Celebrating 90 years of faith with education, outreach efforts

Calvary Baptist Church, one of the oldest churches in Shreveport, recently celebrated 90 years as a strong faith-based community. The church started in 1923 when a small group met outside near St. Vincent and W. 75th for Sunday School. It took three more years before its 26 members were granted membership in Caddo Baptist Association and officially became a church.

A small building with a property value of just $2,000 was erected on the site of the original meetings, according to Earnie Fegley, longtime member and chair of the committee that organized the 90th anniversary activities.

Today, Calvary sends more than $120,000 annually to support missionaries in El Salvador. It also supports missions in Ethiopia and participated in last year’s disaster relief outreach to flood victims in South Louisiana.

“We bring in some of our partners and allow them to share about their mission efforts throughout the life of our church and academy. This is always an encouraging time for both our church family and our mission partners,” said Marc Roath, executive pastor of Calvary. Former pastor Step Martin established the Faith Missions Ministry 39 years ago.

“Our goal is to not simply be a financial mechanism to support missionaries, but to truly partner with them through prayer, hosting them on the church campus throughout the year and sending mission teams to work with them,” Roath said.

“Some of our church members, Erik, Susan, Hannah and Sarah Resendez, felt the call to full-time missions in El Salvador. Each fall our church and several other churches around Shreveport make a push to provide Christmas shoebox gifts to the children of El Salvador,” said Roath. Approximately 5,000 shoeboxes filled with gifts were sent with Calvary’s team along with one or two other churches’ teams during December to work with the Resendezes and local pastors as they pass out the Christmas gifts and preach to local communities around El Salvador.

Closer to home, the church works with Louisiana Baptist Relief and Southern Baptist Send Relief to assist in disasters both in the U.S. and internationally, said Roath. A team went to South Louisiana to assist displaced people whose homes were damaged or destroyed by last year’s flooding.

“We took several trailer loads of supplies, cleaned out flooded homes, provided food to those in need and installed new sheet rock in homes that were ready to be rebuilt,” Roath said.

The diverse congregation is around 85 percent Anglo, “but we are thankful those numbers are dropping” as the church continues its outreach programs, said Roath. The hiring of worship leader Thomas Keys III, an African-American, has provided the church music program with a talented and skilled musician and team builder.

“Thomas has been a major plus for our church,” said Roath. “A gifted leader, he has developed worship teams, praise bands and choirs around him that give Calvary a first-class worship experience in any of our weekly worship services and chapels. Finally, because of his ethnicity, I believe he has made it easier for others, from various ethnicities, to also feel welcome at Calvary.”

New pastor John Lary has made discipleship his primary focus through his “Calvary: Love God, Love Others and Make Disciples” program. “Started January 8th, the church begins a new curriculum, The Journey, a yearlong plan to teach our people how to be disciple-makers,” said Roath.

Earnie Fegley’s wife, Rita, has attended Calvary her entire life, Fegley said. He joined after the two married in 1968.

“Calvary has always had personal evangelism and a great love for people at the forefront of its ministry. Rita and I have been loved by the membership of Calvary, and Calvary has taught us to love others as God loves them,” Fegley said.

Calvary was at the forefront of helping working parents. In 1967, the church opened an after-school program that has become one of the largest in the state. Three years later, Calvary Baptist Academy opened for grades K4 through 6, said Fegley. The Fegleys’ three children all attended Calvary Academy. Attendance at the Academy has risen to more than 1,000 students who take college prep courses and multiple electives and participate in its strong athletics programs.

“The Academy now includes grades K4 through 12 under the leadership of Calvary’s School Superintendent Chad McDowell,” said Fegley. “Calvary is committed to providing excellent academic, Bible-based Christian education. The school has made positive changes to ensure that Calvary’s students remain competitive and ultimately are college and career ready.”

Calvary, located at 9333 Linwood Ave. in South Shreveport, offers a traditional Baptist service at 8:30 a.m. each Sunday as well as a contemporary service at 10:30 a.m. and a service at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Visit www.calvaryshreveport.org.

– Kathleen Ward