January 1, 1963 – 2010

    Mount Calvary is celebrating its 47th year of serving God and the communities of Suisun, Fairfield and surrounding cities in the California Bay Area. However, God is not through with us yet; He is using Mount Calvary to impact others on a state, regional, national, and worldwide level. God keeps on blessing us to “Make Things Happen.” What started 47 years ago, continues today.

 

    In 1962, a few local residents, seeking to organize a church, held an informal meeting at the residence of William Riley at 1105 Washington Street in the City of Suisun. Many of these early members were neighbors, friends, relatives, and fellow airmen assigned to Travis Air Force Base. Although the group met regularly, it was not until Sunday, January 1, 1963, after the 11:00 A.M. worship service, that they formally organized what was known as Calvary Baptist Church of Suisun City. Later, in 1963, the church modified its name from “Calvary Baptist Church” to “Mount Calvary Baptist Church.” At this time, the membership selected its first pastor, Rev. Claybon Lea, who remained in that capacity for over 36 years. Mount Calvary is the oldest African American Baptist Church to be established in the Tri-City, which includes Fairfield, Vacaville and Suisun.

 

    After six months of worshipping in one of the member’s home, the church moved to 4-X Boynton Avenue in Suisun. In July 1969, the church was incorporated by the State of California. By May 1970, the church purchased 1.08 acres of land and a sanctuary located at 601 Mulberry Street (now 601 Whispering Bay Lane), in Suisun City, California (Suisun Campus). With a larger facility and expansion of its ministries, community outreach was pivotal to the church’s continued growth.

 

    In August 1970, the church applied to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for sponsorship to provide low and moderate-income housing in Fairfield. During the summer of 1971, construction was completed on a 92-unit apartment complex located on East Alaska Avenue, known as Monument Arms. Mount Calvary was the first church to sponsor low-income housing on such a large scale in this area. The church still owns and maintains these units.

 

    Under the leadership of Pastor Emeritus Lea, the church was successful in burning the mortgage, leaving the Suisun Campus debt-free. By the latter part of 1980, the church expanded its facility due to tremendous growth. A 300-seat sanctuary, an expanded choir/classroom, a detached annex and fellowship hall were added. This expansion allowed for the creation of new ministries, such as a prison ministry, a food pantry, an outreach to the homeless, and a global outreach to include countries like Haiti and Nigeria, West Africa. During the winter of 1982, the church purchased and shipped a power generator to Agambi Memorial Baptist Church in Eku, Nigeria. For the first time, the church began to realize its global outreach mission.

 

Since the church’s inception, more than 23 preachers were licensed; of that number, 21 were ordained.

 

    In 1991, the church opened the first African-American Heritage Library in Solano County for public use at the Suisun Campus.  It was the vision of the founding Pastor Claybon Lea. He wanted the people to know the true history of Africa and the contributions of African-Americans in this country. After his passing on October 27, 2002, the library was later renamed the Claybon Lea Memorial Library.  The library was relocated to the Fairfield Campus and re-opened, on Sunday, October 26, 2006. Coupled with the establishment of the library was the African Enterprise Network, which was designed to showcase and make available authentic African art, fabric and clothing.

 

    On October 26, 1997, during the 34th year Pastor’s Appreciation service, the founding pastor, announced his retirement. A special business meeting was held on January 22, 1998, and the votes were unanimous that Dr. Claybon Lea, Jr., would succeed his father.  On January 1, 1999, Dr. Lea officially became the pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church. Since his arrival, over 4,500 people have been added to the church membership. In 2005, Outreach Magazine conducted a study of church growth and listed Mount Calvary as one of the 100 fastest-growing U.S. churches.

 

    In 2001, a church newsletter, “Commissioned!” was birthed. In January 2003, a newly formatted newsletter was mailed to members and friends. In January 2005, Word and Worship Magazine (WWM) was birthed. 

 

    With “Five-Star” quality as its mandate, Dr. Lea continues to pursue excellence through the development of additional ministries; to include a weekly hour-long broadcast on 1190 AM (KDYA), “The Light,” three consecutive worship services and a webcast on www.streamingfaith.com. In January, 2010, we discontinued webcasting on Streaming Faith and went to Internet-TV streaming the 11:00 a.m. worship service, Tuesday night Bible study and special events. The 7:30 a.m. service was added to Internet-TV on June 6, 2010.

 

    With a growing membership, great demands were placed on the church and its organizational structure. Under the pastor’s leadership, staff was added to meet the demand. Dr. Lea set the standard of “Five-Star Quality” for the church organizationally and for the members individually. He stated, “God demands no less from us since He gave His very best for us.”

 

    On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9, 2004, the church moved from 601 Whispering Bay Lane to its new site located at 1735 Enterprise Drive, Building 3, in Fairfield, California (Fairfield Campus).  The Fairfield Campus was a $1.5 million renovation project, which includes a 900+ seat sanctuary, a 200+ seat fellowship hall, a state-of-the-art nursery, a conference room, a high-tech audio/visual room, numerous multi-purpose rooms, administrative offices, and a 300+ spaced parking lot. That was a day when Dr. Claybon Lea, Jr. proclaimed that the members of the church are of the “Joshua Generation.”

 

    After vacating the Suisun church, for eight months, Dr. Lea felt a void was left behind. His vision was to go back and fill the needs of the Suisun community. On December 1, 2004, Mount Calvary re-opened the Suisun Campus with Word on Wednesday (WOW) noon Bible study. On Sunday, January 1, 2005, Sunday worship service began at the Suisun Campus at 9:15 a.m.  , making Mount Calvary one church in two locations - a multi-ethnic ministry.

 

    In the spring of 2006, an additional administrative wing was completed providing more office space, a larger library and classrooms for Christian Education.  The new wing is also equipped with a state-of-the-art computer lab.  On Saturday, June 24, 2006, Mount Calvary opened the Didasko Christian Bookstore. 

 

    In 2006, Mount Calvary traveled to Ghana, West Africa to participate in the ground breaking ceremonies for a mechanized water system.  Partnering with Help Is on the Way Ministries, the California State Baptist Convention, and other churches the Tokurano Water Project was completed in 2007. 

 

    On February 5th, 2007, Mount Calvary’s Scholarship Committee, in partnership with U-CAN (United College Action Network) and Success Consortium presented their first annual Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Fair and Family Night.  Admission representatives from over 19 HBCUs continue to visit each year offering students and parents’ information on admissions, financial aid, scholarships and more.

 

    In June, 2007, Dr. Jerome King, a son of Mount Calvary, accepted the position as Executive Pastor.  As Executive Pastor, his role was to focus on the staff and work with the administration in the day-to-day affairs of the church. His expertise as a theological educator, administrative practitioner, consultant and speaker greatly enhanced the body of the church.  His extensive studies in leadership coupled with his vast experience, aided in mobilizing volunteers to engage in service. Dr. King helped Mount Calvary establish its current mission statement, core values, visions and goals.

 

    April, 2009, the Mount Calvary “Twelve Tribes Family Ministry Care Plan” was developed to accomplish the goal of “core ministry teams.” Partnering with the Pastor, the ministry teams responsibilities are to minister to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of each member. In order for this endeavor to be accomplished, teams were selected to become “tribe leaders” over members, divided alphabetically by the members’ last names.

 

    The current vision of Dr. Lea and the church is to acquire a 94,000 square feet facility at 1745 Enterprise Drive, just across the parking lot from the Fairfield Campus location.  The vision for the new facility is to have a Youth and Collegiate Church which includes the first staffed Youth and Collegiate Pastor, Rev. David L. Reaves, a Wi-Fi coffee shop, Christian school, gymnasium, larger bookstore and much more. 

 

    God has truly blessed our church! New ministries are birthed as needed; the church membership continues to grow spiritually and numerically.  We are still operating as one church in two locations! With God’s help and with clarity of purpose, we will continue to press onward and upward as a church “Where the Spirit leads, the Word feeds and the Ministry meets Life’s needs.”