ABOUT CALVARY
PASTOR HOOKER
Pastor Hooker is a devoted servant of God who leads Calvary Baptist Church with compassion, wisdom, and a heart for ministry. His deep love for the Lord shines through in every sermon, every prayer, and every act of service.
OUR STORY
Calvary is an independent Baptist church that was established in 1977 under the leadership of Pastor Tom Lancaster. The church met for a few years in a gymnasium near Winchester and Perkins and then bought the property, built a building, and moved to its present location on Kirby Parkway in 1980. The church grew to a high average attendance of nearly 400. The new Auditorium, built on the same property, was dedicated in 2000.
Our current pastor Bro. Bob Hooker and his wife Jo Beth have served in the ministry for forty years. They have been with us since January of 2016. They have six married daughters, all in the ministry, and 27 grandchildren. They love family, church and community. Their heart’s desire is to reach seek to do that through personal soulwinning and world missions. We are very culturally diverse and all nationalities are welcome. For decades we have run busses all over the Memphis region, even into Mississippi, bringing folks to church that needed transportation. We are an active and friendly church. We seek to minister to and strengthen the entire family. The teaching and preaching is practical, powerful, and passionate. The Bible-based messages the city of Memphis and surrounding areas with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
At Calvary, we are down-to-earth, and straight forward. The music is conservative and Christ-honoring. We believe Christianity is not something we put on for a Sunday service but a way of life. We love God, we love serving God and we believe in showing that by how we love, treat and serve others. Our hope and prayer is that you will feel that same love and welcome during your time here.
We would encourage you to visit us soon and come see for yourself if maybe this is the place you would like to call “home.” Memphis is filled with churches, but there is only one place like Calvary!
OUR STAFF
PASTOR HOOKER
Pastor
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
PASTOR HOOKER
Pastor
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
PASTOR HOOKER
Pastor
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
OUR BELIEFS
SCRIPTURE
We believe that the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testament are verbally, plenarily, inerrantly inspired of God, that they are the supreme and final authority for faith and practice, and that they are perfectly preserved in the Authorized KJV Bible for every generation. (II Timothy 3:16; Psalms 12:6,7)
GOD
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That God is supreme in His person, absolute in His attributes, glorious in His perfection, and eternal in His being. (I John 5:7)
JESUS
We believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ, His conception by the Holy Spirit, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, His bodily resurrection, His exaltation at God’s right hand, and His personal, imminent, pre-millennial, and pre-tribulational return. (Matthew 1:20; II Corinthians 1:21; Ephesians 1:7; Luke 24:6, 39; I Timothy 2:5)
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, one with the Father and the Son, the indweller of every believer to enlighten, guide, and enable him in life, testimony, and service, and seal each believer until the day of redemption of the body. (John 15:26, 27; John 14:7-11; Ephesians 1:13, 14)
MAN
We believe that God created man in His image and likeness (a triune being: spirit, soul, and body) in a state of innocence, but through temptation, he willingly transgressed and became dead in trespasses and sins. As a result, his posterity (all men) inherited a corrupt nature, are born in sin, and are under condemnation. (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12)
SALVATION
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; was buried; and arose again from the dead in His glorified body, ascended into heaven, and as our great High Priest and Advocate, He ever lives to make intercession for us; that all who believe on His name are justified on the grounds of His shed blood and receive the gift of eternal life by the grace of God. Nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own voluntary rejection of the gospel. (Ephesians 2:8, 9; Hebrews 7:24, 25; Isaiah 1:18; John 3:18)
BLOOD
We believe the blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross to be the only and all-sufficient remedy for the sin of man; that this blood alone makes an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22)
HELL
We believe in a literal, burning hell that God prepared for the Devil and his angels. It is the place of everlasting, conscious punishment of the unbelieving lost. (Luke 16:22-26)
HEAVEN
We believe in a literal place called heaven where the saved shall enjoy everlasting blessedness. Heaven is where God’s immediate presence is manifested, where the angels reside, where the redeemed shall ultimately be, where Christ makes intercession for the saints, and from whence Christ shall come to judge the “quick and the dead.” (II Corinthians 5:8; John 14:1-3)
SATAN
We believe in the existence and operating power of a real and personal being opposed to all saints (saved unto all righteousness), and exalting himself against all that God is, has, and tries to accomplish. We believe that the “Evil One” is called Satan, the Prince and Power of the Air, and is a powerful being but not all-powerful. (I Peter 5:8, 9; James 4:7)
THE CHURCH
We believe that the local church is a congregation of baptized believers, instituted for the purpose of worship, service, and fellowship. The local church is an indigenous and autonomous body. We further believe in the “The Church” as a living organism. It consists of all the blood-bought, born-again believers throughout the Church Age. This body of the redeemed collectively makes up the ultimate bride of Christ. (Acts 2:42; Ephesians 5:21-23)
BAPTISM
We believe that baptism by immersion for a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is the Bible mode of baptism that testifies to the believer’s faith in, and identification with, the crucified, buried, risen, and soon-coming Savior. (Matthew 3:16; 28:19; Romans 6:4)
SEPARATION
We believe that all the saved are called into a life of separation from all worldly and sinful practices, places, and alliances and that believers should be separated unto Christ. (II Corinthians 6:14-18; II John 10:11; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14)
ORDINANCES
We believe the two ordinances of the church are:
The Lord’s Supper: whereby believers do show forth the Lord’s death till He comes again. (The elements being unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice.) (I Corinthians 11:23-32)
Bible baptism (see BAPTISM).
SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER
We believe that those who by faith receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior are born again of the Holy Spirit, are the children of God, are heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, are kept by the power of God, and can know they are eternally saved, once forever! (Ephesians 4:30; John 10:27-30; Jude 2:4)
LAST THINGS
We believe in the imminent, pre-tribulational, pre-millennial, return of Christ. The Lord could return for, and rapture out His Church at any given moment. The world will then enter into a seven year period of tribulation that will end with the battle of Armageddon and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. He will come as “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords,” and establish His kingdom that will last for 1,000 years. The Lord will then judge the living and the dead at the Great White Throne Judgment (which is different from the Judgment Seat of Christ where the Lord judges the Church). After this, all the lost, Satan, death, and hell are cast into the Lake of Fire, while the Lord and His saints enter into “Eternal Bliss.” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-58; Matthew 24:3-41; Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-15; 21:1-6)