The Sunday Scoop: Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills

The Sunday Scoop is a series on churches in Moore County. The series covers the latest activities from Bible school to missions and everything in between. Welcome.

Pastor Ben Lawson said the big difference in Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills is that sermons teach the Bible in sequence. A member attending for a year will learn the entire Bible. The church is nondenominational and follows evangelical Christian theology.

A typical Sunday morning service begins with 30 minutes of contemporary worship music with a band of guitars, drums, and tambourines, followed by a 30-minute sermon and an altar call.

“We’re different. It was a surfing church in California and came out of the hippie movement with Chuck Smith, called the Jesus Movement,” Lawson said, who said he also wears Hawaiian shirts on Sundays.

View the YouTube documentary on the Chuck Smith Jesus Movement.

Presently, Lawson’s sermons are concentrated on Christmas, but when the season changes, Lawson will continue Scripture sermons from Romans in the Holy Bible.

Sunday sermons are strengthened with Home Groups on Sunday evenings, where the Scripture discussion is continued.

Calvary Church of the Sandhills Pastor Ben Lawson welcomes visitors Dec. 17, 2021.

Outreach includes the church’s broadcasting studio where the church band records music, and The Shield 100.7 FM radio is broadcast with station manager Samantha Powell.

The radio call letters are WAOG, an acronym for “coming at you with the whole armor of God,” Powell said.

Powell is an engineer who chose to work in Christ’s ministry as the church’s office manager and station manager.

Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills station manager Samantha Powell welcomes Sandhills Sentinel Dec. 17, 2021 on The Shield 100.7 FM radio.

The church opens The Potter’s Café once a month for live music, coffee, and baked goods. COVID-19 closed the doors temporarily. Call 910-757-0464 for information. View the calendar of events here.

The Sunday Scoop: Calvary Chapel of Sandhills

Calvary Church of the Sandhills offers The Potter’s Café once a month on Saturdays, where Powell enjoys meeting new people.

The church has a food pantry, and those in need may call the number above.

Lawson shared several stories about how the church, once an auto shop, transpired.

“A man was coming on Saturday evenings for Christian music and prayer and called himself a charismatic Catholic. One day asked me if we needed anything, and I said, ‘Yeah, air conditioning,'” Lawson said. This was before the sanctuary was completed. “He drove up here with a flatbed and sixty-thousand dollars in air conditioning. At that time, if the church had pooled all its money together, it may have had two thousand. He said, ‘Just give me one thousand,’ and our landlord saw all that air conditioning and came back with a check to help us finish the back of the church.”

Lawson said he has been at Calvary Church since 1997 and identifies with the Jesus Movement.

“We see a need in the community and just do what needs to be done,” Lawson said about mission work in the local area such as cleaning streets, painting ballpark bleachers and helping during disasters.

Lawson requests help for Lumberton 2018 flood victims. Video from Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills.

Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills is located at 201 W. South St. in Aberdeen, and Sunday services begin at 11 a.m.

If you would like to have your church featured in this series, please email [email protected].

Feature photo: Calvary Chapel of the Sandhills Pastor Ben Lawson and Office and Station Manager Samantha Powell welcome Sandhills Sentinel Dec. 17, 2021, in the sanctuary.

~Article, photos, and welcome videos by Sandhills Sentinel Journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. 

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