A History of CCWC

Calvary Chapel Worship Center started as a bible study with about twelve people in the living room of pastor Rich Jones. That was February, 1990. After a few weeks the group moved to Sunday morning services at Meadow Park Junior High School where the church met for two years. Those were the days of stopping by the storage unit early on Sunday morning. We loaded the whole sound system in the back of Rich’s Mitsubishi. We knew we had arrived when we purchased some silk trees to make the cafeteria look like a … well, it still didn’t look like much, but we were happy just to have them.

The amazing thing was that we found an old dental office in one of the busiest intersections of Beaverton for our office space. People could see we existed! The Oregonian also ran an article in the religious section that was titled, “Church Turns into School in Beaverton.” People thought we bought the place and came out to see how that could be possible. Even if didn’t actually buy the place, 35 families joined the church as a result of the article!

After two years at Meadow Park Junior High, the church moved to Tualatin Valley Junior Academy on Baseline Road in Hillsboro. That was a great move in many ways because they gave us some storage (no more early mornings with the Mitsubishi) and they let us use all the classrooms we needed. We also moved our offices to a bigger and better place on TV Highway. At the Junior Academy we met in the gymnasium so we affectionately started calling it the “sanctuasium.” The church saw significant growth and then in 1996 we merged with Faith Bible Church. Their pastor desired an opportunity to be an associate pastor and so he joined the staff here at Calvary Chapel and the two became one. That was a perfectly seamless transition and a testimony of how grace and love can overcome obstacles.

In 1997, the church bought some acreage on Alexander Street in Hillsboro. There were lots of government layers of fun bureaucracy, but eventually we were able to start building. Well, it actually took several years. We finally moved into our own place in the fall of 2002! It was such a treat to be able to leave the sound system set up!  We were soon able to add a Wednesday evening service and then a Saturday night service.

We added an excellent staff to the ministry team and now are blessed with excellent pastors and leaders. Pastor Keith Hamilton is the Pastor to the Youth with Pastor Jonathan Ramberg as the Senior High Youth Pastor, and Harry Holsapple as the Junior High Youth Director. Elaine Rothrock is on staff to head up the women’s ministry with Jordi Jones as a counselor to women. Cheri Gilbert heads up the children’s ministry, Mike Mayfield is the administrator, Jo Petersen is the secretary to the pastors and Hazel Drake is our office receptionist.

We have seen God’s faithfulness and it has been such a joy to see the church grow and prosper as God’s Word is taught from Genesis to Revelation, and as the Holy Spirit fills the church with His presence both in the teaching of His Word and in the anointed of His worshippers in the church.