HISTORY OF CALVARY CHAPEL
The first Calvary Chapel began in the late 1960s in Costa Mesa, California, as a small non-denominational church of 25 members, pastored by Chuck Smith. The vision of this ministry was to extend the love and grace of Jesus Christ to all walks of life, including the counterculture of young people.
Today, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa is home to some 30,000 believers. The Word for Today publishes Bible study books and tapes all over the world. Radio station KWVE broadcasts God’s Word to all of Southern California and throughout the world via internet. Calvary Chapel Bible College provides Bible education to thousands at its home campus in Murrieta, California and at many extension campuses worldwide.
There are now over 1,000 affiliate churches throughout the world, including Calvary Chapel of Delta.
Calvary Chapel of Delta began as a Sunday night home Bible study in July 1996, born out of much prayer and a desire to learn the entirety of God’s Word through expository, verse by verse teaching (see Isaiah 28:10). Soon after the Bible study began, the group needed to find a larger meeting place. That search led them to the basement of an old post office building on Main Street in Delta, which soon became known to the group as the “Delta Outreach.” In October of 1996, the group began hosting outreach concerts on Friday nights, averaging about thirty young people per night. Calvary Chapel of Delta began meeting Sunday mornings on November 3, 1996.
The realities of not having heat in the old post office building sparked a search for a new facility. That search ended as the new fellowship moved into the former E-Z Mart store on Broad Street Extended.
After attempting to transform this building into an adequate church facility from December through May 1997, the congregation of believers moved on once again. The Lord graciously provided Calvary Chapel with its current building (formerly Healthy Image Fitness Center) in June 1997, as a result of specific prayer by several in the congregation.
In September 2001, the Lord enabled the fellowship to purchase the building, situated on 11 acres of land. The church is located at 5911 Delta Road (on route 74, across from Delta Family Restaurant).