Greg laurie calvary chapel1/3/2024 His style was simple and straightforward, laying out the timeless principles of Christianity. He preached sermons somewhere between fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. Smith had 17 years' experience as a pastor in the Foursquare Gospel Church. What people heard, however, was the uncompromised message of the gospel. The music was contemporary, the forerunner of Christian folk and rock. Smith preached in an open-collared shirt, pacing back and forth across a platform instead of standing glued in a pulpit. His simple, yet sound, biblical approach drew 25,000 people weekly. Soon more than 4,000 were attending each service, forcing many to sit on the carpeted floor. When Calvary Chapel's 2,200 seat sanctuary was dedicated in 1973, three services had to be held to accommodate all the worshipers. Within a couple years that was too small, so Calvary Chapel bought a parcel of land and held services in a huge circus tent until the new church could be built. Then they outgrew a rented church and built a new one. Within two years they outgrew their first building. The movement began with 25 people in Costa Mesa, California. But these rebels rejected traditional churches as being too stodgy and restrictive. Pastor Chuck Smith looked past their unkempt appearance and saw souls hungering for Jesus Christ. In the 1960s, the state was home to hundreds of thousands of long-haired hippies. California is often on the cutting edge of change.
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