Calvary Lutheran Church Rockford IL

Dear Friend--
WELCOME to Calvary Lutheran Church website! Here is a taste of Calvary. In 1923 a wealthy businessman named P.A. Peterson, who later donated P.A.Peterson Center for Health and P.A. Peterson School to Rockford,wanted an English speaking congregation where his employees could worship. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and together they founded Calvary. The founding pastor, Melvin Smith, was a remarkable young man. Pastor Smith was a recent graduate of the Moody Bible Institute at the time. Pastor Smith had a incredibly big heart for kids. He had chalk talks that fascinated people. He participated in woodworking projects with poor children. As the depression came more people were in need. He made arrangements with bakeries to get day old bread that would be distributed to people in need. He also made arrangements with dairies to get skimmed milk in quantity for kids who had no milk at all. At this time skimmed milk was being thrown away by the dairies. So they came, flooding the church. Hundreds of children of all ages contributed to large Sunday School, Adult, and Confirmation classes. A special pride was in Christian Endeavor, a city-wide youth effort where kids could visit other churches. Today we are the same Calvary, but also the different. We still have many poor children that all suffer from the problems from today's world. Busy Wednesday night? Bring the children to Jesus Club. We start the evening with supper, next we head off to a short music session, following that we participate in classroom activities. Sound fun?!?! Have a heart for children and would like to volunteer? Have children but would like to check it out first? We would love to see you. Please feel free to contact me at any time by calling 815-342-6064.
God Bless You! Hope to see you soon!
Pastor Charles Olson.

Family Fun!