Broken & Surrendered: Pastor Chuck’s Spiritual and Pastoral Journey
Story by Debra Smith
Photos courtesy of CC Costa Mesa, CA
In this story, we explore Pastor Chuck’s spiritual and pastoral journey, often bumpy, before he took over the small church where the Calvary Chapel movement began. Click to read “The Power of a Prayerful Mother: Testimony of Chuck Smith’s Mother”, which chronicles Pastor Chuck’s journey to faith and his call to ministry.
Pastor Chuck Smith (right) worships with Oden Fong (center) on Pirate's Cove Beach in Corona Del Mar. Chuck, an avid surfer himself, opened arms to the overlooked surf community. Oden, a member of the Mustard Seed Faith band, would often travel with Chuck on community outreaches doing music.
In 1945, Chuck moved one hour northwestward to study at Los Angeles’ L.I.F.E. Bible College. In addition to gaining preaching experience and growing in awareness of the Lord’s nearness while there, he began to recognize how his values and beliefs differed from the Foursquare Church—the Pentecostal denomination in which he was raised and educated.
After graduating, though, Chuck felt confused and aimless. He didn’t feel ready for the responsibilities of a senior pastorate, but he saw no other opportunities for Christian service. So he got a job and stayed near the Bible school, hoping his presence would remind professors and others of his availability should any vocational ministry opportunities arise.
Newlyweds Chuck and Kay Smith’s adoring love for each other grew, branching out to the California hippie community in a movement that spread across the U.S. and into other countries.
Soon, he met Kay—first noticing her at a Sunday night church service, then speaking to her at a ball game the next week. Her beauty attracted him; her devotion to Christ interested him deeply. Six weeks later, they were married.
In a few weeks, the Smiths moved to Arizona. Kay’s sister had arranged for Chuck to pastor a new Foursquare church plant, which could pay only $15 weekly—a scant amount, even in 1948. In hindsight, they were grateful for the opportunity to learn to live on little. Handling money with wisdom and integrity, Chuck reflected, would become essential in the ministry to come.
Chuck’s lifelong expository teaching style—verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, gave a solid, biblical foundation to countless numbers of new believers, many who went on to pastor churches of their own. There are currently over 1,800 Calvary Chapel fellowships worldwide.
After pastoring two different churches in Arizona for a total of nearly four years, the couple moved with their two children to Corona, CA. Chuck became overconfident, he said: Rapid church growth in Tucson, AZ, had left him with self-assurance that he had the ability to build a thriving ministry anywhere.
But in Corona, he and Kay found themselves unable to build the same rapport they had enjoyed with those in Arizona. Adding to his sense of defeat, he soon lost the full-time grocery store job he also worked in order to make ends meet. Chuck resigned and left the church, feeling crushed. In his mind, he was done not just with that particular fellowship—but with vocational ministry altogether.
Chuck purchased his own radio station, now known as KWVE, as a cost-effective means to share the Gospel. He would host Pastor’s Perspective live Monday through Thursday, giving his last broadcast just days before he died on Sunday, October 13, 2013. Before his death, he told a staff member, “If someone reads about my death in the obituaries, tell him I didn’t die. I’ve simply moved.”
Chuck was a bored and restless delivery-truck driver about three months later when he received a phone call from Dr. Van Cleave. A Bible college professor whom Chuck greatly respected, Van Cleave believed that learning to serve God effectively consisted primarily of failing—in order to be broken of self-reliance and come to the beginning of God-reliance.
As one of Chuck’s biblical heroes, the apostle Paul, said: A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. … And He [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7b, 9a).
Dr. Van Cleave encouraged Chuck to apply for a pastorate in nearby Huntington Beach, CA, and the opportunity led the Smiths into years of fulfilling ministry. There Chuck used a commentary on the Gospel of John to begin preparing sermons that became different than anything he had previously experienced: expositional Bible teaching.
Chuck and Kay Smith became affectionately known as “Mama Kay” and “Papa Chuck” to thousands of people searching for truth. Kay’s passion to reach disenfranchised hippies was instrumental in changing Chuck’s heart towards those he didn’t understand.
(This story first ran in Calvary Chapel Magazine's print Issue 58—Winter 2014)
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Click to read “The Power of a Prayerful Mother: Testimony of Chuck Smith’s Mother”, which chronicles Pastor Chuck’s journey to faith and his call to ministry.
Follow our "Remembering Pastor Chuck & The Jesus Movement Series" at: They Called It the Jesus Movement; Music that Moved a Nation; and From the Jesus Movement to Planting Calvary Chapels.
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Sponsor Message: Saving Grace World Missions’ vision is to reach the “unreached” (those who have never heard the Gospel) with the saving news of Jesus Christ.
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