How did you come to Calvary Temple?
10.18.10
How'd you end up here at Calvary Temple? Everyone's got a story, and we'd love to hear yours! Take a couple minutes and let us know how you first came to Calvary Temple, and what convinced you to stay. You'll have to create an account if you haven't done so already, but it'll only take a few seconds. Just click on "Login to Post Comments", below, and either login or click on "Create an Account".
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on Oct 23, 2010 Sharon Locricchio said:
After eight years of living in Taylorville as a single parent, my daughter and I moved to Springfield which enabled me to be closer to my work. I had heard of Calvary Temple, but was not real acquainted with Springfield. On a Tuesday night, my doorbell rang and when I answered it, Mary Lynch and Charlie Barber from Evangelism Explosion asked if they could come in and talk with me. I welcomed them with open arms because it was an answer to my prayer. I was saved and it meant so much to me that they would take the time to pray with me and my daughter. After our conversation and prayer with them, I knew Calvary Temple was the place for me. I took the Evangelism Exposion Class and have been able to use these tools since then. I've been there since 1988; met my husband there in the singles Sunday School class. I've stayed at Calvary Temple because the Word is preached by Pastor Mark and formally by Pastor MC Johnson and Mrs. J. Plus, the Bible-based Sunday School classes - both of these have help me grow in my walk with the Lord. I also appreciate all of the Staff at Calvary who are very friendly and are there when you need them.
on Nov 15, 2010 Marjory Aherin said:
In the late 80's and 90's I was a part of a computer consulting company called ProSource. We hired a man named Rick Hohimer who had just come back to Illinois from San Diego. He made such an impression on me. He was always happy and jovial. He always spoke so loving of his wife and girls and he was always so respectful of everyone. I loved picking his brain. It was at a time in my life when I was questioning my "old time religious" background and wondering why the apostles would die for Jesus when most of the people I knew couldn't stay awake in church if you could even get them there consistently. There has to be something more I thought. So I would ask Rick a lot of questions and I watched him. He showed me there was more. He was so real and I wanted what he had. He wasn't pushy about joining "his" church. He just had a peace and lightness about him, a great love for his family and he was an honorable guy with a good work ethic. He had a very good salary, although nothing near what he was worth. So it completely blew me away when he said he was leaving ProSource to become a pastor at Calvary Temple. Why would someone take such a pay cut? But on the other hand, it didn't surprise me that he would put the faith he talked about to me above the figures.
I missed conversations with Rick over the years and on one occasion I went to see him at his office at Calvary and talked a little more about faith and what he was doing there. I had eventually come out of my "religion" and was searching for the real thing. It was a few years later when my husband, Paul, came to know the Lord in a new way and we knew we had to move away from our small town in order to get away from that dead religious stuff because the family history was too deep. A lot of painful things were going on in our lives and we needed God in a bigger way. So, in May of 2004, we moved and started looking for a new church home. Paul was still drawn to the traditional style of church but I had this desire in me to find what made Rick Hohimer who he was. So we narrowed our search between Calvary and another church. We went back and forth until November. I knew what I wanted but Paul hadn't made up his mind yet. When you come from a church that just gets up and down and doesn't read the Bible much, to a church where there is a lot more "activity", you always question what is real. Paul came to the conclusion that Dan Shryock's worship was real and Pastor Johnson's sermons where applying the Bible to real life. Pastor's remarks really hit Paul and all of us between the eyes, and the rest is history. We've met the Lord that made Rick Hohimer who he was and we are still chasing him. We will always be eternally grateful to God for putting Rick Hohimer and his "real" faith in our path.