Calvary South Austin

The Calvary Chapel churches are a group of evangelical churches founded in the 1960s. They number over 1000 worldwide. Calvary South Austin is a fairly young church on South Congress, having just started in the past decade. Often, the term "evangelical Christian" is misused in the political realm to mean the large group of conservative Protestants who tend to vote Republican. In the case of this church, it is truly an evangelical church. For example, this Thursday they will be starting a street ministry in which they are going to First Thursday on South Congress (a popular shopping event where merchants and vendors keep their doors open late and much shopping and drinking abound). They will be sending teams of people down there to witness to people on the street. Opportunities are being offered to those who are not well-versed in witnessing by pairing them up with an experienced person who will share the Gospel with people who are open to hearing it. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Entering the church, I immediately noticed a large number of young people. In fact, I would estimate that 90% of the congregation is under 40. Additionally, dress is very casual, as you would expect in South Austin. Most people wore jeans. The pastor, Bunjee Garrett, wore jeans as well. The people were generally friendly. I was greeted by several of them and made to feel comfortable. There are two worship services - I attended the late one - and I would estimate there were about 60-70 people present. However, I'm not very good at "crowd estimates" so that could be off a bit.

The music was led by a lady on guitar, accompanied by drums and a bass. She has a very pleasant voice. The style was praise-type music, but pretty laid back. It was almost folk or country at times - kind of Sheryl Crow style. Announcements included the above-referenced initiative to go witness on South Congress. Also, the church is very "family" in nature. Several times, mention was made of being a family. They have regular potluck dinners, for example. They have a marriage seminar, which includes food, coming up. There are various other activities - women's bible studies, men's prayer breakfasts, etc. It appears the church is quite active and close nit.

Prior to the sermon, people were asked if they had their bibles and, if not, were supplied with one. Given the location of the church, the laid back music, and the casual dress, the sermon was surprisingly formal. It was a little strange to look at a pastor in such casual attire and style and hear a 45 minute lecture-type sermon, complete with 3 points and a poem. The sermon was very Calvinistic in nature (the words depraved or depravity were used three times in the first 10 minutes). The basic point of the sermon was that, before salvation, man is completely worthless. The pastor compared us to the stench of raw sewage, for example. He spent approximately half the sermon hammering this point home. Man is worthless. Man can do nothing without God. Man is depraved. In fact, he believes all people who have not yet experienced salvation through Christ are energized by Satan, a real entity acting in this world. They get their energy and their actions are moved by Satan. As the sermon developed, he then told how God's grace rescues us from this condition and, it is only through this grace, that we are able to be saved and do good works.

The sermon was really more a lecture (which I think was the pastor's intent - he referred to it three times as a "study"). At the end, he invited anyone who had not experienced salvation to come down to the front after the service to talk to someone who can meet with them and show them the way.

My overall impression of the service was that the sermon was a little lengthy. The first half hour appeared very well-prepared, with the pastor often referring to his notes, but he seemed to wander a bit in the last 15 minutes, pulling two additional examples from Scripture. This, in my opinion, diminished earlier points and dragged the service out too long. However, I didn't see people fidgeting or looking at their watches, so I'm guessing this is not only expected, but welcome here. If I were to give any advice to the pastor, it would be to put your Scriptural references on the big power point screens. I had no trouble looking up the various passages, but I grew up in a Baptist church. If someone were new to church, they would have been completely lost going back and forth between various books of the Bible while trying to listen to the sermon.

If you are looking for serious Bible study and an evangelical church with a burden for reaching others, this is the place for you. The people are friendly, they appear very family-oriented and I'm quite certain one would feel at home here if they were to become a member. However, I don't think you'd be very comfortable if your goal was to sit quietly and not get involved. I don't think they would let you (that was meant tongue-in-cheek).