Pastor expected to fully recover

Chuck Smith, senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and a leading figure of the Jesus People movement in the 1960s, is expected to fully recover after suffering a mild stroke Sunday morning, his secretary said.

On Monday, Smith, 82, of Newport Beach, remained hospitalized indefinitely at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

“We are just so thankful that it was just a mild stroke,” said Laura Jackson, his secretary of 11 years. “We are thankful that his recovery is going extremely well and the family is very thankful for the love, the support and prayers from the church and the community.... It means a lot to them.”

Smith has served as Calvary Chapel’s pastor since 1965. At the time, Smith was a leader of the Jesus People movement in Southern California, saving countless hippies by baptizing them on the beach in Corona del Mar, Jackson said.

“In a short time, the church’s members went from 25 people to more than 20,000 believers,” she said.

Calvary Chapel is a nondenominational church with 1,500 affiliate churches throughout the nation and the world, Jackson said.

Smith also was one of the first to give contemporary Christian music and songs an audience. The bands Love Song, the Way and Mustard Seed Faith, who are associated with the beginnings of Christian music, started their careers at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Jackson said.

“It really reached the young people at the time,” she said. “He loves the old hymns. The old hymns are very much part of our tradition and we sing them on Sunday, so we never forget the roots of our traditions as Christians. But that music at the time was able to reach the young population. It was Christian lyrics to a sound that young people really related to.”