Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

located near the boundary between the cities of

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of t ...

and Santa Ana in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. Although the church takes its name from its original facilities on the Costa Mesa side of the boundary, it is now in Santa Ana. It is the original

Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel is an association of evangelical 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 churc ...

, having grown since 1965 from a handful of people led by the original senior pastor Chuck Smith to become the "mother church" of over one thousand congregations worldwide.

Outreach Magazine ''Outreach'' is an evangelical magazine based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It focuses on activities of growing churches and is non-denominational. It is a periodical from the organization Outreach, Inc., founded in 1996 by Scott Evans and pro ...

's list of the 100 Largest Churches in America lists attendance as 9,500, making it the thirty-ninth largest in America.

History

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and Welcome to Santa Ana sign

Chuck Smith started pastoring at Calvary Chapel in 1965 with a congregation of only twenty-five. Smith's style was to preach straight from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, mostly without deviation. In 1968 Smith, who was looking for a way to bring Christ to the current generation of

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s and surfers, invited Lonnie and Connie Frisbee to work alongside John Nicholson and John Higgins to work with the hippies in the area at "The House of Miracles". Within a week it had 35 new converts. Lonnie's

charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

style caused some disagreement within the church, since he seemed more intent on gaining converts and experiencing the presence of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

than on teaching newer converts Biblical doctrine. Lonnie Frisbee's experiential charismatic approach was a key element in the foundation in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

of what was later termed the ''

Jesus movement The Jesus movement was an Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it su ...

'' in the early part of the 1970s. Subsequent to Frisbee's arrival, Calvary Chapel claimed thousands of converts and newly baptized joined the movement which later spread throughout the United States and the rest of the world. As of 2009, there are more than 1500 Calvary Chapel congregations worldwide. Smith has started other ministries including

Maranatha! Music Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music. Background In the early 1970s Calv ...

, a record label, and The Word for Today, a publishing/radio broadcasting ministry. On October 3, 2013, 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 - including preaching at three services the Sunday before his death. Brian Brodersen, Smith's son-in-law, became senior pastor following his death.

Controversy

Some Christian media have detailed a variety of allegations involving Smith and the leadership of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. These include financial improprieties and lax standards for sexual improprieties. A lawsuit was filed alleging that Smith and others at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa knew or should have known that a minister named Anthony Iglesias was prone to committing sexual abuse when they moved him from ministry positions in

Diamond Bar, California Diamond Bar is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2010 census it had a population of 55,544, and in 2019 the population was estimated to be 55,720. It is named after the "diamond over a bar" branding iron re ...

, to Thailand, to

Post Falls, Idaho Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. It is a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, to the east, and a bedroom community to Spokane, to the west. The population was 38,485 at the time of the 2020 cens ...

.Graman, Kevin 2011
Churches protected predator, suit says
''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base in ...

''. Published April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2011. Iglesias was convicted of lewd conduct with two 14-year-old boys in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 2004, and the lawsuit stemmed from events in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, but all alleged abuse occurred in or before 2003. The Costa Mesa congregation is involved solely due to its leadership role among Calvary Chapels.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in California Evangelical churches in California Churches in Orange County, California Costa Mesa, California Santa Ana, California Culture of Santa Ana, California Organizations based in Santa Ana, California Christian organizations established in 1965 Radio broadcasting companies of the United States