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YEAR IN REVIEW

2025 ANNUAL REPORT

Dear Calvary Family,

We look back to all that God has done in 2025 and it’s been truly remarkable! God has been stirring in our hearts and our minds for big dreams for the future. I have spoken often of our dependence on God, our call to discipleship, and our need for development. Those three words — dependence, discipleship, and development — have been ringing in my ears as I pray through all that God has for us, both as a gathered community and for each of us as we shine a light for Jesus in our everyday lives.

God has been steadily drawing people to our church through each and every one of you and we have seen the beautiful stories of life transformation in each of our baptism services and celebrations. And, even while all this has been happening in the here and now, God has been incubating something more, something beautiful, something challenging, and something requiring full dependence for our future. There is more to come that I look forward to sharing with you in 2026.

Take a moment to read through some of the ministry highlights in our 2025 Year in Review with gratitude for God at work in and through our church family. And, join me in praying that God will continue to use the people of Calvary Church to make a massive impact for the Kingdom of God and to bless the world, simply by living a full life with Jesus.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,


 CREATIVE ADULTS Family CCs Soul Care ReachFinancials

 

CREATIVE MINISTRIES

We gather to remember and celebrate the greatness of God and the good news of the Gospel, to realign our lives to the way of Jesus through the truth of the Word and the work of the Spirit, and respond to His leading in our lives.

 

1,975

Average Sunday participation*

3,552

Easter Sunday 2025*

*Total for English/ASL & Spanish,
In-Person & Online

4

Worship Nights
2/16, 4/18, 8/10, 11/30
each with a distinct vibe and venue, but all with a common aim at centering our affection and attention on Christ and cultivating a vibrant life of worship in our church family for the glory of God

2,013

Christmas Candlelight 2025

^ 14% from 2024

*Totals for In-Person & Online

 

BAPTISMS

Declaring life made new (Romans 6:4) in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)

79

People Baptized
on Easter Sunday, at Corona Del Mar State Beach, and on Thanksgiving Sunday
^ 53% from 2024

Discover More about Baptism

 


SUNDAY SERIES

Click below to watch messages from each of our 2024 Sunday Series

ONLINE NUMBERS

2,111 

YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS ^ 7%

2,422 

INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS ^ 11%

1,843

MOST WATCHED VIDEO
"Jesus is Still Worth Everything"
YouTube Short on Luke 18:18-30 

717

MOST VIEWED LIVESTREAM
"Standing Firm in a Shaky World"
Message on Luke 21:5-19 

VIEW SUNDAY SERMONS WATCH  ON YOUTUBE CALVARY LIFE PODCAST

ADULT MINISTRIES

 
We're pursuing lifelong growth as disciples of Jesus, which is experienced best in community with one another.


Leader Development

600 faithful volunteers serve in every conceivable way at Calvary
250 volunteers gathered in May to celebrate all God has done through the people of Calvary this year
150 core leaders gathered on October 25th for Calvary's 94th anniversary to dream and pray for the future

 

Connections + LifeGroups 

38 people completed Calvary's membership process
4 Connect Days helping people find ways to grow in community
57 Ongoing Groups ^ 14%
114 Leaders ^ 18%
Countless stories of people being known, loved, and valued in community

Young Adults

Over 75% of regular CYA attenders serve in another area of Calvary Church!
150+ young adults have joined our communication hub for 2025
Calvary young adults are now located all over the world, taking with them the good news of Jesus

 

Women

170 women meeting to grow in their relationship with God together
Began bimonthly Women's Saturday Stretch mornings in the park to stretch and pray together
100 women of all ages connected and worshiped God at a fall Women's Night 

Men

13 Father/Son groups came up this year to Man Camp together
Men spanning 6 decades meet regularly for Midweek Bible study
Men mentoring men is becoming more and more prominent at Calvary, yielding stonger and healthier men all over Orange County

60+ Adults

52 Mondays with God's House Care volunteers cleaning the Worship Center
12 Senior Adult LifeGroups
18 Grandparents gathering to pray together each month
3 Info Sessions on Brain Health, Mortuary options, and Wills/Trusts
1 Loss of Ministry Assistant, Stephanie Christian, retired after 8 years of support

 

Hispanic Ministry

23 Baptisms and 22 new Members, plus Víctor Millán installed as the lead Hispanic Ministry Pastor on March 3, 2025 

FAMILY MINISTRIES

One of the greatest responsibilities we have as a church family is to pass on the torch of a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ to the next generation. Thank you for contributing to make these life-shaping discipleship ministries happen!

 

CALVARY KIDS

Nursery - 5th Grade

11 Family Fun events brought parents & kids together for faith-building fun
75 kids attending midweek ^ 50%
24 4th + 5th graders experienced summer camp at Forest Home
900+ Kids at our summer VBS ^ 12%
Look below for a full VBS recap!


THE SPOT 

6th - 8th Grade

250 students at the annual 1/2 Nighter (Youth Outreach Event) ^67% 
74 to Summer Camp at Hume 
92 enjoyed Friendsgiving together
26 Middle School Volunteers ^36%
6 Middle School LifeGroups


HSM 

9th - 12th Grade

116 Students had life-changing experiences at Hume Lake
80 Students each week ^ 33%
20 Leaders serving
9 Served on a GO Trip to Albania 
14 Students declared their faith in Jesus through baptism 

AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER ADVENTURE

Watch highlights from "Camp Fargongo" VBS 2025

At Calvary's "Camp Fargongo" Vacation Bible School, over 900 kids were welcomed by more than 450 volunteers who helped make VBS happen! Kids learned life-changing biblical truth that when we wonder, feel alone, feel powerless, need hope or need help - Jesus can be trusted. There were 100+ first-time decisions to follow Jesus and 100 kids went to our team for prayer. Wow! 

Watch VBS Videos   View VBS Photos


 
ALL CHURCH COMMUNITY EVENTS

Thank you to everyone who invited, served, donated and prayed for these outreach events for our community!
 

LIGHT THE NIGHT

Approximately 6000 in attendance
240+ volunteers from Calvary Church and School ^ 20%
Over 2,500 lbs of candy donated ^ 25%
Hundreds of cake and cupcakes donated
Live bluegrass band and Amazing puppet show

CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING

Approximately 2000 in attendance 
Almost 150 Volunteers
3 Camels on campus
445 In-N-Out burgers enjoyed ^ 53%
So many s'mores and smiles!
200+ toys donated to kids in foster care with Olive Crest! 


Calvary Christian School has been providing the opportunity for students from 2 1/2 years through 8th Grade to participate in excellent academics and diverse enrichments rooted in Christian values for 50 years and counting! 

CCS Highlights for 2025 include:

Celebrated 50th year of CCS (1975-2025)
378 students in Preschool - 8th Grade
250+ attended our annual Auction, including current families and alumni, with over $125,000 raised for CCS, and our first-ever Alumnus of the Year, Ben Briggs, Class of 2002, was honored for his outstanding service to the country and his community
5 students went to South Korea for a 2-week student exchange program with our sister school (a Christian international school called BIS who sent 5 students to our school in April 2025 and we took 5 students to their school in November 2025)

The school budget, which is separate from Calvary Church, is funded by student tuition and donations provided by generous supporters. We are blessed to see the impact Calvary Christian School is making in children's lives!

Help Support CCSVisit School Website


While much of Calvary's Soul Care ministries are highly confidential, this branch of our church gets to see God's amazing work in people's lives. Calvary offers Soul Care through Life Counseling, Spiritual Direction, and Prayer Counseling. In addition, we have pastoral and financial assistance available to help with needs of our church family and local community - learn more.  

Soul Care Website

 

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

8 people took part in Spiritual Direction - conversations that highlight God’s presence and encourage growth while learning to hear His voice and experience His love 

 

PRAYER COUNSELING

Over 50 people inquired about Prayer Counseling in 2025, a ministry helping individuals to encounter God and engage in a spiritual conversation that ministers to their heart and soul.

 

LIFE COUNSELING

Helping people who are facing challenging seasons in life with biblically-based, Christ-centered resources:
 

73

people received individual counseling

17

couples received marriage counseling

8

couples received premarital counseling

15

individuals received weekly Stephen Ministers care

9

new Stephen Ministers graduated training

30+

people attended Celebrate Recovery each week

52

weeks in a row that Celebrate Recovery meetings were held

16

people completed Celebrate Recovery step studies

600+

dinners served at Celebrate Recovery at no cost to the church

 

 

EMERGENCY NEEDS FUND

The ENF fund helps to bless and assist those who experience financial emergencies. Calvary Church members and attenders generously donated a total of $89,471 to this fund in 2025.

1,500 

Boxes of food for those in need through Calvary's monthly Pop Up Pantry in partnership with Mary's Kitchen

78

Families / individuals were helped with $147,922 in funds distributed carefully and compassionately

Donate to Emergency Needs Fund

REACH MINISTRIES

Since 1932, Calvary Church has sent out members to serve cross-culturally around the globe. In 2025, we had the joy to prayerfully and financially support 68 Missionaries serving in 30 Countries on 5 Continents.


GLOBAL: REACHING THE NATIONS

MEXICO - HOMES OF HOPE

130 volunteers from Calvary had the opportunity to raise funds and give of their time to build 5 homes in January 2025 by partnering with YWAM to help hard-working families in Baja, Mexico while providing hope and sharing the love of Jesus.

GOOD NEWS FOR EUROPE

We celebrated a special Fall Global Sunday with an inspiring message from Mike Taylor with Greater Europe Mission that continued our spring spring Reach Week theme of answering God's call to be Ambassadors for Christ and living a life well sent. WATCH HERE

Thanksgiving offering

$30,000 was given to fuel change in the next generation & further the Gospel mission in Europe by partnering with the Smolicas to build Camp Wonder in Kosovo and provide scholarships to Calvary Young Adults who are participating in GEM's Ten2 Project.

 

LOCAL: REACHING OUR NEIGHBORS

Hospital Ministry

There were over 1,000 volunteer hours of visitations and ministry to patients at OC Global Medical Center in 2025, which was our fourth year as the primary chaplain resource for the hospital “across the street.”  

Pop-Up Pantry

Our monthly drive-through grocery distribution outreach, in partnership with Mary’s Kitchen, had 150 volunteers who helped give out over 1,500 grocery boxes (^20% from 2024) to those in need and lifted up many in prayer.

Alpha COURSE

210 people partipated in the 8-week Alpha Course, focused on exploring Christianity with questions like, "Why Did Jesus Die?" to "How Can I Have Faith?" to "How and Why Should I Pray? Who can you invite to Alpha on Sundays at 11am in January 2026? 
 

 Help fuel the mission locally and globally into 2026 and beyond!

GIVE HERE

FINANCIALS

Your investment of time, talent and treasure is making a difference in people's lives locally and globally. Thank You!

FISCAL 2025 OVERVIEW

Use of Funds by Ministry Area

 

July 2024 - June 2025

Thank you for generously supporting the resources and staff that make these ministries possible. We ended the fiscal year with the General Fund replenishing our reserves by about $120,000 which will help offset future maintenance and ministry expenses. Our Reach Fund spent $32,342 in reserves this year to fund additional projects.

* The numbers titled Church Ministry Funds from our audit reflect all ministry-related expenses for the church, including Emergency Needs. Giving to Forward in Faith is accounted for separately and received an additional $3.1 million as of November 2025. We just completed Phase One, improving our Worship Center HVAC system with a cost of approximately $1.8 million. Our total current need to complete all phases is $3.5 million and we appreciate your continued support. See more on what's still to come at CalvaryLife.org/Forward



July 2025 - November 2025

For the first five months of the current fiscal year (July - November 2025), we are behind our budget goals for both the General and Reach Funds. We appreciate your continued support and prayers for Calvary Church, for wisdom as we strive to strategically and prayerfully use the gifts you give and for provision as we pursue ministry into 2026 together.

GIVE ONLINE HERE

 

Heritage Building


All operational expenses and loan interest payments for our Heritage Medical Building are covered by rental income.

.

Ministry Partnerships


Two-thirds of the Heritage building space is being used for ministry partnerships impacting our community-- OC Rescue Mission, Hurtt Family Health Clinic, Emmaus Road Counseling, and more. DISCOVER MORE

 

CONTACT US

We are committed to being good stewards of the resources God provides for Calvary and we follow ECFA’s (Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability) best practices for financial management of ministries.

If you would like additional information about how your giving to Calvary is used for ministry purposes (including a copy of our audited financial statements), please contact our Executive Pastor, Michael Welles, at  714.550.2313 or .

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OUR CALVARY PASTORS!