Chuck Smith, the Founder and Leader of Calvary Chapel, had an affair in 1977 with a woman in Hawaii, according to sources.
Chuck Smith had an affair in 1977. He was going to leave his wife and kids for a woman in Hawaii. Many of the Old Guard Calvary Chapel Pastors know this to be true, which is why there is so much “grace” for adulterous pastors in Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel Non-Denomination System of Churches….that according to multiple sources.
The rest of the story goes that he was talked out of it by his cousin Chuck Fromm, came to his senses and didn’t follow through with his resignation to the board.
I’ve heard it for years from several Calvary Chapel insiders. Some with slightly differing versions…yet one consistent theme: Chuck Smith had an affair and nearly left his family and the ministry for another woman. I even confronted Chuck Smith about the issue before he died. He was furious…partly why he hated me so much and blasted me from his mega-church Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa pulpit and called down a sort of curse on me…only to die of cancer a year-to-the-day later.
Hear Chuck Smith’s diatribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ydHm_lwKs
Hear me confront Chuck Smith live on air about the Bob Grenier controversy here: https://youtu.be/7QCbGRPuWG4?t=1h13m22s
The story is recently confirmed again by yet another source.
It’s the big Calvary Chapel non-secret secret, swept under the rug by a Calvary Chapel “Association” pastorate that excels at waving their judgmental moral finger at the heathen outside the Calvary Chapel walls….yet, maximum grace and covering of sins and no accountability for those inside their own pastorate…aka the direct opposite of 1 Corinthians 5:12.
Chuck Smith is the headliner of a long list of Calvary Chapel Pastor adulterers. The list is long. I have it.
Im-Moral of the story: Don’t put Chuck Smith or any “pastor” on a pedestal. They are men. Sinful, ordinary men. The biggest lie being propagated by the Chuck Smith Cult is Chuck Smith’s Doctrine of Special Anointing. The Calvary Chapel Pastors are not “specially anointed” and they are not any more special before God than you are. They do not hear special from the Holy Spirit any more than you do. They do not hold some magical hierarchical position over you. Do not buy into the Idolatry that Calvary Chapel sells as part of the Old Guard Chuck Smith false doctrine.
Jesus said, “Do not be called Rabbi/Teacher, you are all brothers (equals). Do not lord over people as the World does. Do not exercise leadership and authority as the World does, if you want to be great in my Kingdom…be the Servant of all. The greatest is to be the least.”
Chuck Smith had some good qualities, his kids report he was a good dad. Chuck Smith was also a sinner and imperfect, deeply flawed like all of us. He rebelled against the Foursquare Church and said, “I want to do church my way”….and he did. Some good, some bad, some ugly.
Idolatry takes two to tango….a Guru who is revered too much…and followers who esteem the man more than he is and more than he should be. Don’t do that. It’s immoral. The bible calls it “Idolatry” and God “hates it, it is an abomination to him”.
I lived this false doctrine being perpetuated at my Calvary Chapel Pastor Step-dad’s franchise. I have observed the dynamic in many other CC franchises. It’s an unfortunate part of Chuck Smith’s legacy.
Calvary Chapel has changed a lot in the last 10 years thanks to the blogging and exposing of the bad stuff the CC Leadership hides from you and the public. In 10 more years the Old Guard will die off and Calvary Chapel will continue to disband and fragment into a much less homogeneous and much more diverse non-Chuck Cult. This is good and healthy. It is good to see.
May the Idolatry, Un-Accountability, Lying and Pride die off with Chuck and the Old Guard and may the New Wine Skins learn from the mistakes of their forebears.
History will not be nearly as kind as the Calvary Chapel Pastors and Kool-aid drinkers are about themselves. Remember, Chuck Smith said he’s not your pastor. That’s what the man said to avoid legal liability. Remember, Chuck Smith was both liar and adulterer and not “transformed” in some magical way via the Calvary Chapel “special anointing”. This is why you need rules, shared power in your church by-laws, built-in accountability measures at your CC franchise or any Church System for that matter. Think about that. Let it sink in. Your Emperor, in fact, had no clothes. Follow Jesus. Don’t worship “Pastors” and “Ministries”.
Lastly, as you Chuck Smith apologists start shooting the messenger….open your bible to this passage, it’s a promise from God: “Your sin will find you out”.