Calvary Church is a non-denominational church in

Charlotte Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The Rev. John H. Munro, M.Th., D.Min., has served as senior pastor since 2006.

History

The church was founded in 1939 as Bible Presbyterian Church at Central High School. The first pastor was the Rev. Edgar Archer Dillard, and one of the founding elders was

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...

's father Frank, whose participation was in part a response to Billy's conversion. The first building was completed in 1941 on Fourth Street and held 750. Under the Rev. Ross Rhoads, who began his more than 20 years of service in 1973, Calvary increased membership from 400 to 2000 in three years, with the first building at a new location at Sardis and Randolph Roads. A 1500-seat sanctuary was dedicated in 1978. Groundbreaking for the current building took place in 1986. The previous Calvary location was sold first to Carmel Baptist Church for $6 million in 1985, but due to delays by Calvary in moving out, Carmel sold its contract to Central Church of God in March 1988. In December 1989, the current (fifth) building opened in Charlotte. The designer was

Roe Messner Ronald Roe Messner (August 1, 1935 – March 24, 2025) was an American building contractor (Messner Construction) who built more than 1,700 churches, including several megachurches. Having divorced his first wife, he married televangelist Tamm ...

, who began construction. The church board fired Messner when he became embroiled in the PTL scandal, and J.N. Pease Associates Architects modified and completed the design. Metric Constructors, a Charlotte general contractor, took the structure from less than 10% to completion. The main sanctuary seats more than 5,000. The 11,499-pipe organ is one of the twenty largest

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

s in the world, and one of the top ten built all at once. In 2011, a Life Center opened for children's ministries, student ministry, and CHAMP Sports Outreach.CW EDITOR
Calvary breaking ground on $10 million Life Center
, thecharlotteweekly.com, USA, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 As of 2017, the attendance was 2,348 people.Hartford Institute
Database of megachurches in the US
hartfordinstitute.org's website, USA, Retrieved December 09, 2017

External links

Calvary Church website

References

Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in North Carolina Evangelical churches in North Carolina Evangelical churches in Charlotte, North Carolina Christian organizations established in 1939 1939 establishments in North Carolina Churches completed in 1989 {{NorthCarolina-church-stub