History of Calvary Presbyterian Church
1941 – Less than a month before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, First Presbyterian Church of Flint sends out Oscar and Ruth Zetterberg to start the Kearsley Mission on the East side of Flint. Originally just a Sunday School, the first Sunday there are 25 in attendance. One year later there are 56 attending, including 18 adults.
1944 - On January 30, Calvary Presbyterian Church is established by the Presbytery of Flint as a particular church with 101 members. Rev. Lewis Champney was appointed by the presbytery as pulpit supply and for six months he conducted worship services in the high school gymnasium. After that, retired minister Rev. William H. Mason conducted services while the congregation sought to find a full time minister.
1945 - Rev. Walter L. Taylor is called as Pastor, and begins his ministry on Easter Sunday, and is officially installed four weeks later on April 29th.
1950 - On April 30th, ground is broken on an acre of land on the corner of Richfield and Genesee Roads. Purchased in August of 1945, the site will ultimately serve as a home for a church building.
1951 - Construction is completed on the church building on January 7th, and the first worship service is conducted there on May 6th.
1962 - Ground is broken on February 14th for an educational building on the church property (which had grown to over four acres). The building housed 14 classrooms, a church office, a pastor’s study, a meeting room, and several other rooms. It was ready for use by October 7th, at which time the congregation began holding two worship services each week. Throughout the decade, Calvary grew in its identity as a community church, with membership reaching 675 by 1969.
1972 - Rev. Taylor retires after 27 years at Calvary and Rev. Harold K. Polk is installed as pastor in February of 1973.
1980 - The congregation votes to leave the mainline Presbyterian denomination and, after a lengthy legal battle, loses the church building and property to the Presbytery. During the early eighties the Church meets in Kearsley School buildings, purchases land further east on Richfield Rd. and proceeds to build the present building just east of Belsay Rd.
1983 - On Reformation Sunday, Rev. Ron Campbell was ordained and installed as Calvary’s Assistant Pastor, a position he would hold until October of 1984.
1986 - The first Sunday services in the new building are held on Easter Sunday. There are 612 people in attendance. Seven weeks later, Rev. Phil Burch is ordained and installed as Assistant Pastor, a position that he will hold for nearly two years.
1989 - Having recently retired after nearly three decades in the pastorate, Rev. Floyd Wehner joins the staff of Calvary as Assistant Pastor of Visitation, a position he would hold for over twenty years.
1994 - A large education wing is dedicated with 15 classrooms and larger nursery facilities.
1999 - Craig Vanbiber is hired as a Pastoral Assistant. The following year he would be ordained and installed as Assistant Pastor, eventually becoming Associate Pastor.
2004 - The inaugural Mid-Michigan Conference on Reformed Theology is held at Calvary. It would eventually become known more simply as the Michigan Reformation Conference, and is held each year the day before Reformation Sunday.
2006 - Pete Scribner is hired to replace Rev. Vanbiber, who had received a call to become Senior Pastor of an EPC church in Marshall, TX. Ordained the following year, Rev. Scribner would go on to serve as Assistant Pastor, Associate Pastor, and ultimately solo Pastor.
2012 - Rev. Polk announces his resignation as Pastor, which will be effective in February, 2013, just after his 40th anniversary at Calvary.
2013 - Waterbrook Christian Academy (grades pre-K through 12) begins operating out of Calvary's education wing, with 88 students daily occupying space that for nearly 20 years had largely sat empty during the week.
2014 - On March 9th, Rev. Scribner was installed as the third lead Pastor in Calvary's 70-year history.
2017 – A beautiful new prayer garden is dedicated on the eastern edge of the church’s property.
2023 - Waterbrook Christian Academy celebrates their 10th year operating out of Calvary.