A Calvary Chapel on the Eastside
Calvary Chapel Eastside sits in a tree-lined stretch of Bellevue, Washington, just south of I-90 on 164th Avenue SE. Robert Case has pastored the church since December 1, 1996, and the congregation still carries the hallmarks of the Calvary Chapel movement that shaped him: an unhurried love of Scripture, a steady diet of verse-by-verse teaching, and a relaxed, come-as-you-are atmosphere that has welcomed generations of Eastside families.
The church's simple motto - "Growing Together in God's Love and Truth" - captures the flavor of a place that takes the Bible seriously without taking itself too seriously. Visitors can expect jeans or Sunday best, hot coffee from the Solid Ground Cafe, and a sanctuary full of worship that has roots in the same Calvary Chapel tradition that produced worship leaders like Pastor Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie.
Sunday Morning in the Sanctuary
Gatherings begin every Sunday at 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary and last about an hour and a half. The order of service is a classic Calvary Chapel flow: a block of sung worship, prayer, communion, and a long, careful walk through a book of the Bible, one verse at a time. The church takes communion each week, and a prayer team is available after the message for anyone who would like to be prayed with.
The service is also livestreamed on YouTube at 10:00 AM for those who cannot attend in person, with past sermons archived on Vimeo and Apple Podcasts. First-time guests who fill out a Community Card - available at the Lobby Welcome Desk or online - receive a small gift from the church.
Children are cared for from the start. A children's registration station in the lobby sends kids into the Calvary Kids wing for age-appropriate teaching that mirrors the chronological Bible curriculum used in the adult sanctuary.
What the Church Believes
Calvary Chapel Eastside holds to a statement of faith rooted in the historic Christian tradition. Members affirm that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God; that there is one God eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, sinless in life, crucified, bodily resurrected, ascended, and personally returning.
The church teaches that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood, and that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, equipping the church for ministry through spiritual gifts. It affirms the gifts of the Spirit as evidence of His presence, while placing no special emphasis on any one gift. The statement also affirms the bodily resurrection of both the saved (to eternal life) and the lost (to eternal separation), and the spiritual unity of all believers in Jesus Christ.
The church's mission statement, built around three holy ambitions, sets the tone for everything from Sunday services to outreach: love God with all the heart, soul, and mind; love one another as Christ has loved; and love the world with the gospel of Jesus.
Midweek at the School of Discipleship
Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 PM are the heartbeat of Calvary Chapel Eastside. The Calvary Chapel School of the school of Discipleship (CCSD) runs an entire campus of classes for every age on the same night, free of charge, with materials available for purchase.
Younger students head to AWANA for verse memorization, themed dress-up nights, and interactive games. Junior and senior high youth gather for Youth Group. Adults choose between Men Discipling Men (in Room 205, currently walking through the Book of James and 1 John), the Women's Bible Study (in Room 204, studying Ephesians), free ESL classes in Rooms 202 and 203, the Conversation Partners class in the Cafe, and a Biblical Ministry Training track that teaches inductive Bible study, outlining, and devotional preaching. A nursery is also provided for the littlest ones.
CCSD exists, in the church's own words, "to glorify God through the nurture and development of fruitful Christians." The classes are open to anyone - members, regular attenders, and friends alike.
Children and AWANA
The children's ministry at Calvary Chapel Eastside is built around a single image: the journey. Every child is a pilgrim on a path with the King of kings and to the King of kings, and the ministry's vision is for the whole church to walk that journey alongside them - on Sundays and in daily life.
The entire children's program uses the Answers in Genesis chronological Bible curriculum, giving kids a year-by-year overview of the whole Bible. Children's Ministry Director Berenice Samuel oversees the work, and Sunday lessons are prepared in advance so volunteers can focus on relationships rather than research.
AWANA extends that same work into Wednesday nights. The program welcomes Cubbies (ages 3-5, potty trained and born by September 1 of the prior year), Sparks (kindergarten through second grade), and Truth & Training (grades 3 through 6). Registration is $80 per child per year, with scholarships available through AWANA Ministry Leader Merry Burdick.
Junior High, Senior High, and Young Adults
The Youth Group serves students in grades 7 through 12 under Executive Pastor Jacy Armbruster, with the goal of "equipping students to follow Jesus boldly" and seeing God raise up a victorious generation that makes a Christ-centered impact. Junior high students meet Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM alongside the adult service; the full 7-12 group gathers Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.
Young adults - college-age and young professionals, marrieds and singles - have their own rhythm. They meet on the first Sunday of the month and share a group event on the third Saturday of every month under Young Adults Ministry Leader Tyler Buchanan.
Men's Ministry
The Men's Ministry helps men build intimate personal relationships with God through Christ, and with one another through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship. Three regular touchpoints keep men connected.
Men Discipling Men gathers on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in Room 205 to work through books of the Bible (currently James and 1 John). Men's Prayer Group meets every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:00 AM via Zoom, with Men's Ministry Director Tom Hoag hosting. Men's Breakaway is the annual regional conference hosted by Calvary Chapel South, where men from across the Calvary Chapel Association Northwest gather for teaching, worship, and prayer - 2026's theme was "Faithful to the End" from 2 Timothy.
Women's Ministry
Women's Ministry Director Lily Skelton oversees a calendar that gives women several weekly and seasonal touchpoints. Three weekly Bible studies run in parallel: Monday nights at 7:00 PM at the Lodge (Jen Wilkin's Sermon on the Mount, $25 for materials), Tuesday mornings from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the Sanctuary (Jen Wilkin's God of Freedom, an Exodus 19-40 study), and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in Room 204 during CCSD (Ephesians, led by Kim Case).
Once a month, women gather for The Anchor, an evening of worship, teaching, and fellowship in the Sanctuary designed to help women root their hearts more deeply in God's Word and in community. Once a quarter, the whole women's ministry comes together at the Lodge for Faith and Forks, a free evening of encouragement and fellowship led by Nikita Armbruster.
Free ESL Classes
Every Wednesday at 7:00 PM, Calvary Chapel Eastside opens its doors for free English as a Second Language classes. The program offers two tracks. ESL 101 in Rooms 202 and 203 covers basic and intermediate reading, writing, listening, and speaking under instructors Jamie Bagge and Bill Lane. ESL 201 in the Cafe is a Conversation Partners class led by Robert Case, Rich Wahlquist, and Bob Krajci, where students discuss topics one-on-one with English speakers.
ESL students are invited into all of the men's and women's ministry events as well, making the program a doorway into the wider life of the church for newcomers to the area.
Home Fellowships Across the Eastside
Smaller than a Sunday service and warmer than a Wednesday class, Home Fellowships are how Calvary Chapel Eastside builds community during the week. Four named groups meet across the region.
Roger and Ann Atherton host the Black Diamond Home Fellowship on Thursdays at 6:45 PM. Dennis and Sweelin Chong host the Mercer Island Home Fellowship on Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Seth and Monica Dimick host the North Bend Home Fellowship on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7:00 PM, with children welcome. Tom and Mary Hoag host the Issaquah Home Fellowship on the second Sunday of the month at 6:00 PM (currently full, with a waiting list). Members who want to open their own homes can apply to host.
Echo Glen and Summer Sizzle
Two of the church's most distinctive ministries reach people who do not usually find their way to a Sunday sanctuary. On the second Sunday of every month at 1:30 PM, a team from Calvary Chapel Eastside drives to the Echo Glen Youth Detention Facility in Snoqualmie to lead a chapel service for incarcerated youth. Volunteers must complete a Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families background check; Nichelle Curtis-McQueen, MSW, coordinates applications.
Summer Sizzle is an annual beach party for people with special needs, ages 14 and older. Held at the church in early summer, the evening features snacks, games (Jenga, corn-hole), karaoke, dancing, a quiet room with low-key activities, and a parent lounge. Volunteers serve as one-on-one buddies, and families are matched with caregivers from the church.
Fruitful Hill and Road to Bethlehem
Fruitful Hill is the church's annual holiday Handcrafted Gift and Art Market, held each year on the first weekend of November. The indoor market brings together Pacific Northwest artisans, live music, food from the Cafe, a bake sale, a complimentary gift-wrapping station, and a visit from St. Nicholas on Saturday morning.
Road to Bethlehem is the church's December outreach. Each year the church grounds become a walk-through nativity, where visitors meet centurions, shepherds, and angels and hear the Christmas story told in living detail. Both events are open to the wider community.
New Believers and Baptism
Calvary Chapel Eastside takes seriously the early steps of following Jesus. The New Believers page gathers a starter library: the YouVersion Bible App with the Verse of the Day, recommended translations (LSB, NLT, NIV, NASB, NKJV, ESV), online study tools (Blue Letter Bible, Bible.com, preceptaustin.org), through-the-Bible resources from Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie's Harvest Ministries, Jon Courson's SearchLight, and David Guzik's Enduring Word commentary. Bible-science resources from Answers in Genesis, the Creation Training Initiative, and the Institute for Creation Research round out the list, along with radio stations Spirit 105.3 FM and K-LOVE.
The church practices believer's baptism by full immersion. Baptism does not save; it pictures the gospel. Anyone who has personally placed their faith in Jesus is invited to be baptized as a public declaration that their life belongs to Him. For families with infants, the church offers child dedication - a service in which parents publicly commit to raising their child to follow Jesus, without confusing that commitment with baptism.
Music, the Arts, and Further Up & Further In
Music has been part of the church's DNA since its earliest days. Senior Pastor Robert Case spent a decade on the road with the Robert Case Band recording praise and worship albums in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian before he became a pastor. The church continues to release music from the Robert Case Band, Dan and Mili, the Fruitful Hill Band, and Bagge Bible Tunes on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.
Further Up and Further In (FUFI) is the church's weekly Bible-prep devotional. Each week the pastors post a handful of guided questions on the website and Instagram to help the congregation prepare their hearts for the upcoming Sunday message. FUFI is paired with a working annotated bibliography of study tools so members can dig as deep as they want between Sundays.
Getting Connected and Giving
Visitors can plan a visit by filling out the form on the Plan Your Visit page; the church will save a small gift for first-time guests. Plenty of parking is available on site, including a covered garage underneath the building. The church is reached from I-90 Exit 13: south on Lakemont Boulevard for about 1.6 miles, then right on 164th Avenue SE; the building is the first property on the right.
Those who want to serve can choose between the Hospitality Team, the Solid Ground Cafe team, Greeters, Worship and AV Tech, Kids Ministry, or Youth Ministry. Musicians audition; tech team members interview. Annual financial giving can be made online through the church's giving portal or mobile app, by mail, by bank bill pay, through employer gift-matching programs, or by contacting Pastor Robert Case about investment, estate, and stock donations.
For everything from Sunday morning to Wednesday classes to Christmas at Road to Bethlehem, the same conviction runs through the church: that every person, of every age and background, has a place at Calvary Chapel Eastside.