Pastor helped launch Maranatha! Music, Calvary Distribution

Chuck Smith—influential author, pastor and founder of Calvary Chapel—died Oct. 3 in his California home after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 86.

Known for his welcoming demeanor, Smith was known for his role in the “Jesus movement” of 1960s and ’70s.

`“He was definitely a pioneer,” Donald E. Miller, a professor of religion at the University of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times. “He had a transformative impact on Protestantism.”

Smith wrote several books, including Why Grace Changes Everything, Charisma vs. Charismania, Effective Prayer Life and The Final Act (all Word for Today).

In 1971, he also helped launch Maranatha! Music, a nonprofit outreach of Calvary Chapel that set hymns and worship songs to folk-rock music. Maranatha! was highly influential in helping shape the budding contemporary Christian music and Christian rock scene, and continues to release new albums, available through Capitol Christian Distribution.

“Chuck Smith will be remembered by many, but he has influenced many more,” said author Ed Stetzer on his blog. “If you are in a contemporary church, engaging culture and planting churches, you are in a sense, a child of Calvary Chapel and of Chuck Smith.”

Christian leaders chimed in on Twitter to mourn the influential pastor and celebrate his influence.

“Pastor Chuck Smith has died,” tweeted Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif. “He is now in heaven. He fought the good fight. He was a great man.”

“I’m exceedingly grateful for the exemplary life and profound ministry of my friend, Chuck Smith,” said author and evangelist Chuck Swindoll on Twitter.

“Chuck Smith lit gospel fires all over the world,” said Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ (Zondervan). “Countless people were inspired into action by his passion for evangelism.”

Lance Emma, founder and first general manager of Calvary Distribution, reflected on Smith’s influence in assisting the bookstores and starting the distributor nearly 20 years ago.

“Way back in the early ’90s, we had many local Calvary Chapels coming into the Costa Mesa bookstore to buy Bibles and books for them to sell in their local church,” Emma said. “At the time, the Calvary Chapel bookstore was about 1,000 square feet, so having churches come in and buy dozens of Bibles at one time would leave our selection pretty depleted. Seeing the hunger of the churches to provide good material for their people, the idea of developing a warehouse for Calvary Chapels throughout the U.S. to order from was brought to Pastor Chuck and he enabled Calvary Distribution to begin.”

Calvary Distribution has assisted in the establishing of more than 1,200 book tables, book rooms and bookstores.

“This vision for equipping came directly from what we saw Pastor Chuck model from the pulpit and in practice,” Emma added. “He said many times: ‘Healthy sheep beget healthy sheep,’ and Calvary Distribution has been able to come alongside so many churches to provide biblically solid material to equip and edify, helping to produce healthy sheep.”

Smith is survived by his wife, Kay, and four children, Chuck Jr., Jeff, Janette and Cheryl.”