Calvary Church Reinvents Itself After 125 Years

According to the book of Numbers in the Bible, the Israelites wandered in the Promised Land for 40 years. It took the next generation to enter in.

After 10 years, the congregation of Calvary Church will enter their new church home, after planning, saving and being obedient to God for such a time.

“It was about ten years ago this vision started,” says Ron Ovitt, the Executive Pastor for Calvary Church in Orland Park. “The first campaign was called Harvest Time. We did a study then planned and held our first financial campaign called Growing in Grace.  We had looked at other property years before, along I-80 and then the economy fell apart. We found this property about three years ago and built this church in a year. It took all that time to get here.”

Here is a 52,000 square-foot, modern, all-purpose designed building. The church was designed to be “green,” featuring automated light fixtures and property drainage for a bog.  A state of the art sound system will boost the praise and worship to the next level as well as a lighting system suited enough for a concert. The church opens this Sunday, June 5th in a showcase of God’s grace.

“This is a miracle of God’s grace,” states Calvary Church Senior Pastor, Howard Hoekstra. “My main hope for the new church is that people will grow in their walk with the Lord and to accept Christ as their Savior. That will be the key for me.”

The church has been in the Chicago area 125 years this year. This is their fifth move into a new building. 

“This is a fitting way to celebrate our 125th year. This is a legacy moment,” Ovitt said. “To be able to see the church birth into the next 125 years. How many churches have that kind of history? Our goal is to rebirth a 125 year old church. We are emphasizing families. Our commitment is to help the hurting and healing. With the new facilities, we are extending what we have such as the food pantry, a Christian Recovery Group and a healing class on Mondays called SOZO, which is open to anyone.”

Walking through the toddler area, every color of the rainbow is pictured with a Christian storybook garden theme. Church member and muralist, Jason Kostelyk took months to design and paint the Tiny Town. 

“This isn’t about us coming to a nicer place,” Ovitt said. “We supersized it. How do you raise G-rated children in an R-rated world? We’re all about that with great Sunday school programs in an environment such as this.”

For the opening service communion will be served.

“We’re going to honor the Lord,” Hoekstra said. “We are looking for a lot of family and friends to come back and see the place. It’s going to be an exciting homecoming. The key thing is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together in our new home”

The church features a coffee café with the tools to make several mixed concoctions. A built in playground that would rival any fast food chain is a feature the kids are sure to love. 

“There is a whole generation that hasn’t gone to church. We’d like to invite those young families to try it,” said Ovitt. “This is a church for the new generation. This is a new breed of community church. We want to be that new breed for those who don’t go anywhere. Come try it. See what we are about. Listen to the messages. People are hungry for answers. We want to be that church for them.”

Calvary Church is located at 16100 S. 104th Ave. in Orland Park. Sunday service times are: 8:15am, 9:45am and 11:15am.