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CALVARY CHAPEL |
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ABOUT US
Pastor: Mark Siena
Assistant Pastors: Gary Reed
Elders
Greg Mittner
David Siena
Walt Pieschke
Deacons
of the Church:
Frank
Barnwell
Ken Cook
Karl Ector
Children's Church Leaders - Greg & Mary Mittner
Youth Group and Worship Ministries - Pastor Gary Reed
Women's Ministries: Chrissy Siena
Calvary Chapel of the Niagara Frontier - History
The Lord’s
plans are awesome!
In the 1970’s, a
teenager with a heart for the Lord would regularly sit on a bridge in Cheektowaga (the bridge has since been torn down), look out
over a train station, and pray for God’s will to be done.
About 20 years later,
the Calvary Satellite Network (CSN) targeted Buffalo as one of the cities to receive their
Christian radio broadcast. They filled out the paper work, and began the legal and
technical steps to make this a reality.
Our church began as a
small Bible study, first meeting at the Hampton Inn in Amherst on the last Sunday of
August 1996. We were sent out by Calvary Chapel of the Westside, and Calvary Chapel of the
Finger Lakes. 3 people from Buffalo attended the first service - a married couple, and a
college student - plus Chrissy, myself, our 2 daughters (Beth & Amy), and 2 friends
from Rochester. After the first week, the college student left. Soon, however, the Lord
began to send people. Most of them were referred to us by one of the Calvary Chapels in
Rochester.
After a few months,
Gary Reed felt the call to come out to join us as Worship Leader and Assistant Pastor. He
was sent by Calvary Chapel of the East Side.
On Christmas Eve,
1996, CSN radio first broadcast in Buffalo. The satellite dish receiving the signal was
situated in the Cheektowaga train station mentioned in the 2nd paragraph above. When we
came out to plant the church, we were not aware that CSN was planned for Buffalo.
During the first
year, we became an officially incorporated church - Calvary Chapel of the Niagara
Frontier. Besides Gary and myself, we also now had 2 elders serving on the leadership
board - both Buffalo residents.
Chrissy and I moved
to Buffalo (from Rochester) after the first year. (Gary and his family would relocate a
year later.) The church had grown sufficiently by this time to move to a larger meeting
place - the Romar industrial office building in Cheektowaga. We rented 2 large rooms on the 2nd floor. The
Romar building happened to be situated right next to the previously mentioned train
station, and in fact we could see the blue CSN satellite dish from our sanctuary window.
After 2 years, we
moved to our current location - a former Methodist church in Lancaster. While we always
had ties to the Rochester Calvary Chapels, and were considered an outreach of the Finger
Lakes, we became an official Calvary Chapel - recognized by Costa Mesa - in March 2000.
We are very grateful
to the Lord for His faithfulness and direction, and look forward expectantly to see what
He will do next!
(By the way, the
teenager who used to pray as he looked over the train station is now the Pastor of a
Calvary Chapel in downtown Indianapolis!)
