Reformed Calvary Chapel Pastor

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Rob

Puritan Board Freshman
Hello,

My name is Rob Pineda, and I am a Reformed Calvary Chapel pastor.

Why does that sound so much like an AA introduction? Well...within the current climate in the CCA, your treated like you have a disease if you are Reformed. As a matter of fact, they are trying more and more to push us out. I am an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Flagler Beach, and while my congregation as a whole 'leans' Reformed, even the other two pastors, I am definately the most. My journey to Reformed Theology really began years ago, but became vibrant last year. I think I am finally out of "cage stage", and am unashamedly Reformed.

The Doctrines of Grace have been such a blessing since really understanding what it is, and not the Chuck Smith or George Bryson version. Whats the future going to look like? We dont know. Should the CCA in California push folks to renounce Reformed Theology or people, we will most likely remove ourselves from their fellowship. So, please pray for us, and please keep the Puritan Board going as it has been a source of inspiration for me the last few months.

Rob
 
I praise God for faithful CCA men like yourself; you're a true rarity in the Calvary Chapel movement! I have many CC brethren; granted, I know very few that are Reformed (in fact, most are staunch Arminians), but I do believe that the Doctrines of Grace do inspire men to have a holy reverence for God. Reverence for God in worship is something that has really taken a back seat in our culture; but it is always informed by the theology that one holds.

The Doctrines of Grace have been one of the greatest blessings to this man; I have only recently become a Presbyterian, but I came from a church that employed seeker-sensitivity and gimmicks. Be faithful, pastor -- you'll most certainly be in my prayers.
 
This is a good place to learn reformed theology and grow in grace toward one another.:welcome:
 
within the current climate in the CCA, your treated like you have a disease if you are Reformed. As a matter of fact, they are trying more and more to push us out.
Click to expand...

Calvary Chapel uses a descending dove to represent the Holy Spirit as its logo. As George Wotherspoon put it, "it is surely a species of "mad idolatry" to form a graven image or a painting of a pigeon, and call it by the name of the Holy Spirit of God."

Maybe the idolaters are afraid that the Reformers will take down the descending dove image?

Welcome to the PuritanBoard!
 
Seeing as you joined last year... Maybe WELCOME BACK is most fitting! Then again, I am a huge fan of the smiley face emoticon, waving at you & holding a sign that says "welcome"on it!
:welcome:
Know that I am praying for you.
:pray2:ing
 
When I first became a Christians one of my best friends was a (and still is) a Calvary Chapel devotee. He tried to tell me that Calvinism was a heresy. I had no idea but by the time I read his literature I could only conclude that what the Scriptures actually said was 180 degrees different from what he was trying to make them say.

Oh well. I still count him a brother in Christ :)

May God bless your efforts to reform the CC movement. Their deformed dove 2nd Commandment violation always drove me batty. It was a common site to see them on cars in LA.

Will keep you in our prayers pastor!
 
Rob,

When I first became born-again I was about six months with Vineyard Association then about 2-3 years with Calvary Chapel.

I'll be praying for you and your people.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Junior
 
Goodcheer68 said:
KMK said:
What is 'CCA'?
Click to expand...
I think it means Calvary Chapel association Remember they are not a "denomination";)
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Yeah, I have heard them say that as well. But, if they are only an association, how can CCA California 'push' anyone to renounce anything? Do they threaten to revoke rights to the CC 'brand'?

I too spent time in CC. In "Calvary Chapel Distinctives," Chuck Smith admits he threw Pink's "The Sovereignty of God" across the room when he read it.
 
Welcome. How is it going with the pretrib rapture? I am not too far from Joe Focht and visited there a few times midweek with an old friend years ago. Enjoyed his sermons very much, but those altar calls to get saved so you won't be left behind when the rapture happens really got to me.

Dave Hunt and Missler appear to be so influential in CC, and so anti Calvinism, that it is understandable you may get kicked out. Meditate on history...those old dead guys lost homes, county, went to prison, were put to death. It is worth losing everything to know these great truths of our omnipotent God who is sovereign even over the wills of men.

Pink teaches double predestination, and I have never quite figured out what the difference is between that and the single one where God elects some but passively passes over others not choosing them for salvation. I heard it explained once in a way that made sense with the mystery of moral culpablity and sovereignty......but anyway, if you are anti Calvinist to start, to hear about God hardening hearts and Esau I hated and all that sort of stuff, yeah, it would make you burn Pink's great book.
 
Welcome to the PB. I too found the PB during a painful season in ministry. I pray that you grow in grace and knowledge of Christ here.

All the best to you in what appears to be a difficult situation; may you endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus, may men come to saving knowledge of Christ through your faithfulness, and may his name be honored through your labors in the vineyard.
 
Welcome!
Back in the 90's I was part of what some on the outside had called the "Calvinist Calvary Chapel" (but I didn't know it at the time) -- CC Huntington Beach, CA. We had a pastor that loved to read Spurgeon & the Puritans. I would often spend time in his library. Sadly, he fell into sin and the man they replaced him with was an arminian missions pastor who didn't know the gospel and hated Calvinists. It was a terrible time for me, as I had grown up in that church. He made it his mission to run every Calvinist out. It was for the best, though. I was getting sick of his so-called sermons, which were just unrelated stories he liked to tell, and then he'd end with an alter call. Thankfully, I started going to an OPC, which had one of the best preachers I've ever heard.
I had a friend who wanted to become a CC pastor, and he approached Chuck Smith with some questions. First, he asked, could he become a CC pastor if he was a Calvinist? Smith said yes, it was okay. Second, he asked if it was okay that he wasn't a dispensationalist. Smith said, no it wasn't okay. I find it strange that CC adheres to strongly to dispensationalism. Do you find it so at your church?
 
Thank you everyone for the words of encouragement! I do appreciate it, and am so greatful to be amongst you all.
I will try to cover some of the questions that have been asked;

One question was how could the association kick us out. Well....Calvary Chapel is a non-denominational denomination. Dont let anyone kid you, thats what it is. With that said, there are those within CCA that are extremely anti-Calvinist, and are on a mission to rid all Calvary Chapels of Reformed folks. Why do those people have so much "power"? Because they were there in the beginning of the CC movement back in the sixties.

There were a couple comments on dispensationalism and the pre-trib push. That does seem to be the standard for most if not all Calvary Chapels. When I am questioned about the return of Jesus, I always answer with the affirmative, "He is coming back". I dont get any more detailed than that because I see it as a distraction. While we, of course, await His coming, I want to focus on the current need for sanctification within the body...not sitting on a hill singing sonnets.

Right now, my co-pastor is in Southern California at the Sr. Pastors conference for CCA. He didnt want to go, but he heard George Bryson was gonna speak concerning the Reformed movement within the CCA. Bryson is the anti-Calvinist in chief. Turns out they cancelled Bryson last night (he was suppossed to speak today) after people were murmuring about confronting him about his anti-Reformed crusade. Now...that doesnt mean those who wanted to confront him are reformed themselves, they just dont see the logic in doing what he is doing, persecuting reformed folks.

I am unashamedly Reformed. I still have much to learn, but I know where I stand, and more importantly, I know where Scripture stands on this issue.
 
Rob said:
Right now, my co-pastor is in Southern California at the Sr. Pastors conference for CCA.
Click to expand...

My friend travelled all the way from England for this conference. It must be a big deal.

What happens is a church openly rejects one of Chuck Smith's 'Distinctives'? Does CCA threaten to take their 'brand' away? What kind of leverage do they have?
 
We have a former CCA church here in Ocean City. Seems the pastor's vision of a "modern" atmosphere (no pulpit, pastor wandering around while preaching in casual dress equipped with head microphone and other nuances were not cutting it with the CCA, so they released him and the congregation under good terms. The pastor was mentored by Joe from Philadelphia. I met him as he conducted a wedding for my niece. When I asked him questions concerning his theological positions, his response went like this, " well we present the options and leave it up to the hearer to decide. I said wow! :butbutbut: This happy clappy church is drawing relatively large crowds, 3 Sunday services. :duh:
 
Thats the norm of what they do. Our church rejects the "Moses Model" of church leadership. It happens to be one of the big distinctives within CC. However, when there are a lot of CC's who band together, they usually dont bother harassing anyone. But it depends. I wish I could give a better answer!!
 
Welcome back.
I am from So. Calif. and have attended CC Palm Springs (Chuck Wooley) 2 years, CC Golden Springs (Raul Reis) 6 mos., CC Corona (Mike Gonzales) 6 mos. and CC Moreno Valley (John Milhouse) 3 years. All in my teens and early twenties (I moved around alot). As I started to really look to the whole counsel of God (scripture interpret scripture) I started reforming in my soteriology and see the sovereignty of God and the fact of predestination. That God was not just a weak, begging god that chose me according to his "foreknowledge" of what I would do. I would ask questions, which would always get some type of "well we are not robots and that would not be fair and that is what God did in the Old but we are now in the New, that is for Israel but this is for the church.....bla bla bla bla."
Their explanations would just confuse what was clearly stated in scripture. I got tired of not getting biblical truth from the pulpit so I went on a quest of finding a good biblical church. After many months I decided to take a "denomination test" online to see what denomination I believed aligned with scripture (since I had been "non-denominational" for years) and viola...... it said I was a Reformed Baptist! There was a church 15 minutes away in Riverside and "it is well with my soul!"

I will be praying for you and the rest of the Reforming CC pastors.

We have many members at my church that are former CC and Harvest.
 
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