Rob Bell of Nooma and Love Wins fame - did he originally come out of the Calvary Chapel?

[JoelH]

I've read some literature that claim Rob Bell started out his ministry as a young but orthodox Calvary Chapel pastor. But as he went on, he became more liberal, and he left and went to Fuller Seminary. After that, he was thoroughly Neo-evangelical followed by becoming Emergent, and eventually morphed into a fullblown liberal.

Some sources claim even Mars Hill at Grand Rapids was originally a Calvary Chapel congregation. Is that true?

[my2babysmana]

I don't know about Rob Bell, but Mars Hill comes from a split made out of a Maranatha church that was planted by an Assembly of God church in Greater Grand Rapids. I attended that AofG in high school and remember when the Maranatha church was planted. I don't know what the split was about. I did attend Mars Hill once a long time ago, but it was too big and too charismatic for me. Maybe it was God's way of protecting me when I was still young and naive.

[arapahoepark]

I checked on Wikipedia (maybe that's where you went) and it says he did or was.

[OnceWasLost]

A Calvary church of some sort but not a Calvary Chapel, not as a pastor.

[GlennO]

Controversial West Michigan pastor Rob Bell leaves megachurch | Detroit Free Press | freep.com


Thankfully, Francis Chan effectively refuted Mr. Bell's fatally flawed premise concerning Hell. Rob will fit right in with the LA scene.

[OnceWasLost]

From the mars hill website.

Mars Hill - History

In the late 1990′s, Rob Bell was an assistant pastor at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rob and his wife Kristen had an idea and a dream: the idea that church could be about desire, longing, and connection, and the dream that it be those things without fluff or hype piled on. Along with some friends, they decided to give it a shot. Calvary gave their blessing, and the first Mars Hill Gatherings took place on February 7, 1999. The mall hadn’t happened yet.

Calvary Church not Calvary Chapel.

[JoelH]

Thanks guys for the clarifications. FYI I saw the claim from a corner of the net dominated by conservative Protestants (chiefly Anglican, but also Presbyterian and Lutheran) where they posted investigation posts about Rob Bell and how he compares with the more wellknown liberal mainline clergy members in their own neck of wood.

Apparently the Calvary Church is day and night from the Calvary Chapel.

[OnceWasLost]

Thanks guys for the clarifications. FYI I saw the claim from a corner of the net dominated by conservative Protestants (chiefly Anglican, but also Presbyterian and Lutheran) where they posted investigation posts about Rob Bell and how he compares with the more wellknown liberal mainline clergy members in their own neck of wood.

Apparently the Calvary Church is day and night from the Calvary Chapel.

Indeed, a guy with bell's view would not be sent out by a Calvary Chapel, he would not feel at home in a CC since he views the bible and truth much differently from CC

[morovich]

I used to attend Mars Hill back in 2000/2001 for 6 months (before it went completely off the deep end) and personally knew Rob and had dinner with him (good grief, if only I knew the depths of disillusionment he would wade into!) on a few occasions and my brother in law was on the worship team. The Calvary being referenced here is about 20 minutes from the Mars Hill "mall" campus. Definitely more of a mainline denominational flavor there (I visited several times). It is in Grand Rapids not far from Cornerstone and Calvin Colleges. Kent Dobson was the son of the senior pastor at Calvary and wnt with Rob over to be the lead worship guy when Mars began. Robbie Rob's new succesor is about as wolvish as he is.

[mattfivefour]

Let's pay attention to what OnceWasLost has stated and not confuse Calvary churches, fellowships, assemblies, or anything else with Calvary Chapels. If it ain't Calvary Chapel it is not Calvary Chapel ... and therefore has absolutely no relationshgip with it at all.