship similar to Calvary in these other areas, they were oftentimes discouraged in their endeavor to find a church. It seemed that their experiences at Calvary Chapel - receiving the warm, loving fellowship and the study of the Word - had spoiled them for any other kind of a church. They would start sending for tapes and many times begin to invite their friends to come over and listen to the tapes. Soon a group would be meeting together listening to tapes. Their fellowship would grow, and they would write and ask if we could send someone to pastor. So, gradually, the Calvary Chapels have been extended and expanded throughout the entire United States. Many strong fellowships have been formed throughout the entire United States.

Another interesting facet of the ministry of Calvary Chapel is the tape ministry. Several years ago, the front row used to be filled with people holding tape recorders in their laps and microphones in their hands. They were taping the Bible studies to listen to them again and study them during the week or, in some cases, sending them to friends. At that time Ed Plummer started bringing a quality tape machine, and he would set a mike on the podium to tape the Sunday services. People would ask Ed if they could purchase a copy of the Sunday services, so Ed started duplicating them in his spare time. The requests for tapes became so great that Ed no longer had spare time, and he began a tape duplicating business. As his business began to expand and diversify, it was necessary for Calvary Chapel to take up the task of duplicating tapes. The Word for Today now duplicates and sends out more than 20,000 tapes every month to individuals and Bible study groups all over the world as God continues to expand the tape ministry. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians declaring how the Word of God had gone throughout the world from their fellowship. The same is true of Calvary Chapel, as tapes are being sent into Russia, Red China, all parts of Western and Eastern Europe, Sweden - and recently there has been a tremendous request for tapes from England and Canada where the tape ministry is growing rapidly. Thousands of lives are being transformed through the Word of God as people listen to these tapes. They write and share with us the effect that God's Word has had upon their lives and their homes. It’s a blessing to read the mail that we receive daily. As God also continued to bless Calvary Chapel and we had surplus funds, the Board, in seeking to spend these funds for the Kingdom, felt that one of the best ways would be to begin a radio ministry supported by Calvary Chapel. We started out choosing 25 of the major markets in the United States and putting The Word for Today radio program on in these 25 markets. God began to bless immediately. The response to the program was overwhelming. The stations soon were writing and telling us that they were receiving more response and listener approval to The Word for Today than any other program. We then picked another 25 communities and expanded the radio ministry to 50 stations. Again, we received phenomenal reports of God’s blessings coming to the people from the radio ministry. So, we expanded to the present 100 stations. God continues to use the radio ministry to touch thousands of lives every day, helping them in their growth in the Word of God. Many of the messages have been put into book form. We have the commentary on the book of Revelation and have recently completed a commentary on the book of Romans, which is now available.

Another exciting facet of Calvary Chapel is the music ministry that is handled through Maranatha! Music. Several years ago, while I was in the little chapel, a group of hippies came in and announced that they were musicians. They had a rock group, and the Lord had been giving them some Christian songs with Christian lyrics. They requested an opportunity to play these songs at Calvary Chapel. Since they had only been born again for a couple of weeks, I was a little dubious about the content of their lyrics. I requested, if possible, that they play some of the music first so I could hear it. They went out to their van and got their guitars, came in and began to play and sing. The music was so beautiful and touching that I began to weep. I asked them if they would play that evening. At that Monday night study the Love Song played their first Christian concert, and the young people there responded in a very enthusiastic way to this new style of Christian music. It wasn't long until the Lord began to raise up other groups. The Children of the Day, The Way, Gentle Faith, Country Faith, and many different music groups as well as those who were singles. We saw the necessity of helping to support the musicians in their ministry by making records. So with $3,500 and a four-track tape recorder, we made the first Maranatha album, a sampler of all the groups called Maranatha 1. This album was first distributed from the trunk of Mike Macintosh's car as he went around to the bookstores in Southern California and sold this new Christian music. Maranatha 1 was an immediate success among the young people. It created a tremendous interest in contemporary Christian music. It wasn’t long before other groups were being raised up - and we were producing Maranatha 2, and then many of the groups themselves. Maranatha! Music has continued to grow and is a ministry presently dedicated to developing young musicians, as well as providing the Christian body with beautiful worship music in our Praise albums. As we look at the phenomenal work of God, we're reminded of the time after the resurrection of Jesus when the disciples had gone fishing without success. In the morning when Jesus stood on the shore, He called to them and said, “Do you have any fish?” They answered, “No.” He suggested that they cast the net on the other side. Immediately the net was full of great fish, so much so that they could not draw the net into the boat. When John saw that they could not draw the net into the boat because of the multitude of fish, he said to Peter, “It Is the Lord.”

As we have seen the nets so full that we cannot draw them in - with the hundreds of people that are coming to Jesus Christ here at Calvary Chapel week in and week out - we realize that there is only one explanation for it: It is the Lord. And we rejoice greatly in this marvelous work of the Lord.

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