our history

This is the time and place God has planned for us to play a part in His story. He desires each of us to know who we are in Christ and what our assignment is in enlarging the borders of His Kingdom in our community and world.
For over thirty years, Calvary Chapel Oxnard has been a place where people can meet God and grow in their relationship with Him. We are now poised on the threshold of a grand opportunity to see Jesus exalted in Ventura County. Faithfulness means stepping into the new thing God has for us.
We've been here before. Our path to this campus, which you see in the pictures and stories here, chart some of that path. The course forward won't always be easy; but what meaningful pursuit ever is? As before, our journey to a new home is less about building walls as it is about building our faith.
The Staff and Elders of CCO invite you to step into this chapter in the story God is writing at Calvary.
~Pastor Lance

Lance Ralston had a desire to see a Bible-teaching church started in Oxnard. He had been leading a thriving small group study in his home while, at the same time managing a local fast food restaurant and serving at Calvary Ventura. What followed was a God-inspired dream that took shape of a new church plant in Oxnard but with the mission of reaching all of the Oxnard plain.
Lance tendered his resignation, committed himself full-time to ministry, and in the fall of 1982, the Lord gave birth to Calvary Chapel of Oxnard.
Beginning with just 35 people, we first met for Sunday services at a park in Port Hueneme. As the weather grew colder it became clear we needed to move indoors.

Though the City of Oxnard had not allowed churches use of the Performing Arts Center for many years, the Lord had other plans and a door was opened for us. Calvary Chapel was graciously allowed use of a couple of the smaller rooms at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center for six months.
Our next move was to Oxnard College where we spent eight years. Many new believers were added to our number, and others stepped into positions of service within the body. Many of them are still serving at Calvary Oxnard to this day.

Along the way of this incredible seven year journey, God moved us two more times. For a short season we met at the Radisson Hotel at River Ridge and then for several years in a commercial property on Buckaroo in the Wagon Wheel.
Every step of the way, we have learned the freedom and awe of releasing what God had blessed us with to see His purpose and mission accomplished. In so doing, we discovered blessing beyond anything we could have asked or thought.

We had outgrown the limited facilities at Oxnard College. God opened a door of blessing and Calvary was allowed to move to a beautiful little church property in El Rio. It was our first full-time facility. In just a few months the congregation more than doubled in size. It quickly became apparent to the leadership that we needed to make plans for our next move.
As the elders came back together to share what each had heard, the Lord spoke clearly, "Secure land and build a home you can call your own"

For as far back as people could remember, the City of Oxnard had prohibited churches from occupying space in a manufacturing zone. The Lord prompted Calvary Oxnard to lead the effort to appeal to the City Council for a change in the zoning ordinances in Oxnard to allow churches to occupy light manufacturing zones. To our amazement, the Council unanimously voted to instruct the Planning Department to review and recommend changes to Oxnard's Zoning Ordinances. God's hand was so evident in our efforts. God moved in the hearts of two business men in Los Angeles who didn't even know Him to give us the land we now occupy at the Eastman campus.
Arden Taylor and his family had come to Ventura County from San Diego to build a housing tract in Fillmore. What Arden didn't realize was that God brought him here to build God's house. Within a year of completing his work building the Eastman campus, the Lord took Arden home to give him a mansion fashioned by the Lord Himself.

Our fledgling congregation of 450 gathered to celebrate our first service here at the Eastman campus, a home in which we could gather to worship and learn of Him. He has made of Calvary Chapel a beacon of hope for the hopeless and a refuge, a life-boat rescuing the lost around us. The Lord has brought them in and allowed us to introduce them to Jesus, seeing them revived as the Spirit of God breathes life into their brokenness.