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Harbor
Calvary Chapel's History
The
history here at Harbor Calvary Chapel is much
shorter than that of the whole Calvary Chapel movement (which you can
read below) for we have only been in existence since September 2002.
The Calvary Chapel movement has been growing since the late 60's and is
continuing here in Grays Harbor. Pastor Sean was the youth pastor at
Calvary Chapel of Olympia for 7 years when the Lord laid on his heart
to consider starting a Calvary in Grays Harbor County
(Aberdeen/Hoquiam). Since his wife (Erica) grew-up in Hoquiam and her
parents still live there, the Hollen's were fairly familiar with the
area and its spiritual needs. They began praying that God would raise
up a Calvary Chapel and fill the spiritual void of teaching through the
Word of God that was lacking.
After
about a year of them praying, Pastor Chuck
Lind (CC Olympia) mentioned the need to start a Calvary Chapel in
Aberdeen. It was about that time when the Lord started saying to Sean,
"Why don't you start it?" That was not exactly what he wanted to hear
because he was comfortable where he was in life. The youth ministry was
going great, there was financial security, his wife and three boys
(Seth, Drew & Micah) had good friends, why let this all go and
start over?
However,
the burden of the area kept growing in
his heart and when someone would talk about the Aberdeen/Hoquiam area
his heart would jump. Erica had also felt the burden and every time
they went through the area to visit her parents it grew stronger - so
much so that Sean finally went into Pastor Chuck's office and told him
what was on his heart. With more emotion than he anticipated, Sean told
Chuck that he and his wife desired to start a Calvary Chapel in the
Grays Harbor area if he and the board sent them out. Needless to say,
Chuck was delighted and the burden was lifted from Sean and there was a
feeling of great joy.
Chuck
discussed this with his church board and
they were all very excited about it as well. However, Chuck wanted to
wait a little while and pray about the timing. Sean kept praying and
decided not to bring it up again until God put it on Chuck's heart to
do so. About a year later, September of 2001, Chuck asked Sean if he
was still interested. He was and that is an understatement. So in
January 2002, Sean started a Bible Study at Harbor High School (an
alternative HS in the area) on Sunday nights at 6 p.m. The purpose of
this study was to see if it would grow and if there was enough interest
in the Harbor. Attendance ranged anywhere from 10 to 18 adults.
The
Hollen's then took a step of faith in April by
putting their house in Olympia on the market at the highest price they
could - to the dismay of the realtor. The next day people were looking
at the house and within 32 hours the house was sold! The Hollen's
learned that when God wants to move one needs to sit down, put on their
seat belt and hang on.
Now
regardless of attendance they were committed
to starting a Calvary Chapel in Grays Harbor. They proceeded to buy a
house and moved to Hoquiam on Memorial Day weekend, 2002. Sean stayed
on at CC Olympia until August while waiting for his replacement to take
over.
Then
on September of 2002 they started their
Sunday morning service at 10 a.m. with about 20 people. They were still
meeting at Harbor High School in Aberdeen till September 4, 2005, where
things grew dramatically. On the 11th of September 2005 God Bless us
with a building in downtown Aberdeen. The members of the Harbor Calvary
Chapel had their work cut out as they had to totally remodel the
premises to make it habitable. God is truly adding to His church by His
might and His power!
The
Calvary Chapel Movement History
Calvary
Chapel began in the late 1960's in one
small, non-denominational church. Pastor Chuck Smith, who had spent 17
years in churches throughout California and Arizona, became the pastor
of a church in Costa Mesa, California which called itself Calvary
Chapel. Through his many years of pastoring, Pastor Chuck became
convinced that a new approach to ministry was needed. Rather than
preaching a "topical" message every Sunday, he began to teach
line-by-line through the Word of God, starting at Genesis (the first
book in the Old Testament) and working his way through to Revelation
(the last book in the New Testament).
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