On the east side of Colorado Springs, just off East Platte Avenue, a fellowship of believers has been gathering for worship, prayer, and verse-by-verse Bible study since September 10, 1989. Calvary Chapel Eastside, often shortened to CCES, sits at 5070 Edison Avenue and is part of the Calvary Chapel family of churches associated with the Calvary Chapel Association. The church's tagline, "Real Church for Real People," and its self-description as a church "with purpose" sum up a body that has built its identity around the steady, chapter-by-chapter teaching of Scripture, contemporary praise and worship, and a warm invitation to anyone who walks through the door.
From Costa Mesa to Edison Avenue
The roots of Calvary Chapel Eastside run back to Costa Mesa, California. In 1965, Pastor Chuck Smith began his ministry at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa with twenty-five people, and what grew out of that small gathering became known as the Calvary Chapel movement and a key part of what historians call the Jesus Movement. Smith preached in an open-collared shirt, paced the platform, and welcomed a generation of hippies and surfers into the church at a pivotal time in American religious life. The music was contemporary, the forerunner of Christian folk and rock, and the message of the gospel was uncompromising.
Pastor Jim Etheridge had grown up in Colorado Springs and studied history and pre-med at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before moving to Southern California in 1985 to attend Talbot Theological Seminary and serve on staff with Pastor Chuck Smith. Four years later, in September 1989, he moved his family back to the Front Range and launched a new work on the east side of town, naming the church for the part of the city it served. Those early years were lean. The first home was a building on East Platte Avenue. After five years there the building was sold, and the small congregation moved into a rented church near Prairie Road and Uintah Street. Three years later, the church returned to the Platte Avenue corridor, this time into a former heating and air-conditioning warehouse. The owner eventually gifted the building to the church, but zoning and parking constraints made it unsustainable. After much prayer, the congregation settled on an empty lot further east on Platte Avenue. On the last Sunday of July 2006, the first service was held in the building that now stands on Edison Avenue. The church's own telling of the story is that God placed the body "near two major cross streets on the east side of Colorado Springs as a beacon of light to our city" in a place that was once considered out of the way but is now at the center of a growing part of El Paso County.
What Sundays Look Like at CCES
Sunday morning worship at Calvary Chapel Eastside begins at 10:00 AM. The service opens with a full praise band leading a set of contemporary worship songs in the style heard on Christian radio. The church's own description of worship is straightforward: "worship is just as important as the teaching." After the music, the pastor opens a Bible and teaches verse by verse through the text, working through whole books of the Bible one chapter at a time. Each series is unhurried; the church says plainly that no verse is skipped. Recent and current teaching series have moved through the Psalms, Hebrews, Titus, 2 Timothy, 1 Thessalonians, Colossians, 2 Peter, Galatians, the Gospel of Mark, Esther, Nehemiah, 1 Timothy, Romans, and Revelation.
Dress is up to the individual. Jeans, shorts, a dress, a suit, flip-flops, or dress shoes are all welcome, as long as the clothing is modest. The only request on the church's part is that visitors come ready to grow in their relationship with God. The greeting team and the foyer at the back of the building are where newcomers tend to land first, and the church office is just off the foyer, open Monday through Thursday from 10 AM to 5 PM.
For families, Sunday morning includes a secure nursery and a children's program during the service, along with a junior and senior high youth study. Children's ministry at CCES is treated as a core ministry, not an add-on. The church's own framing is, "We don't believe that children are the church of the future. We believe they ARE the church TODAY."
Wednesday Nights: Bible Study and Servicio en Español
Wednesdays are a second weekly gathering point. The English-language mid-week service begins at 6:00 PM and runs in the Sunday school classrooms. It follows the same verse-by-verse format as Sunday morning, with worship, Bible study, and a youth study running at the same time so that the whole family is on site together. The pastors describe the evening as open and conversational, with time for questions and interaction around the text. The service runs from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
An hour and a half later, at 7:30 PM, the same building becomes a Spanish-speaking fellowship. The Servicio en Español is led by Pastor Eduardo Decampo, who oversees discipleship and translation for the Spanish ministry. Worship and teaching are both in Spanish, with the same verse-by-verse approach to the Word. The service meets in the youth classroom and is open to anyone who prefers to worship and study in Spanish. The same Scripture references and the same emphases carry over, in a second language, into the Wednesday night rhythm of the church.
What CCES Believes
Calvary Chapel Eastside describes itself as "not a denominational church," but it is in fellowship with the Calvary Chapel Association and other Calvary Chapels that adhere to the vision of Pastor Chuck Smith. The statement of faith is anchored in the inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension, and ongoing intercession, and the personal, visible, pre-millennial second coming of Christ.
Salvation, in the church's own words, is "freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" to anyone who repents of sin and accepts Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer at the moment of conversion, and the gifts of the Spirit described in Scripture "are valid for today if they are exercised within the scriptural guidelines." Love, the statement of faith insists, is more important than any gift; "without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless."
The church's posture toward the wider Christian world is open-handed. The statement of faith says the body is "not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only due to their over-emphasis on the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the Body of Christ." The same statement takes a clear stand against "any 'woke' and/or progressive teachings/theologies that do not align with God's Word." Worship at CCES is meant to be spiritual, inspirational, intelligent, and fruitful, with the teaching of the Word given the central place in every service.
Pastors, Elders, and Ministry Directors
Calvary Chapel Eastside is led by Senior Pastor Jim Etheridge, who founded the church in 1989. Pastor Jim and his wife Kathy have three adult children and two grandchildren, and the family has served the Eastside fellowship for more than three decades. After his time on staff at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and his seminary training at Talbot, he returned home to plant the church that has become his life's work.
Pastor Tracy Dodson serves as Administrative Pastor, teaches regularly, and leads the church's biblical pastoral counseling ministry. Tracy came to faith in the late 1980s, met his wife Kellie, and eventually settled in Colorado Springs. Before stepping into his current role he served for many years as the church's youth pastor, and many of the adults now in the congregation are former students from those years.
Pastor John Mark Haller is the Teaching and Assistant Pastor, with a particular focus on the men's ministry. He also serves on the church's worship and sound team, and his wife Jamie serves alongside him. Duane Carter serves as the Pastor of Evangelism, equipping the body to share the gospel one-on-one, and he and his wife Gaylene are active in the children's department.
A board of elders shares in the oversight of the church: Ollie Baltus, Ed Ady, George Spady, Adrian Mota, and Ed Romero. Ollie Baltus teaches the Thursday-night men's Bible study and is a steady presence in the regular service gatherings. Ed Ady and George Spady both teach in the children's ministry on Sunday mornings, and Ed Romero supports the men's ministry. Together the elders care for the function and oversight of the service gatherings, and several of them preach and teach when one of the pastors is away.
Ministry directors round out the staff. Jeanna Salgado directs the women's ministry and helps run the Connect Center, planning many of the women's activities throughout the year. Susie McCreary directs the children's ministry and is a wife, a mother to many, and a homeschooling mom. Eduardo Decampo leads the Spanish-speaking ministry, overseeing both discipleship and translation.
Children, Youth, Men, and Women
The children's ministry at CCES invests in kids from nursery through preteen under Susie's leadership. Secure check-in and a teaching program designed for each age group make Sunday morning a place where the youngest members of the family are cared for. The goal is to treat children as full members of the body right now, with the same kind of intentional investment that older believers receive.
The youth ministry creates a safe and fun environment for junior and senior high students to meet with God and with each other, with a dedicated study that runs during the Sunday morning service and the Wednesday evening service. Pastor Tracy's long history with the youth of the church has shaped a generation of young adults who are now part of the regular congregation. The Dodsons are remembered by name in many of their lives.
Men's ministry at CCES is built around encouragement, accountability, and friendship. The Thursday-night men's Bible study is led by Elder Ollie Baltus, and the men's ministry as a whole is led by Pastor John Mark Haller. The aim, in the church's own words, is to "build bridges to relationships with one another through God."
Women's ministry, under Jeanna's leadership, exists to "empower, strengthen and encourage women to their full spiritual potential in God." Regular women's activities and Bible studies are a fixture of the church's calendar, and the women of CCES work together as a team, submitting to Jesus Christ and to one another, with the goal of growing into mature believers.
Small Groups, Prayer, and Pastoral Counseling
Small groups are the church's main vehicle for community beyond the Sunday and Wednesday services. Groups meet on a regular basis for prayer, encouragement, Bible study, and shared interests. Some groups are organized around a book of the Bible; others gather around a common activity or stage of life. The goal of every small group, in the church's words, is to help one another "grow in Christ and connect with community." The mid-week service already includes a move toward multiple small groups, and the church has been adding new groups over time.
Prayer is woven into the life of the church in several ways. The Friday Night Prayer Gathering meets at 5:30 PM in the Sunday School area, Room #2, and exists "for the simple purpose of 'taking the needs of the body to the foot of the Cross.'" Anyone is welcome. Prayer requests can be sent in by email, and the prayer team lifts them up at the gathering and through the week.
Biblical pastoral counseling is offered free of charge to anyone in the congregation or the wider community who is in a difficult place and wants to talk to someone. The counseling ministry is overseen by the pastoral staff, with Pastor Tracy serving as the Lead Counselor, and is grounded in the conviction that "God always has an answer." The church's approach is biblical, pastoral, and personal.
The HUB, Sermon Archive, and Giving
CCES members and regular attenders do most of their connecting through The HUB, the church's online connection platform, which houses the events calendar, small group sign-ups, and member directory. Live worship services are broadcast on the church's online church platform, on Facebook, on YouTube, and on Twitter, so that anyone who is traveling, homebound, or simply exploring can join in real time. A deep sermon archive is freely available, with recent series running through the Psalms, Hebrews, Titus, 2 Timothy, 1 Thessalonians, Colossians, 2 Peter, Galatians, the Gospel of Mark, Esther, and Nehemiah, and the archive reaches back over a decade through dozens of books of the Bible. Topics preached on range from faith, the Holy Spirit, and worship to end times prophecy, marriage, parenting, and everyday Christian living. Closed-captioned Spanish translations of selected sermons are available on YouTube.
Giving is offered in four ways: online through PushPay, by text message, by check or cash in the offering bags or in one of three wooden Agape boxes in the foyer, and by mail to the Edison Avenue address. The church quotes 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 in framing the act of giving: "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
For more than three and a half decades, Calvary Chapel Eastside has been a steady presence on the east side of Colorado Springs. The same four anchors have held from the beginning: worship, Bible study, prayer, and fellowship, taught verse by verse and lived out together week after week.