Why I Stayed At Calvary Chapel
It’s important to hear the stories of those who are sticking it out, in spite of the obvious. If you are one of the people who are so blind and ignorant, that you continue to walk into the pig-stigh of CC every week, then we want to hear from you. We can’t believe how or why you would do such a horrible thing, but all the same, we are interested in hearing about your pathetic story so that we can pick you apart with our high-intellect and truthful criticisms.
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Great stuff! Keep it coming!
mehphiboseth - March 15, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Well, um, I’m a little embarassed to admit it, but, well, I have chosen to stay at Calvary. I’m sorry. I mean, I did get saved there, I do love the worship, and the pastor does teach the whole council of the Word, but I suppose that’s not really an excuse. I have grown there in spirit and in truth, but that’s probably a pathetic reason. The fellowship is sweet and I have found grace there, but that really isn’t enough, is it?
But (gulp) I do like that the leadership isn’t cowed by commities of nosey old ladies armed with hymnals and knitting needles. I do appreciate that the elders never lock the doors until enough money has been counted up in the offering. I am glad that I’m not required to submit my fanancial statement every quarter to keep my membership. It is a relief that if my theology differes slightly from the official statement of faith, I’m not asked to leave. I am comfortable with the knowledge that if I bring an unsaved friend, he is not going to be harped on, sent mail, or cornered and asked if he believes in the gift of tongues–or not, as the case may be. And, well, I’m glad my pastor is straight.
But I suppose it’s true that those reasons just make me a silly, blind little sheep, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I’ll try to hate more. I promise.
Fear and Trembling - March 16, 2006 at 11:27 am
F and T is a killer. LOL I went to a gray-head church thta was like that. LOL he must have been at the same one.
Stone K Quehte - March 23, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Not sure. Still trying to figure this one out. I’ll get back to you when I know.
Hope - March 24, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Ok first and foremost I stay because I can’t fight if I leave the place where the fight is taking place. Second I must support the 6 men who have take up the cause of ripping off the blinders off the faces of those poor sheep who refuse to seek the light of truth. As hard as it is to stay I must have faith in my God that his word is true…”the fight is not mine bur His”
Nam Vet - March 26, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Dear Fear and Trembling, How pious you are!
Robert - November 15, 2006 at 11:35 pm
I have stayed through all the term oil. And the church is strong and gods word is taught.
Your guys are real proud of yourselves.
Jim - August 11, 2007 at 8:14 am
The milk. The milk. The pure milk of the Word.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The pure milk of Calvaryism.
There is only one true denomination, one true church….and it is Calvary Chapel.
I have searched and searched the streets of my fair city to find the warmth and fellowship and comaraderie that is Calvary Chapel, only to despair as I wander past all of the Southern Baptist and Churches of God and Assembly of God and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and pentecostal and Lutheran and Presbyterian and all of the other denominational churches, yea, to despair that the unique and right church culture that is Calvary Chapel has been somehow decimated, perhaps by satan himself who went back in time and turned Papa Chuck into an Episcopalian before he could take over Corona Christian Center back in the late 1960s…..and I weep as I realize the space/time continuum has been forever altered, and I’ll have to listen to far inferior radio preachers like Chip Ingram and Chuck Swindoll, and read the books my Calvary pastor told me never to read from the likes of John Piper and Mark Driscoll and Erwin McManus, and that I’ll have to wait until heaven to see the blessed Calvary DoveTM and hear brother Gayle’s stories and Jon’s distinctive laugh….
And then…..AND THEN…..GLORY TO GOD I SEE A CALVARY CHAPEL
Satan has not corrupted Papa Chuck like Apocalypse going back to kill all of the Avengers and Fantastic Four and Spider-Man before they were born so he could take over the world!
John Piper will not lead Christianity in this dark age! The darkness has been banished! Greg and Raul and Skip and Pastor Bob and Papa Chuck are alive!
I wander in, and am greeted like family from someone who I know to be a Calvary brother!
I sit down, and as the service starts I stand up with the rest of the sheep to worship our Lord. I stand (when told to) and sit down (when told to) by the worshipleader/senior pastor/head greeter/bill payer while he sings the chorus of I Can Sing of Your Love Forever a dozen times. I wince as the ushers tackle the poor sucker who stood up while we sat down for “Isn’t He?”, then realize I have been blessed with entertainment that is safer to enjoy than an episode of “The Office” or “24″.
I hear the word being taught verse by verse (or, if I’m lucky, the pastor reading a transcript of one of Jon Courson’s sermons). Then, we pray, and we all drop our offerings in the box in the back of the sanctuary. I have only a quarter, as I have wandered the darkness of Calvinism and southern denominationalism that has a stronghold over our fair city, but am comforted that as with the woman who only had a mina to give, I give far more than the joker in the pew who was viewing the Harvest website on his iPhone during the closing annoucements.
Then, we go down to the fellowship hall, and while I eat a complementary meal made from the loving hands of Calvary volunteers, I am regaled with stories of past pastor’s conferences, and visits from Calvary heavyweights like Bob Hoekstra, Dave Hunt and the special time Don McClure stayed at the pastor’s house because his flight to New York to preach at the Harvest Fellowship church there got cancelled and he was forced to stay in this backwater.
And, when I am not fellowshipping with the CC saints and telling funny jokes (well, funny to us) about this fair city and state that isn’t anything like Orange County California, I visit the church library and reacquaint myself with the writings of great Calvary theologians of the past like Spurgeon (Skip’s favorite) and Lloyd-Jones (Brian Brodersen’s favorite) and contemporary Calvary theologians like Hunt, Chuck Missler and David Guzik.
And, then, it is over, and I am sad, and I begin to despair of my impending fall into the pits of Calvinism and Baptist Arminianism and that awful, un-Maranatha-like Southern Gospel music. But then I am invited to home fellowship that night, and am reminded of mid-week service on Wednesday and men’s fellowship on Thursday…..and am given a flyer for the church’s new radio station at xx.x FM! Joy! Joy! Joy!
And that is why I stay in Calvary Chapel.
Calvary Apologist - August 28, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I was run out of the denominational Baptist bookstore today.
(OK, it was Lifeway Christian Store, but it sounds more Calvaryish if I don’t use the brand name)
The reason I was run out was the staff was offended for me being a good sheep and telling the lost sheep, the sheep divided into the Paige Patterson or Albert Mohler camps, about the balance and sweetness and nourishment found in Calvary. How folksy and charming Sandy Adams and Bob Coy were and how they were good substitues for Charles and Andy Stanley.
Well, actually, I got some strange looks from the couple I was talking to and the store assistant from the seminary (who was gushing over Bruce Ware, incidentially). But that wasn’t what got me kicked out.
What got me the boot was, after I went out to my car, took the shopping cart I borrowed from Wal-Mart out of the back seat, filled it up with all of the Calvary Chapel pastor authored books I purchased for 90 percent off from the charismatic church (the lady had no idea what she was giving away, and it only cost me 40 bucks total), then went inside.
Why they made a big deal when I started ripping off the covers of those awful Joel Osteen and Beth Moore and Charles Stanley books , tossed those books in a pile behind the women’s books (women should be reading the Word or Calvary authors anyway) and started putting the covers of the inferior teachers on the Calvary books. So, when someone thinks they were purchasing Beth Moore or Max Lucado, they’d actually get Papa Chuck, or Lenya Heitzig. Or Chuck Missler or Dave Hunt.
Anyway, Bubba who’s probably majoring in football or John Piperism or some other such foolishness grabs me, hoists me above his head, and says I better put the covers back on those books pronto or he’ll call the cops and have me put away. I don’t think I want to do jail ministry right now, so with him and his goons burning a hole thru the other side of my head, I put all the covers back on the inferior books. Then they grilled me on where I got the good Calvary books, and after figuring I hadn’t stolen anything out of Lifew—er, the Baptist bookstore–they took my good Calvary books and threw them back in my car. And Bubba told me to take my posterior and to never come back again – and he’d return the cart to Wal-Mart.
Seeing him mad as a hornet and hearing his Driscollesque foul mouth convinced me it was a good a time as any to scram – and to steer clear of that bookstore.
Besides….I think I can take the kids who work at the Family Christian Store on the other side of town
Calvary Apologist - September 1, 2007 at 5:55 am
I want to apologize. I thought I was being funny and the other day realized that I could have come across as much more offensive than I thought.
Believe it or not, none of my humor was meant to take shots at Calvary Chapel nor the people who serve in its churches – and that includes the pastors. Much of it was done in love – I did it because I like a lot of you guys. But I don’t want to hurt or unnecessarily offend. I am sorry and ask your forgiveness, and the forgiveness of everyone who I offended with these two posts.
Calvary Apologist - November 25, 2007 at 6:21 pm