A Generation Led to Jesus: Remembering Pastor Chuck, Part 16
Calvary Chapel moved into Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, generating great excitement. In response, CC leaders turned an Austrian castle formerly used by the Nazis in World War II into a powerful ministry hub. Read about this chapter in Calvary Chapel history in this story reprinted from Issue 98 (Winter 2024) of the print magazine.
A dilapidated castle in the Austrian Alps, used by the Nazis in World War II, was purchased by CC Costa Mesa, CA, to house a Bible college. The church paid for plumbers, electricians, and other skilled laborers to come over and get the facility back in shape.
“It was like the Jesus Revolution all over again,” remembered Pastor Greg Opean, an eyewitness to that initial move of the Spirit in Southern California in the 1970s. Greg went on to become a pioneer church planter in Eastern Europe for almost two decades. He reported seeing the same radical transformations among young people eager to hear the truth. Only this time, they weren’t former drug users and hippies, but teens brought up in the grip of communism clamoring to hear the Gospel for the first time.
Former Nazi Castle for Christ
In 1989, Pastor Chuck purchased the castle Schloss Heroldeck in Millstatt, Austria, to serve as a Bible college. Soon after, the Iron Curtain fell.
After the Iron Curtain fell, a property in Hungary was found to house the CC Bible College in Vajita, Hungary. Pastor Chuck enjoyed spending the day clearing out trees that blocked the new facility.
One day, Pastor Chuck called Pastor Bil Gallatin, who planted Calvary Chapel Finger Lakes, NY, to tell him about the castle and invite him to go on a trip to Austria. “Chuck said, ‘We have this open door; let’s see what the Lord will do.’ People in Europe had heard his teaching tapes, and [Christian band] LoveSong had played in Europe,” Bil noted. “God gave him a vision that the castle would be the first European Bible school.”
At the fairytale-like castle nestled in the mountains beside Lake Millstatt, a group of nearly 100 people had gathered from (then) East and West Germany to hear from Pastor Chuck. When Bil got up to speak, he noticed Alexander—a stately man, roughly 6’8” with broad shoulders, white hair, and a patch over his eye. Later, Alexander told Bil that nearly 50 years ago, he had trained in that very castle as a young SS officer. “After the war, he fled to Sweden, and someone led him to Christ. He had a quiet dignity, strength, and gentleness,” Bil described. “He was the pastor of a Baptist church in Spittal, down in the valley, but everyone in that town hated him because he was a former Nazi officer.”
An athletic Chuck Smith dives into Lake Millstatt while visiting the castle in Austria.
Pastor Alexander looked at Bil and said earnestly, “I would like to turn the church over to someone from Calvary Chapel.” Bil was amazed. Instead of a church plant, the Lord had just handed them a church full of believers ready to hear the Word. “That’s how CC Spittal started,” Bil explained. At the same meeting, another man invited Bil to Hanover. “That’s how we got our steppingstone into Germany, then Croatia, then Hungary.”
On the day the new Bible college was to be dedicated, Pastor Chuck spent the morning on a tractor, getting the property ready for its visitors.
Bil marveled, “The Lord had gone ahead of us. He had it all planned before it happened. He is outside of time; we can’t comprehend it. It humbles me and reduces me to nothing. It’s just a miracle; you can’t explain it. It’s the omnipotence and foreknowledge and providence of God.” He cited King David’s words: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it (Psalm 139:6).
In our next installment, we'll share more about how the Calvary Chapel movement spread further into Eastern Europe.
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