Why Calvary Chapel Needs the Holy Spirit

Several years ago I met with a well known prophetic guy that asked if we could have lunch together. Of course free lunches are in my wheelhouse often. In agreeing I found out that this older fellow had quite a rich history with my Pastor Chuck Smith going back to the early 1950s. Hearing the recollections of this sweet elderly man helped me to understand the Holy Spirit background of Chuck’s earliest ministry years. When Chuck and Kay Smith took over a small Pentecostal church called Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa it was expected that this small church would be Pentecostal in every way and would not only invite the power and presence of the Holy Spirit into their assemblies but also encourage newcomers to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit into their personal lives. Jesus told His disciples to not leave Jerusalem and begin ministry without His Holy Spirit baptism. (Acts 1:4-5)

Somewhere along the way the Calvary Chapel movement lost its way with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This elderly man I was having lunch with asked me several times what I thought happened to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Calvary Chapel movement. He suggested it had something to do with the split that occurred when John Wimber started the Vineyard church movement in the mid-70s. Clearly the Holy Spirit’s thrust of Calvary Chapel changed after John Wimber took several churches with him.

I was saved in the fall of 1973 and Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa was my first Christian church. Right from my first encounter with this huge church was the insistence that every Christian believer needed three things subsequent to salvation: 1) Water Baptism, 2) Communion, 3) Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The symbol you see above was an artist’s depiction of what they felt about the ministry of Calvary Chapel. The dove, which would become the symbol of Maranantha Music and then Calvary Chapel, was intended to direct any interested to what the foundation of this movement would be all about. Father, Son, AND Holy Spirit.

Lucy and I feel personally called (and equipped) to assist Calvary Chapels in the invitation of the Holy Spirit and His ministry back into any church that knows they are missing a very important component - the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

I believe there is going to be a great movement of the supernatural in the Calvary Chapel churches. Jesus certainly wants this, many Pastors want this as well. Join us in prayer for a spiritual revival in our day that would, once again, see the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see and lives empowered for ministry.