I grew up on the North Shore of Oahu in the inconspicuous, quiet community of Sunset Beach.  Aside from its natural beauty and seasonably monster surf, our little hamlet had little to boast of except a bus stop and mini market. It was no destination in those days. We didn’t even have sidewalks or a traffic light, but we did have Jesus. The Jesus movement, as it was later called, was an outpouring of grace on a lost generation.  

Thousands were being saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was largely happening on the west coast of the United States but rapidly spreading to other places. God had begun to pour out His Spirit on the locals of Hawaii as well as the lost hippies who had migrated there. They came for the surfing and other assorted pleasures, but found true peace in the Lord.  For all its beauty, the North Shore of Oahu experienced a deep darkness in drugs, demonic activity, and hedonism, but a “Light shined in the darkness,” and people were turning to the Lord. My dad was one of them. I didn’t know it at the time, but that work of the Lord would profoundly change my life as well. In saving my dad, and then my mom, the Lord saved our family as well. I was only 4 years old when the waves of the Jesus Revolution reached our shores. It was a swell that changed our lives forever. 

Dad was a recovering hippy slightly tweaked by the potpourri of weirdness that he had embraced in his search for inner peace. The Lord Jesus gave him that inner peace he was looking for. Soon after, someone gave him a box of teaching tapes by Pastor Chuck Smith. They were a sort of salve for his mind on cassette, renewing him hour after hour as he’d listen while shaping surfboards. I remember seeing him in his shaping room, wearing his bulky brown headphones, covered in foam dust with planer in hand. Coming through those earphones I could faintly hear the gentle and fatherly voice of Pastor Chuck as he fed the Word. Dad devoured those tapes and soon wrote to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa requesting more. 

Calvary Chapel was in the middle of this Jesus movement. The pure and simple Word of God was transforming the hearts of the “Jesus People” who lived on the North Shore.  Our house was crowded for worship and Bible studies. I can still remember the multitude of slippers covering our front porch and the sweet songs of praise coming from our living room. Not long after, my dad was ordained as a Pastor and the fellowship of believers grew. Pastor Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa ordained my dad and provided support and further training for the work of the growing ministry.  I had a front row seat, at just six years old, when North Shore Christian Fellowship was birthed in our home. It was a new Calvary Chapel on the North Shore of Oahu, and so aptly named North Shore Christian Fellowship.

A few years later the ministry of ‘NSCF’ had grown and we were meeting at Waimea Falls Park.  People were even driving out from Honolulu to be a part of it. Soon, dad started a service in town just for these folks. For a season he would do two services. First he’d do the morning service at the Waimea Falls Park where North Shore Christian Fellowship met, and then, he’d make the hour-long drive into town for the new work. That new congregation was growing and soon became Calvary Chapel of Honolulu.  I remember making that move from the north shore to the south shore when I was 11.  It was a big move for a kid and even bigger for my parents, but that’s when we really saw things beginning to grow.

Calvary Chapel of Honolulu met from place to place for years, at various High Schools and venues until God enabled us to purchase the old Empress Theater in downtown Honolulu.  I was in junior high school but I still remember the sacrifice and dedication of my parents and all the beautiful volunteers that faithfully gave and served Sunday after Sunday.  I also saw the many challenges and painful struggles my dad endured as a pastor.  I was, and still am, inspired by his example. 

After many fruitful years in the downtown area, the opportunity came to purchase and develop Calvary’s current site at Komo Mai in Aiea.  It was a six acre plot with an awkward configuration. Many developers had passed it over. Nobody thought anything could be done with it, but dad had both the vision and the faith to build out the beautiful property that is home to Calvary Chapel of Honolulu today. If you’ve been there you know what an amazing and vibrant place it is, with a fantastic sanctuary, school, gymnasium, radio studio and more. I was blessed to participate in that wonderful work of the Lord.

Prior to that move and during our downtown years, Keren and I served in various areas including the children’s ministry, coffee cart, college group, Bible college and wherever else needed help. We also started a home fellowship of our own and it was growing just like I’d remembered on the North Shore. On Friday nights our own porch was covered with slippers and praise music streamed from the house. There was very little room to sit, even on the floor, and we sensed the Lord leading us to plant a church.  

We were part of the move to Aiea for one year before we fully established South Shore Christian Fellowship.  It wasn’t much different from the times I’d remembered as a kid. We met in different beach parks and schools, bouncing from place to place watching the Lord’s faithfulness to provide the right location. Quite often it was a test of my faith especially when we didn’t have a place to meet. I was grateful for the example I’d had in my father.  Though we were a Calvary Chapel I named the church ‘South Shore Christian Fellowship’ as a memorial of God’s faithfulness to His work in the early days of North Shore Christian Fellowship.  It was our way of honoring the continued work of the Lord in Calvary Chapel over many decades.  Eventually we settled into a lease at the Koko Marina Shopping Center and grew from there.

I went through many of the same challenges that I’d seen my dad go through. I often consulted with him, and though he offered me guidance and the many memories of how God had worked for him in the past, he always allowed me -even forced me- to walk in my own faith.  You see Calvary Chapels are all independent of each other. There are no financial ties or strong denominational requirements. We don’t preach the same prescribed sermons or send money to the ‘mother church.’  We are bound together by the fellowship of the Spirit who began His good work many years ago. There are certain distinctives and philosophies that we hold on to, but there is great freedom to vary from congregation to congregation.  Even as my dad ventured in faith, I would have to venture in my own faith, but how grateful I was to have such a model in my dad.

South Shore Christian Fellowship met at that shopping center for nearly ten years. We grew and expanded over the years until we felt our time at Koko Marina was coming to an end. It was then that the Lord gave me the vision and the faith to purchase the eight acres of land in Waimanalo. It was a beautiful piece of property that had been on the market for years but couldn’t get a buyer. It was similar, in many ways, to my dad’s move to Aiea a decade before. It also had its own unique and particular challenges. By the grace of God, we navigated through and planted South Shore Christian Fellowship securely on that incredible ranch property. Though we were on the east side, we retained our name in order to honor the Lord for His goodness. We began to operate as the “Ranch Church'' nearly eight years ago. It is one of the most beautiful places you could imagine and we poured our lives and souls into making it what it is today.  Still, it wasn’t the end of my journey as a Calvary Chapel pastor.

Nearly two years ago, the Lord led us to venture out by faith again. With signs and confirmations - too many to number - we sensed the Lord’s call to plant ourselves in McCall, Idaho.  It was a heart wrenching decision to leave Hawaii, and a move which many did not understand.  It was painful for our closest friends to see us go, and yet we knew the voice of the Lord had called. We had to be obedient.  Last year in January we planted Mountain Valley Refuge in the spectacular mountains of Idaho.  

The transition process has been fraught with difficulties and challenges far beyond my natural ability to manage. Prior to our departure, God gave me a word of prophecy that my reputation would suffer and that I would be maligned and slandered.  I announced this to our church on a Sunday morning.  He also showed me, very clearly during a Wednesday evening service, a vision of a branch being cut off from its stalk, and at the place it was severed, new shoots beginning to grow rapidly.  It was a sign of severe suffering followed by growth. These visions have truly borne out over our past year. We have experienced a painful severing as well as shoots of sweet new growth.  The Lord has blessed us in our buffetings and continues to be faithful to His planting.  

What a journey it has been watching and participating in the work of the Lord. From the time I was a kid until now, the Jesus Movement continues, and our desire is to be in the middle of it. Our new church meets in the beautiful local high school, and we have offices in the heart of our small town. This past month, our sprouting congregation was offered the right hand of fellowship by the Calvary Chapel regional team here in the Northwest. Mountain Valley Refuge is a Calvary Chapel in McCall, Idaho and we are so glad to be a part of it.

Our roots go deep in the work the Lord has begun in Calvary Chapel and it's always a joy to be a part of the yearly conference in Hawaii. This year’s Calvary Chapel conference will be held at the Komo Mai campus from August 18-19 with the theme “The Lord of the Storm.” What a fitting subject for these last days!  I am privileged to be sharing the Word on August 16th, the Wednesday evening prior, as well as on Saturday night, August 19th. It will be a joy to see all those whom we have loved so much over these fruitful years of ministry.  

https://calvarychapelhonolulu.com/event/plc-2023/