Ten years ago, on October 3, Chuck Smith died.
At the time, I wrote how it is hard to overstate the impact on the modern evangelical movement by Smith and Calvary Chapel. The Calvary Chapel movement grew from the church he pastored in Costa Mesa—and it continues doing important Gospel work today. The Vineyard movement began around 1980 out of the Calvary Chapel movement.
A Jesus People Explosion
In 1965, Chuck Smith was a pastor in the Foursquare church, a relatively classical Pentecostal. Yet, it was actually Chuck’s wife Kay who initially had a burden for the broken lives of the hippies—and Pastor Chuck was soon all in on engaging the counterculture. Soon thousands were reached as part of the emerging Jesus People Movement, and the church became Calvary Chapel.
Reporter Ed Plowman described the results in the early 1970s:
“The ensuing population explosion at Calvary was unbelievable. Within two years or so, the church’s attendance skyrocketed from 150 into the thousands. Most of them were young people touched in some way through the ministry of The House of Miracles. In 1970 alone 4,000 prayed to receive Christ, and more than 2,000 were baptized in the Pacific Ocean.”[1]
Calvary Chapel was a key innovator in church planting, for sure, but also in new music that continues to shape the church today. Members of the band Love Song, pioneers in JPM music, were converted at Calvary Chapel and played a huge part in the rising music that eventually birthed Maranatha! Music and eventually, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and the modern worship movement.
Chuck Smith chose to exercise grace over rules in allowing hippies into his church. This included gifted musicians (like Love Song) who encouraged innovation in worship music and church structures (coffeehouses, communes, etc.). Through his influence and leadership, his rapidly growing church became a diffuser of the new music through the encouragement of many new bands and the establishment of Maranatha! Music.
Chuck Fromme, who came to Calvary Chapel to help organize and utilize the many musical groups and to get Maranatha! Music going, had a saying that “Any pig can fly in a hurricane.” In other words, when a new idea meets a need at the right time, the diffusion of innovation happens rapidly, which is what happened at Calvary Chapel.
The Gospel, The Bible, And Worship
I first visited the church in 1998 soon after becoming a professor. I asked my new employer to send me to four churches where I could experience their culture and talk to their people—to help me tell the story of church planting. (I was a new church planting professor.) Calvary Chapel was at the top of the list.
Since then, I’ve had the honor of preaching at Costa Mesa and at other Calvary Chapels, witnessing the impact first-hand. Through Pastor Chuck’s influence, Calvary Chapel led a new generation of churches to see what happens when:
- A church develops a deep passion for reaching the lost. Smith saw thousands of hippies come to faith in the Jesus People Movement.
- A Spirit-filled movement encourages the practice of all the spiritual gifts while focusing on worship and Spirit empowerment, not just the sign gifts (though they do believe in all of them).
- A welcoming church community seeks to reach all kinds of people (including hippies), engaging the unchurched and involving young believers.
- A church planting movement is birthed out of a desire to spread the Gospel and reach a lost world through new churches.
- A church is built on verse-by-verse preaching through books of the Bible.
No doubt you can relate to many of these marks of Chuck Smith and his ministry.
Still Remembered Today
The recent movie The Jesus Revolution featured the ministry of Chuck Smith, played by Kelsey Grammer. The movie far surpassed expectations with over $50 million at the box office. The story of the early days of Calvary Chapel continues to inspire to this day.
Greg Laurie, one of Smith’s proteges who was reached through Calvary Chapel and whose autobiography was the basis for the movie, said this about Smith:
“Chuck is known globally as the father of the Jesus movement. You can also make a case for contemporary Christian music and even contemporary praise and worship, which began in the early 70s at Calvary Chapel…. If that was all Chuck ever had a hand in that would be more than enough for one guy in one lifetime, but Chuck was just getting started…. His emphasis on Bible exposition not only changed a church, it changed a generation, because thousands of young men, now not so young, went out around the country and around the world and started Calvary Chapel-style churches.”[2]
In an interview late in life, Smith gave credit to the faithfulness of God and his Word:
“It is the exposition of the word of God. It’s encouraging people to read the Word of God and expounding to them the Word of God. It’s really built on the Word of God. It’s just God honoring His word as he said He would. He said He would honor His word even above His name. So, the movement has been built on the solid teaching of the Word of God.”[3]
Personal Reflection
Pastor Chuck once wrote me after speaking at a national Calvary Chapel gathering. He responded to my comments about his influence, saying in part: “I feel as a blessed spectator watching the glorious sovereign move of God and marvel continually at His work.”
He was far more than a blessed spectator. His boldness, courage, and devotion to the Gospel and to God’s Word continues to influence people today. Let’s be thankful for Pastor Chuck and his legacy today.
References
[1] Edward E. Plowman, The Jesus Movement in America (Pyramid Books, 1971), 45.
[2] https://www.christianpost.com/news/chuck-smith-jesus-movement-founder-not-afraid-of-anything.html
[3] https://www.christianpost.com/news/chuck-smith-jesus-movement-founder-not-afraid-of-anything.html
