page_title: Calvary Chapel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Calvary Chapel / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Calvary Chapel, the former Montesano Theater, 114 West Marcy Avenue, Montesano, Washington. The former Montesano Theater building is now the Silvia Building, owned by Silvia Oddfellow Lodge No. 38 IOOF. It houses the lodge and also this chapel.
context_page_description: Calvary Chapel, an association of evangelical Christian churches, maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs.
  Beginning in 1965 in Southern California, this fellowship of churches grew out of Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.
  In November 2016, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa left the Calvary Chapel Association and formed the Calvary Chapel Global Network. The latter continues to count the association's 1,700 churches as members unless they opt out.
context_section_description: While still a member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Chuck Smith reported that a prophecy came to him in which the Lord said to him that He was changing his name. His new name would mean "Shepherd" because the Lord was going to make him the shepherd of many flocks and the church would not be large enough to hold all of the people who would be flocking to hear the Word of God. In December 1965 Smith became the pastor (the English word "pastor" comes from the Latin pastor, meaning "shepherd") of a 25-person evangelical congregation in  Costa Mesa (California). In 1968 this church broke away from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Santa Ana, California. Before Smith became their pastor, twelve of the 25 members attended a prayer meeting about whether or not to close their church: they reported that "the Holy Spirit spoke to them through prophecy" and told them that Smith would become their pastor, that he would want to elevate the platform area, that God would bless the church, that it would go on the radio, that the church would become overcrowded, and that he would become known throughout the world.
  Smith's book Harvest recorded an almost identical prophecy delivered to 16 discouraged people ready to quit. In 1969 Calvary Chapel became a hub in what later became known as the Jesus movement when Smith's daughter introduced him to her boyfriend John Higgins Jr., a former hippie who had become a Christian, and who went on to head the largest Jesus freak movement in history, the Shiloh Youth Revival Centers (1968-1989). John Higgins introduced Smith to Lonnie Frisbee, the "hippie evangelist" who became a key figure in the growth of both the Jesus Movement and Calvary Chapel. Frisbee moved into Smith's home, and he would  minister to other hippies and counter-culture youth on the beaches. At night he would bring home new converts, and soon Smith's house was full. Frisbee was put in charge of a new rental home for the steadily growing crowd of Christian hippies and he named the commune "House of Miracles"; other Houses of Miracles would develop throughout California and beyond. As Calvary Chapel grew "explosively", a tent was erected during the construction of a new building.
  The converts included musicians who began writing music for praise and worship. This became the genesis for Jesus music and Christian rock concerts. Maranatha! Music eventually formed to publish and promote the music. The services usually resembled rock concerts more than any worship services of the time.
  Frisbee featured in national television-news reports and magazines with images of him baptizing hundreds at a time in the Pacific Ocean. The network of House of Miracles communes/crash pads/coffee houses began doing outreach concerts with Smith or Frisbee preaching, Frisbee calling forth the Holy Spirit and the newly-forming bands playing the music. By the early 1970s Calvary Chapel was home to ten or more musical groups that were representative of the Jesus people movement.
  In 1982 John Wimber, a Calvary Chapel pastor, and the Calvary Chapel leadership mutually agreed to part ways. Tension had been mounting over Wimber's emphasis on  spiritual manifestations, leading Wimber to withdraw from Calvary Chapel and to affiliate with a network of churches that would become the Association of Vineyard Churches.
  On October 3, 2013, Pastor Smith died after a long battle with lung cancer. Smith remained as the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa during his battle with cancer, to include preaching at three services the Sunday before his death.
caption: A Calvary Chapel, housed in the former Montesano Theatre, Montesano, Washington
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