Tribute To Pastor Chuck Smith Recap And Such Along With How Calvary Chapel Of Costa Mesa Actually Begun
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| David Sloane Central Park Manhattan New York |
I want to free range a bit today...
It was a sad day and yet a wonderful day for the 'spiritual children' of Costa Mesa's Pastor Chuck Smith.
Everyone had gathered together to pay tribute to the man of God who had recently graduated to heaven.
Some experienced concert goers to the Honda venue remarked that "The place was completely packed."
Coming from them that actually means something.
Greg Laurie, Raul Ries, Mike Macintosh, John Courson and Skip Heitzig, showed up along with a few others.
Jackie Alnor has reported on her Facebook that John Higgins, a staunch traditionalist, has left the Calvary Chapel movement.
Here is what he had said:
“We feel that the original calling and vision for Calvary Chapel in 1966 was from the LORD.
Therefore, we at Tri City have withdrawn from the present day hype, by notifying the CCA and Chuck Smith personally that we are no longer associated with the CCA or Costa Mesa.
I have spoken of this at conferences with interesting results.
We speak of being a independent fellowship of believers.
This took place right after the June pastors conference in Marietta when Greg and Bob Coy presented their plan for integrating with the apostasies of today.
Our church reps walked out and never returned.
As a result, we have lost fellowship with many of the “Calvary’s” in our area as they have embraced these false teachers in hope of growth and (in my opinion) the hope of monetary gain.
We at Tri City go back to 1966 when we were called into the battle field.
And not wanting to change our name, (we say they should), are looking to incorporate the idea of the date 1966 in our logo.
However, that is yet to be completed. Our fellowship know where we stand and we are strong in the strength of our Lord.
I hope this gives you and your associates a clear understanding of our position.
We are not fighting against CCCM and its ways but we are fighting for the Truth of God’s Word.
In Jesus,
John
Some say John is not what he appears to be.
As each speaker came up to the podium I could see the tole that age has taken upon their faces over the long years.
Greg Laurie had mentioned that when it was his turn to speak.
The zealousness of youth had long past.
I had seen these same men of God from the days of my youth, during the Jesus People Movement.
Each man was obviously touched with emotion at the loss of 'Papa Chuck."
No one seemed to want to appear as anything more then what they are.
What I mean is no one was in that mode where they wanted to show anything to anyone of themselves, they were each humble and just one of us laity types.
Now it was different for some of the videos that were shown on the big screens, there was a bit of posturing to be observed in some of the vignettes that were shown.
Oden Fong was working hard at holding back his emotions as he got up to play his set for the congregation.
I know that Oden has a great love and respect for Chuck Smith.
He worked under him for over ten years in administration service to Calvary Chapel.
Every time I had spoken with Oden he always spoke with a tone of admiration when the conversation drifted in Chucks direction.
LoveSong were still very good after all of these years.
A few of the members looked worn out but could still stand and deliver.
Mike Macintosh was not himself.
He winged it on his own and it showed.
Usually Mike goes with the Holy Spirit's direction and it always turns out well...it didn't go as well as it could have from my perspective.
Tom Stipe was the same Tom that we all saw at the Saturday Night Maranatha Concerts at Calvary Chapel during the 70's.
Only now he was more mature and not as comedic as he used to be.
Gone was the big curly hair that i remembered.
He kind of 'talked to the door to address the window' in a sense when he said that it was "Fun" back in the day.
People used to show up early because it was fun to go to church.
We can get somber and stiff in our Christianity if we are not careful.
Brian Broderson has some hugh shoes to fill; to his credit he didn't even try.
He seemed a bit nervous and fumbled when he introduced one of the speakers.
Not easy to read your notes and look up and make that all important eye contact with your listeners.
I don't know if there was any tension up on the platform between he and the others, but I do know that it would not be easy to be one of the speakers among such polished professional pastors that were present.
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| Calvary Chapel on Church Street in Costa Mesa CA |
Rumor has it that Pastor Chuck had visited Brian and family when they were in ministry in England.
Chuck and Kay missed the grand children and so Chuck dangled a carrot on a stick in front of Brian implying that if they were to move back to southern California Brian would be in position to take over the throne if anything were to happen to Chuck.
Brian took the bait and left his own ministry just as it was about to take off big time by the Holy Spirit in England.
I never felt right about Brian throwing in the towel for uncertain advancement on someone else's foundation.
Kind of reminded me of the story of an older prophet going to the much younger prophet and lying to him.
"The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.)"
1 Kings 13:18
Chuck Smith never made any preparations or arrangements for Brian to make a smooth transition into the pulpit and to take over of the helm of Calvary Chapel if anything were to happen to him.
Chuck just let the dominoes fall where they may.
Brian had to act upon what Chuck had intimated to him when Chuck passed on.
Or else what would be the point of having abandoned his own anointed calling in England?
There were many who knew not of Chuck's carrot on a stick to Brian.
So Brian has had a hard road to travel, especially since he had left his own road.
There are a lot of hidden things taking place behind the scenes of Calvary Chapel these days.
Some are saying board members have resigned and that there is about 3 million dollars missing from the church funds.
Who knows if there is any truth to this.
There have also been some court battles brewing among family members of Chuck Smith.
I feel real bad for Brian.
Pastor Romain used to talk about God's perfect will and God's permissive will.
I think Brian knows a lot about the topic these days...
I have heard many bad things said about Brian and I have heard many good things said.
Both sides of the fence sound very sincere when you listen to their stories.
As always I remain neutral and leave it all in God's hands to discipline the liars and to reward the truth sayers whomever they are.
I have walked long enough with God to know to stay out of the human battles that never amount to blessings.
What I do know is that the wonderful glorious genuine move of the Holy Spirit was indeed at Calvary Chapel in it's early days.
Jesus Christ was present there through the Holy Spirit.
Now a days you wouldn't know it in comparison to what is going on over at the Calvary Chapel denomination.
There is a Hugh rift that will bring down CC.
I first arrived in Costa Mesa in 1965, as did Chuck Smith.
And as fate would have it, I lived directly across the
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| Pastor Chuck Smith |
I to this day have a vivid memory of Chuck standing out on the steps greeting people as they were leaving after the service.
His smile got noticed by my 14 year old mind as I passed on my way to the Sunday mass at Saint Joachim's Catholic Church a street over.
The next time that I saw Chuck was in 1967 in an old converted school on Sun flower Street in Santa Ana.
Only this time I not only saw his great smile, I heard him speak.
The first words I ever heard from him were, "Kids, Jesus Christ loves you."
Now this got my attention.
Jesus Christ was that dead guy up in front of the Catholic alter that I saw on Sundays at my local church.
I never heard anyone say those words because back in those days the mass was all in Latin so no one really learned anything at the Catholic mass, much less understood what the priest was saying.
Let me explain.
Jesus Christ was only some dead guy statue at the catholic church for me until I heard Chuck Smith put flesh and blood on Him and make Him a reality to me.
Chuck taught me that Christ was very much alive and that He loved me deeply.
When I asked Christ into my life it was very real for me.
As if a fog had cleared and I could now see more clearly.
I was not alone, it was happening for a lot of other people around me at the time.
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| Intercessors |
I totally attribute the existence of Calvary Chapel to the intercession of Kay Smith and some of her close friends who also had the gift of intercession on the earthly side of things.
The intercession of Kay coupled with her deep compassion, that goes along with the calling of intercessor, bridged the gap that brought in a whole generation of lost hippies.
Chuck came around from his disgust at the dirty hippies to entering in with Kay's intercession for them.
During the winter of 1967 Kay had asked Chuck to drive her to the Huntington beach pier area to observe the hippies there.
As she watched the aimless lonely looking young people, dressed weird and wandering around, her calling as an intercessor kicked in big time.
Along with her natural affection as a mother with an instinct to care for children, Kay was emotionally geared to want comfort and safety for these lost children she was seeing.
Compassion for these lost souls drove her to tears, as she said, "Chuck, we've got to do something about this."
The calling of intercessor is like that, it drives you with compassion for those targeted for intercessory prayer by Holy Spirit.
You can't stop until your Holy Spirit task assignment has completed.
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| Hippie Evangelist Lonnie Frisbee |
Men are usually project oriented, and Chuck being a man started the project that would last him a lifetime.
The Lord stepped in and delivered Lonnie Frisbee.
A young man who had grown up in Costa Mesa that the Lord had contacted out in a canyon in Palm Springs.
The combination of Chuck's stability and maturity in Biblical knowledge along with Lonnie's sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and his anointing as an evangelist were explosively catalytic.
Lonnie knew how to address and reach his own generation and Chuck knew how to skillfully build a firm foundation under them with the Word of God.
Christ said He would not leave us abandoned or alone as an orphan without parents or direction, but that He would send us a Comforter.
The Greek word for "Comforter" is parakletos.
The word parakletos is derived from two words that mean, "to go along side of to help."
It also means, "one who pleads the case for another as an intercessor."
As the Comforter, the Holy Spirit is always with us, we are never alone.
He stands alongside of you at all times to help aid you, especially in times of weakness.
Thus Calvary Chapel grew exponentially as more and more people were added daily.
All taking place without cell phones, pagers, the Internet, only word of mouth and evangelicalism by the kids themselves.
The Holy Spirit was on the move!
One can only imagine what it would have been like if Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or bloggers were involved, but they were way in the future.
Yes Kay Smith and her calling of intercessor were the biology behind what actually happened.
The unction from heaven imparted the compassion in her mother's heart that fueled her prayers of intercession that bore fruit that we all got to see yesterday.
Whole generations were represented at Honda center, all because of one intercessor performing in her calling.
But we all know that it was Almighty God that got up off His throne and came down to earth and poured out of His Holy Spirit into Kay Smith's heart.
Chuck who was janitor at the Market Basket that Judy Meston's dad managed on 17th street in Costa Mesa had no idea how big his call to the ministry was going to be.
Back in those days people could smoke in the store and one of Chuck's biggest beefs was that the floor of the supermarket was not an ash tray.
He was the one who had to clean up after the smokers and he didn't like it one bit.
This was the same supermarket that Lonnie Frisbee "dumpster~dived" in the back dumpsters for food to feed him and his wife.
A lot of hippies discovered that they could eat still good expired-date food for free from the dumpsters behind super markets.
Lonnie had to continue to dumpster dive for food even though the church was growing fast, Chuck quit sweeping floors at the supermarket.
Lonnie's first wife, Connie, is still miffed about that to this day, and has said as much when publicly speaking.
On any given day one could see Chuck picking up cigarette buttes on the Calvary Chapel property back then.
Young guys like Greg Laurie, took to doing the same because it was what Chuck was modeling by example.
They wanted to please Chuck.
Must have worked...Greg is where he wanted to be, where he belongs in the Lord.
I think that even though Brian B is at the helm of Calvary Chapel now, it is Greg that people will be drawn to.
Not that I think Brian cares about such things.
It is just my observation.
Greg's now the "Moses" of the movement as far as I can discern.
I honestly expect to see the anointing upon Greg to increase in these last days.
I think it is going to astound him when he realizes it himself.
Greg is not the type of man to seek such things for his own sake.
I knew him when we were young men, he is sincere, what you see is an evangelist~teacher.
Greg has suffered greatly.
Don't get me wrong, Brian will continue the work of the ministry from a natural perspective.
Things will go according to plan for the "extension of presence" for Pastor Chuck.
Just like J Vernon Magee and his "Bible Bus" and Adrian Rogers, through their taped messages, Chuck's messages will extend his ministry here on the earth.
God still has His way ultimately.
The entire extended Smith clan will eventually be cared for right down to the 33 great grand children once all the dust clears.
This is a family that is loved by a congregation that prospered in their walks with God because of pastor Chuck Smiths tireless shepherding.
They will all continue the work of the ministry that Chuck loved so much, no matter what side of the fence they are on in this church split thingy.
As for those of us that are nameless faceless ones who were there from the beginning, we will continue to seek after that which once was.
And hopefully we will find it again!
A place where the presence of Jesus Christ is manifested and the people of God love one another unconditionally.
That is my observation.
Here is pastor Chuck Smith's.
Here is Chuck's brother Paul's observations
(Note 4/24/2017 Brian B has removed the above link destination from CCCM's website apparently)
And I won't tell you Jeff Smith's observation of things. As his dad has stated from the pulpit so many times, "Be sure your sin will out." Jeff is being silent of what he knows possibly waiting for what he knows to come out through other sources. Who knows. I will tell you that from my phone conversations Jeff is on fire for the Lord and walking daily in Divine appointments everywhere he goes these days. I love his stories of how coordinated and precise the orchestrations of the Holy Spirit has been in his walk of Divine appointments. Mind blowing and incredibly awesome indeed! I thoroughly enjoy my conversations with our brother, so uplifting and edifying.
If you search the net you will find Chuck Jr's observation.
En Agape'
David Sloane
Southern Californian
My own Story
http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/
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