About CCB

Calvary Chapel Bemidji is simply the name of a group of people who have chosen to gather together as spiritual family. Our leader is Jesus Christ, who we want to worship, serve and follow with all of our hearts.

Our Purpose & Goals

Our purpose at Calvary Chapel Bemidji is to glorify God by pointing people to Jesus Christ, that they may know Him fully and be conformed to His likeness. The more He increases in us, and we decrease, the more we will be characterized by the three goals of love.

1. Love God

Our first goal is to LOVE GOD (the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit) with all of our hearts, minds and lives.

For this reason, in our gatherings we have three priorities:

  1. teaching God’s Word (systematically through a book of the Bible, verse by verse) so that we might truly know Him and know how He wants us to love Him
  2. worshiping God by singing praises to Him with our hearts and our voices
  3. seeking God in prayer, relying on His Spirit to enable us to fulfill His purpose for us

2. Love Each Other

Secondly, our goal is to LOVE EACH OTHER as members together in God's Family.

For this reason, we desire that there will be many opportunities for fellowship, friendship and service in our church body to help us grow in becoming a genuine family.

3. Love Our World

Finally, our goal is to LOVE OUR WORLD.

We pursue this goal in two ways:

  1. we as individuals, desire to live and share the gospel in our homes and communities; and
  2. we as a fellowship, led by the Holy Spirit, endeavor to share the good news of Jesus Christ in all the earth.

History

We began as a few families meeting in a home, and in 2002 started Sunday services. By the end of that year we were leasing what was an empty church building in downtown Bemidji – which we continue to use today.

Calvary Chapel Bemidji is part of the Calvary Chapel Association (CCA) of over 1,800 churches worldwide, which grew out of the ‘Jesus movement’ in California in the late 1960s under Pastor Chuck Smith. Calvary Chapel is not a denomination, but a fellowship of independent churches who share a common doctrine and a distinct philosophy of ministry.

There are many great people that make Calvary Chapel Bemidji what it is! We welcome you to join us and become a part of our family under the grace & truth of Jesus!

Statement of Faith

Calvary Chapel has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Other Basic Beliefs

  • We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s (Agape) love, which is greater than differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.
  • We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible (Old and New Testaments) is the inspired, infallible Word of God.
  • We believe in one God, eternally existent in three separate persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, that he was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His substitutionary death on the cross, was bodily resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, ascended back to the right hand of God the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us.
  • We believe that all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of sin and accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, all of his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.
  • We believe in water baptism by immersion after a person has been spiritually born again through faith in Jesus. Water baptism is a public, outward testimony that indicates a personal, inward faith. It gives evidence of the inner change that has already occurred in the believer’s life when he or she was “born again” (John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23) through faith in Jesus Christ. Learn more about baptism here.
  • We believe God desires His children to be filled with the Holy Spirit (come upon) in order to have supernatural power to witness for Jesus. This is often (but not always) a separate experience from salvation. We also believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures, and that they are valid for today and are to be exercised in love within scriptural guidelines, for the edification of the church.
  • We are neither Five-Point Calvinists nor are we Arminians. We adhere firmly to the Biblical teaching of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. We avoid any theological systems of belief which go beyond the written Word.
  • We believe in the imminent, pretribulational return of Jesus Christ for His church (the rapture), at which time we will be suddenly transformed and taken to heaven. After this event, the tribulation will unfold on earth. At the end of this 7 year period, Jesus will physically return with His church to rule and reign on earth for 1000 years.

Learn more about what makes Calvary Chapel unique in our Calvary Chapel Distinctives video course:

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Calvary Chapel Distinctives

In Our Meetings:

  • We believe worship of God should be spiritual; therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship.
  • We believe worship of God should be inspirational; therefore, we give great place to music in our worship.
  • We believe worship of God should be intelligent; therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the expository (verse by verse) teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us on how He should be worshipped.
  • We believe worship of God should be fruitful; therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshiping Him.

Leadership & Ministry Contacts

Pastor Alex Robinson and family

Alex Robinson ~ Senior Pastor

Pastor Alex Robinson was lead into ministry 15 years ago when he was sent out by his home church of Calvary Chapel Sonora, CA as a missionary to Japan.

Alex served in Tokyo, Japan at his receiving church, Tokyo Horizon Chapel, as leader of the church’s English Language School and outreach, head of Children’s Ministries, head of translation ministries, leader of the ALIVE bilingual fellowship, teacher at the Horizon Bible College, and ultimately as pastor of the Setagaya International fellowship and associate pastor of the Machida International Fellowship.

During his time in Japan, he also attended Calvary Chapel Bible College Okinawa as well. It was at Tokyo Horizon Chapel that he met his wife Tomoko and was blessed with his 4 children.

At the end of 2022, the Lord called Alex to step back from his ministry in Tokyo in preparation for a new ministry that would be shown to him. At the beginning of 2023, he was called to return to the United States and to begin his pastorship of Calvary Chapel Bemidji.

Alex Robinson ~ Senior Pastor

Pastor Chris Hess

Our pastor, Chris Hess, was born & raised in Duluth, MN. After moving to Seattle, he was sent out from Calvary Fellowship in Seattle (www.calvaryfellowship.org) as a missionary to Russia from 1992-2001.

He and his wife Morgan and their four boys (Caleb, Luke, Ben, & Silas) moved to Bemidji in 2002 as Calvary Chapel Bemidji was planted.

Elder Board

  • Sam Christenson
  • Don Pearson
  • Keith Pennel
  • John Dean
  • Noah Graham

Deacon Board

  • Sam Mason
  • Tim McMahon
  • Bill Stoller
  • Joel & Jackie Hanson

Church Ministry Contacts

Worship Team : Sam Kienetz
Children's Ministry : Sam & Megan Pinkerton
Middle School Boys : Micaiah Graham
Middle School Girls : Carmita Bratlien
High School : Jim & Heather Stone
Office Coordinator: Luzmila Sessions
Women's Ministry: Darcy Baker
Men's MInistry: John Wagar

500 Irvine Ave NW
Bemidji, MN 56601

(218) 751-9192
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