A Church. The State. And a Holy War.

https://www.thefp.com/p/a-church-the-state-and-a-holy-war
A Church. The State. And a Holy War.
Calvary Chapel in Silicon Valley refused to close during the Covid lockdowns, arguing freedom of religion. Then the government surveillance began.
By Heather Robinson

March 16, 2023
It was Father’s Day 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Marci Dauer was walking with her husband Monte along the beach in Santa Cruz when they noticed a young woman sitting alone by the pier, disoriented and crying.

“She said she had lost her phone and her friends,” says Marci. “It was 1 p.m. and I could smell alcohol on her breath.

“I asked her how she’d get home and she said, ‘I don’t know.’ She said she was 18 years old.”

Marci, who has been a practicing Christian for 40 years, asked the young woman if she could pray with her, and she said yes. Afterward, the woman confided in the Dauers that she had been raped.

Marci offered the woman a ride to the hospital or police station, but she refused. “She said she wanted to go to church.”

As far as Marci knew, no churches were open in Santa Cruz at that time, due to the Covid-19 lockdowns ordered by Santa Cruz County’s public health department. The couple’s own church in nearby Santa Clara County had been closed for months because of similar restrictions.

But Marci kept in touch with the woman and, a week later, she heard from a friend that Calvary Chapel in nearby San Jose was open. “So the next Sunday we took her.”

When Marci, her family, and the young woman walked through the church on June 28, 2020—just weeks after Dr. Anthony Fauci declared Covid-19 his “worst nightmare” come to life—she saw some 300 people singing gospel hymns played by musicians on the violin and guitar. A slender, gray-bearded man gave them a nod from behind the pulpit.

He was unmasked. So was almost everyone in the church, including Marci.

At lunch afterward, the young woman expressed how much the service meant to her. “At that time, nothing was normal, and she needed normalcy,” Marci said of her companion. “It was healing for her.”


Calvary Chapel is situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, which is located in Santa Clara County. On March 16, 2020, the county became the first in the U.S. to declare a shelter in place order—commanding all citizens to remain at home except when engaging in “essential” activities, such as buying groceries or going to medical appointments. (Universal indoor masking regardless of vaccination status was required in California until March 2022—one of the strictest policies in the country.)

At first, Calvary abided by the lockdown rules. But two months later, on Sunday, May 24, Pastor Mike McClure—known to his flock as Pastor Mike—gave a sermon outside his church.

“God doesn’t want us to isolate ourselves,” he declared. “All of us need to be in the sanctuary. I don’t care what they say, I’m never again going to close the doors, ever.” Church services were held the following Sunday—and every Sunday after—in open defiance of the law.

It was the only church in Santa Clara County to do so.

As of May 31, 2020, Pastor Mike McClure started holding in-person services during the pandemic—and never stopped. (Amanda J. Cain for The Free Press)
At first, McClure held a single Sunday service, but as word got out, he added a second. Masking and social distancing were optional. Singing was common. And, during a portion of the service when congregants were invited to introduce themselves to each other, they sometimes embraced, Calvary member Anne Stenehjem told me.

In October 2020, when the county decreed that houses of worship could operate at 25 percent capacity (or fewer than 100 members), McClure continued to hold services for congregants eventually numbering in the thousands.

“The Bible says we are made in the image of God, and that means fellowship,” McClure told me. “If you look at Acts 2:42, the early church continued steadfastly. Fellowship is what we are made for—to carry each other’s burdens, to break bread, and to pray together.”

But Santa Clara officials were not looking to Acts. They were looking at the county’s order to shelter in place. And to them, each service, each youth gathering, each baptism held at Calvary represented a violation of the law.