Rather than indexing my background with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, as I have done multiple times already, let’s forego that. Here I want to expose a serious problem that has penetrated the walls of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (the flagship church of the Calvary movement), and its 
so-called Calvary Global Network.[1] Brian Brodersen, Chuck Smith’s son-in-law, took over the reigns of CCCM after Smith died. This signaled a paradigmatic shift in the Calvary movement, as Brodersen decided he was going to take Calvary more mainstream evangelical; and he has with rapidity. Out of this schizoid movement came what Brodersen and his board have called the Calvary Global Network. He drew a line in the sand, and said anyone who wanted to continue on with CCCM’s support and endorsement would sign on with him and his ‘global’ cohorts. There is also an equal and opposite movement that formed (which had already been formed prior to Smith’s death) known as the Calvary Chapel Association. This Association sought to preserve the ‘law’ of Smith’s vision for the Calvary movement. So, we have these two and equal opposing forces within the Calvary Chapel movement currently. I provide this as background to what I want to jump into now.
Brodersen, along with his most faithful acolyte, Josh Turansky, and then the rest of the executive committee of the Calvary Global Network (CGN) just recently came out with a statement on racism, which they call: CGN Leadership Statement on Racism. As you read it what quickly becomes apparent is that its authors have sold out to what many in mainstream evangelicalism have: i.e. ‘being woke,’ intersectionality, critical race theory, (neo-marxistic) liberation theology. Here is a taste from the statement of what I am referring to:
We acknowledge racism has been an element within American history from the beginning. From the legal enslavement of black Africans to the “Jim Crow” laws and state-sponsored segregation, racism has embedded itself in many of our institutions. Sadly, the church has not been guiltless in this matter. American church history has been tragically marred by many examples of complicity with the racist policies of the state being followed by the church. Segregated congregations are a historic example of the evil presence of racism within the church.
In the gospel, the people of God have every motivation and power to lead the way in pursuing the relational, civic, institutional, social, and ecclesiological transformation that the world desperately needs.
As a collective voice, we believe displaying the glory and power of God in confronting and turning from racism in our personal lives, relationships, local churches, and communities in the USA, will require at least the following biblical commitments by professing Christians:
We must commit to, privately and publicly, confess and take responsibility for our personal, generational, and ecclesiological involvement in Christian-supported racism in American history (Dan. 9:1-19).[2]
These references are a sampling, a cobbling together of various points made in the statement. But the ideas of ‘generational’ sin, collectivism, collectivist sin, ‘public confession’ for sins not committed personally by the person, so on and so forth all should make the reader understand that we have moved beyond the biblical conception of the Gospel; that we have moved into a sphere that fits into the theopoliticalisms that we find out on the city streets of America currently.
The sad thing about Calvary, in particular, is that at least when Chuck was alive, they resisted this sort of capitulation to the culture (in these ways); and yet this is also part of the problem. I think that Smith operated with such an anti-intellectualism (unless it was an “intellectualism” sanctioned by him) that it created a gigantic vacuum in the movement itself; indeed, most move away from Calvary for this very reason—a desire for a deeper intellectual and theological development as a Christian; a development that Calvary cannot provide. Ironically, I would argue that this is what has caused the current schism in Calvary, and what has propelled someone like Brodersen to move in the direction he has.
Once Chuck Smith died, it appears to me, that Brodersen, along with others like him, felt free to finally explore the evangelical world in broader ways than they were allowed to under Smith’s oversight. Brodersen, for example, more recently started a program through Wheaton University; it appears to be some sort of ministerial program for guys like him (who have been in pastoral ministry for years without any formal theological training). Unfortunately, this program is supervised by Ed Stetzer; Stetzer is as mainstream (Christianity Todayesque) as an evangelical can get. It is clear to me that his influence, and others like him, have had a serious impact on the shape CCCM has taken since Brodersen has taken over. It almost appears to me as if Brodersen et al. have naively entered a world he was too eager to enter, to the point of being gullible to the influences that have given mainstream evangelicalism shape these days.
In a nutshell, mainstream evangelicalism, I contend, has imbibed the spirit of what is known as progressive Christianity. It is this sort of Christianity that is given shape, not by ministerial submission to Holy Scripture, and its reality, but by submission to cultural norms like we find with being ‘woke,’ and the whole ideology that stands behind that. The statement, penned by the executive committee of CGN, has been escorted into a world they, in my view, are totally naïve to. Calvary has lacked broader acceptability within the broader veil of so-called BigEva (big tent evangelicalism), and Brodersen, Turansky et al. are intent, almost at all costs, in making sure that this is no longer the case. But, sadly, in my view they have sold their birthright for a bowl of red stew.
May the Lord have mercy; and may He have mercy on those submitting themselves to the current leadership at the helm of the Calvary Global Network. May they repent, and return to their first love. Seeking the approval of men and women, rather than from God always leads to further unbelief and destructive behavior (just do a theology of glory study in the Gospel of John to see). May these guys seek God’s approval; forget Stetzer!
[1] Which was the schism that developed post Chuck Smith’s death (the founder of Calvary Chapel). Brian Brodersen, Smith’s son-in-law, took over the reigns from Smith and took CCCM and its affiliates down a deleterious path.
[2] CGN Leadership Statement on Racism, accessed 08-30-2020 [emboldening mine].
*Also watch this brief video statement made by a long time time parishoner at CCCM, click here. H/t Talia Crooks Henry