Calvary Church sits along the Monterey-Salinas Highway on the Monterey Peninsula, where it has served the surrounding area in various forms and facilities since 1979 and from its present location since 1996. The church gathers weekly under a simple banner - "Love Him, Grow In Him, Share Him" - and a vision the congregation calls "Jesus Famous," meaning the glory, renown and preeminence of Christ in every life that passes through its doors. Lead pastor Nate Holdridge has shepherded the church in that direction since 2008, and around him a pastoral and ministry team of more than a dozen staff and a deep well of volunteers keep the work going across generations, languages and continents.
Sunday Mornings and Thursday Nights on the Monterey-Salinas Highway
Weekend services are the centerpiece of life at Calvary. The congregation meets on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm and on Sunday mornings at 9:00am and 11:00am, with a brief pre-service prayer time in the Prayer Room at 7:30am on Sundays before the first gathering. Services run roughly 60 to 70 minutes and follow the same pattern: modern music led by the church's worship team, prayer, and around 40 minutes of verse-by-verse Bible teaching through books of Scripture.
Services take place indoors in the Main Sanctuary, with the livestream also available in the Video Sanctuary, the Family Room and on the patio outside. Online, services are broadcast on YouTube and at the church's live page so that anyone who cannot be on campus can still worship along. Real-time sermon interpretation is offered through OneAccord AI in Spanish, Russian and Mandarin, accessed by scanning a QR code in the bulletin or visiting calvarychurch.oneaccord.ai; the church recommends headphones when using the audio channel.
Visitors are welcomed warmly. The church describes itself as casual and informal, encouraging newcomers to "come as you are." Complimentary breakfast treats are served on the patio along with coffee and tea stations, and the hospitality team invites people to linger after services for fellowship. The church does not maintain a formal membership process; those who regularly attend, belong to a Life Group, serve and give are considered part of the church family. Pastors and the hospitality team can be reached after services at the Welcome Center, by texting 831-217-7999, or by emailing jessicas@calvary.com.
A Church Built on Three Rhythms
Calvary's stated mission is progressive and threefold. First, Love Him: the church expresses love for God through Sunday worship, the Calvary Kids ministry and dedicated Nights of Worship. Second, Grow In Him: spiritual growth happens in Life Groups, Growth Groups, Youth Ministry and Men's and Women's Ministries, and is fed by conferences, Training Forums and Pastor Nate's Through the Bible series. Third, Share Him: that growth flows outward through the Missions and Outreach Fund, the Benevolence Fund and the Regeneration Recovery ministry, which serve neighbors both nearby and around the world.
This threefold shape shows up in the building itself. In addition to the Main Sanctuary there is a Video Sanctuary, a Mother's Room between the Video Sanctuary and the Community Space, a Family Room with a live stream and toys for little ones, a Prayer Room, a Multipurpose Room and outdoor patio and playground space. The campus is designed so that families, nursing mothers, first-time guests and longtime members can all find a place to belong during a Sunday morning.
Calvary Kids: Belong, Believe, Become
Calvary Kids welcomes children from 1 year old through 6th grade during the 9am and 11am Sunday services, using the Brite Curriculum to walk through the whole Bible each year, from Genesis to Revelation. The ministry describes itself with three words: Belong, Believe, Become. Kids learn that they are precious to God and invited into His family, are led to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and are inspired to follow Him as disciples. Worship, Bible learning, prayer and play are all part of each class.
Classrooms are organized by age. The 1-year-old room cares for babies and offers an occasional six-seat stroller outing. Preschool classrooms (ages 2 to 4) feature interactive Bible stories, video lessons, activity pages, prayer time and outside play on the preschool play area. Kindergarten through 4th grade classrooms follow the same pattern with the large playground. Club Five Six is the dedicated program for 5th and 6th graders, designed to bridge the gap between children's ministry and youth group; it gathers on Sunday mornings and occasionally for game nights.
A Middle School service is offered for 7th and 8th graders at 11am on Sundays. For families who prefer to worship together, the Family Room streams the service on a TV, the patio and Video Sanctuary are open during services, and a section in the back of the Main Sanctuary is set aside for families with little ones. Check-in is handled through the Church Center app; parents select Calvary Church as their home church and use the QR code at the check-in counter to print name labels. The children's ministry is led by Coordinators Christina Holdridge and Sharron Pearson, with a weekly parent newsletter and a resource wall in the Calvary Kids space.
Jesus Famous Youth: Middle and High School
The student ministry carries the name "Jesus Famous Youth," reflecting the wider church's vision. Middle schoolers (7th and 8th grade) meet both on Sunday mornings at 11am and on Tuesday evenings at 6pm. High schoolers (9th through 12th grade) meet on Tuesday evenings at 6pm. The two groups share worship at the start of the Tuesday night gathering and then split for age-appropriate teaching.
The vision for these students centers on three spiritual markers - Salvation, Identity and Service - with the aim of seeing students come into a personal relationship with Jesus and live it out with courage and authenticity. Students are asked to bring a Bible and a notebook; cell phones and headphones are put away during the meeting. Each week uses Planning Center Check-Ins to keep track of who is on campus. The Youth Ministry Coordinator, Austin Kava, oversees the program, and the ministry has its own Instagram (@ymcalvary) and YouTube channel for ongoing connection.
Life Groups and Growth Groups: Following Christ Together
Calvary's small-group ministry has two expressions. Life Groups meet weekly in homes across Monterey County with the intent of following Christ together through sermon-based discussion, prayer and fellowship. Groups are organized by couples, singles, all men, all women or a mix, generally 8 to 12 people for singles groups and 12 to 16 for couples or mixed groups, and they meet for 12-week quarters. Discussion questions based on the previous Sunday's sermon are emailed out at the start of each week. Registration opens in late August, and groups launch in September; signups are handled online through Church Center, and a dedicated Life Groups email (lifegroups@calvary.com) is staffed for questions.
Growth Groups are smaller and more intensive: closed groups of 3 to 5 men or women who commit to a six-month season of three weekly rhythms - Scripture (1 to 2 chapters a day with journaling), Sharing (fruit, hardship and confessed sin) and Prayer. After six months, each Growth Group is encouraged to plant a new one. Growth Groups can meet in person or virtually, and Life Group leaders, hosts and coaches all support the wider ministry.
Regeneration: Monday Nights of Hope
Pastor Mike Casey leads Regeneration, a weekly recovery meeting held on Monday nights from 7pm to 9pm in the Main Sanctuary. The gathering is designed for men and women in the church and the wider community who struggle with life-dominating sin and addiction. Each evening includes worship, Bible teaching, prayer and breakout groups divided into four tracks: Men, Women, Men's Accountability and Friends and Family support. Childcare is provided for children ages 1 through 5th grade so parents can attend fully present. Inquiries can be sent to regenerationmeeting@gmail.com, and services are also available to watch online through the Regeneration YouTube channel.
Pastor Mike and his team also run a related organization called The Bridge Restoration Ministry, a year-long residential addiction recovery program for men and women. Volunteers are needed at both Regeneration and The Bridge.
Women's Ministry and Men's Ministry
With a heart to help women of all ages connect, the Women's Ministry gathers four times a year for Women's Gatherings, where ladies share a meal, worship and Bible study together. Smaller discipleship happens through one-on-one mentoring that pairs older and younger women for a season of walking through life together. The ministry also offers complimentary spiritual care and direction sessions for women (and men). Past women's gatherings and Bible studies have walked verse-by-verse through Proverbs 31, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians and the "I AM" statements of John's Gospel. Christina Holdridge leads the Women's Ministry Team.
The Men's Ministry partners with Life Groups to support men in discipleship. In addition to Men's Life Groups and Growth Groups, the ministry hosts an annual Men's Conference that brings in guest speakers from across the Calvary Chapel family and beyond. Past conference sessions are available as audio downloads on the church's teaching pages, with Pastor Nate Holdridge teaching regularly alongside guest pastors from other Calvary Chapel churches.
Local and Global Outreach
Calvary's outreach is shaped by the doctrine of the image of God: that every human being, from womb to tomb, carries inherent dignity. Locally, the church supports Set Free Monterey Bay, an anti-trafficking organization that helps adult women survivors of sex trafficking; Safe Families for Children, a movement of volunteers who step in to prevent foster placements; Royal Family Kids Camp, a week-long summer camp in the Santa Cruz mountains for children in foster care ages 7 to 11; a resource room partnership with Seaside Middle School for homeless and housing-unstable students; and Good News Club, a Child Evangelism Fellowship program that meets with children in local schools. Two local crisis pregnancy centers - Confidence Pregnancy Center in Salinas and Compassion Pregnancy Center in Monterey - are supported as well.
For members in need, the Benevolence Fund offers financial help for job loss, unexpected illness, medical expenses and family difficulties, distributed directly to vendors after a pastor-led interview and verification process. The Missions and Outreach Fund supports a long list of missionaries and ministries around the world: David and Lorna Joannes with Within Reach Global in Southeast Asia; Joshua and Erika Shively directing Within Reach Global's Fusion Center internship in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Foreign Soils, which equips military spouses for cross-cultural mission; Dr. Ti pioneering health projects connecting Latinos to unreached places; Nathan and Nicole Buchanan with Frontier Alliance International in Kurdistan; Jed and Renee Gourley serving in Tbilisi, Georgia alongside Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe; Pastor Nadeem Massey planting churches in Pakistan; and other missionaries serving in sensitive locations including India, Northern Africa and countries closed to Christianity. The church also connects with International Students, Inc. at the Middlebury Institute and supports its local Open Air Campaigners evangelist, Brenten Powers.
Military Connections
Because the Monterey Peninsula is home to a large military community, Calvary maintains a dedicated ministry page to help service members, families and veterans connect. Life Groups near La Mesa and other base housing areas are listed specifically, and the church partners with CRU Military and the Officer's Christian Fellowship. Foreign Soils hosts twice-monthly gatherings for military spouses, and Safe Families for Children offers nationally recognized volunteer certification that moves with families from post to post.
Beliefs and History
Calvary's Statement of Faith Essentials affirms the inerrancy of Scripture (Old and New Testaments), one God eternally existent in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), God the Father as Creator, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ - born of a virgin, sinless in life, crucified and bodily resurrected, ascended and now interceding for believers - and salvation by grace through faith in Jesus for all who repent and trust Him. The church identifies itself as standing within the fundamental doctrines of orthodox evangelical Christianity.
Calvary Church has existed in various forms and facilities since 1979, with the current campus on the Monterey-Salinas Highway occupied since 1996. Lead Pastor Nate Holdridge has served since 2008. The congregation partners with Calvary Chapel Bible College for formal training and offers on-campus Training Forums throughout the year. There is no formal membership; belonging is shaped by regular attendance, participation in a Life Group, serving and giving.
The Team Behind the Work
The Pastoral Team is composed of Lead Pastor Nate Holdridge, Executive Pastor Manny Collazo, Worship Pastor Matt Kehler and Recovery Pastor Mike Casey. The Ministry Team includes Christina Holdridge (Calvary Kids Coordinator and Women's Ministry Team Leader), Sharron Pearson (Calvary Kids Coordinator), Austin Kava (Youth Ministry Coordinator), Jeanine Staton (Adult Ministries Director), Jessica Silguero (Adult Ministries Coordinator and Worship Ministry Administrative Assistant), Bernhard Klingenberg (Tech Director), Kristina Ibe-Sandoval (Campus and Events Coordinator), Ashli Valdes (Prayer Ministry Intern), Dan Chisholm (Facility and Ministry Operations Director), Johanna Ceornocut (Operations Director), Denise Collazo (Accountant) and Tammy Chisholm (Bookkeeper). Baby dedication, benevolence requests, baptism inquiries, women's mentoring, life group questions and various serve-team applications can all be routed through the church's contact forms or staff emails.
What to Know Before Coming
Calvary Church is located at 3001 Monterey-Salinas Highway, Monterey, CA 93940, with the phone number (831) 649-1158 and email info@calvary.com. Services run Thursday evenings at 6:30pm and Sunday mornings at 9am and 11am, with pre-service prayer in the Prayer Room at 7:30am on Sundays. Children from 1 year old through 6th grade can be checked in to Calvary Kids for the 9am and 11am services, and there is a Middle School service for 7th and 8th graders at 11am. Newcomers are invited to dress casually, enjoy breakfast treats on the patio, and stop by the Welcome Center after services. The Church Center app streamlines giving, group signups, event registration, child check-in and contact updates. Communion is not mentioned as part of the weekly gathering; water baptism is observed several times a year after the second Sunday service. Service animals are welcomed on campus in accordance with the church's published policy.
From a prayer room on a Thursday night to a Sunday baptism in the Main Sanctuary, from a Middle School teaching on a Tuesday to a missionary's update from the 10/40 Window, Calvary Church keeps its threefold rhythm moving - Love Him, Grow In Him, Share Him - week after week on the Monterey Peninsula.