Who We Are
Calvary Chapel is a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations, as such. We are opposed only to the emphasis of non-biblical teachings that divide the Body of Christ. We are a Christ-Centered, Bible Teaching Church. Pastor Jerry teaches us verse-by-verse through the Bible in an easy-to-understand, clarified way.
Our purpose is to glorify God, edify the body of believers, serve one-another in love and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our greatest desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit, to remain steadfastly loving and serving Jesus and to be found faithful by Him when He comes.
OUR PASTOR
In addition to founding and pastoring Calvary Chapel in Lake Tahoe, he currently serves as the Chaplain for the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, Fire Department and Barton Memorial Hospital. Jerry is an active member of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), and the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICOPC). He is also an Approved CISM Instructor.
Jerry first became exposed to Calvary Chapel when the Costa Mesa church met in a huge circus tent in the early seventies. In 1976 Jerry met his wife Diana at a college career study at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. During this time Jerry taught the high school youth at a mid-week Bible study at Calvary and worked under Bob Fromm (North Valley Calvary Chapel). Jerry and Diana are part of Calvary’s 1st generation and studied under Pastor Chuck Smith.
Jerry and Diana married in 1977. They have four children: Rebekah, Rachel, Ranae & Jerry Jr.; 3 sons-in-law: Phil, Tommy & Garry; and 12 grandchildren: Alanna, Brooklyn, Deacon, Jaccob, Tommy, Elijah, Trinity, Ezekiel, Cherish, Kyler Jerry, Bella and Liam.
Jerry Foster
Jerry came to South Lake Tahoe in August of 1991 to found Calvary Chapel of South Lake Tahoe (CCSLT). There had been a couple of previous attempts that ended in 1987. Prior to starting CCSLT, Jerry served 13 years as Pastor at Grace Chapel in Fortuna, California. For many years he had a desire to plant a church from the ground up. Jerry was ordained in 1978. His education includes a Bachelor’s Degree from Pacific Christian College and a Master’s Degree from Luther Rice Seminary. Prior to full time ministry, Jerry was a police officer in Southern California and also held several part time positions in ministry, churches in Lynwood, West Los Angeles and Hollywood. He has also served as a volunteer fireman.
Garry Weaver
Associate Pastor
Garry was born and raised in San Diego. He received the Lord when he was 15 where Jesus dramatically changed his life. He met Ranae at the end of 2004 and they started dating. He started attending Calvary chapel with Ranae. He knew the Lord called him to be in ministry and found out the church he attended offered a School Of Ministry. He started school the Spring of 2005 and finished in 2007.
Him and Ranae got engaged summer of 06. They moved to Tahoe end of summer early fall and got married November of that year.
Garry began ministry training under Jerry Foster. He started out working with the youth and going to our juvenile hall to minister there as well. Garry and Ranae have 3 children now. Trinity, Ezekiel, and Liam. Garry was ordained to the ministry in 2015 by Pastor Jerry Foster.
Garrys favorite books: Why Revival Tarries By Leonard Ravenhill, Christian Perfection by John Wesley, Lessons Of The Welsh Revival by G. Campbell Morgan.
Diana Foster
Women's Ministry
Diana has been serving the Lord in ministry for 43 years with her husband Pastor Jerry. She came to the Lord in 1973 when her sister was killed by a drunk driver. She had a hunger for God‘s word and God led her to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. In 1976 she met her future husband Jerry at the college career. They worked together with the youth in Costa Mesa. Then were married in 1977. God led them to Atascadero, then to Fortuna in Northern California for 13 years. Where they had four children. Rebekah, Rachel, Ranae and Jerry Jr. They moved to South Lake Tahoe, Ca in 1991.
Diana loves teaching God’s word especially to children! She loves ❤️ teaching her grand children about the Lord and even helps homeschool a few of them. She teaches our ladies bible study, and heads up our ladies ministry.
Shari Scheib
Administration
I was born in 1949 in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. In 1967, I graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, California. During my High School years, I attended Grace Community Church pastored by John MacArthur. I married my husband, Don, in 1975. Through marriages, we have 3 sons, 2 daughters-in-law, 7 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren, and 3 great, great grandchildren.
In September of 1995, while attending a BSF class (Bible Study Fellowship) in Thousand Oaks, I had my “come to Jesus moment”. I saw clearly that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but He IS God, and I could trust Him completely because, being God, He has full authority, power, desire, and the will to save me. I asked Jesus to forgive me and come into my life and be my Lord.
In January 1996, we began attending Blessed Hope Chapel with Pastor Joe Schimmel. Don received the Lord in March and I recommitted my life to Jesus. We were both baptized and began serving the Lord. I began serving by helping out in the children’s ministry, Vacation Bible School (VBS), then as our ladies Bible study teacher, door-to-door outreach, and also helping prepare meals for our Sunday love feast potlucks and meals for people in our community.
When Don retired in 1998, we moved to South Lake Tahoe and Calvary Chapel became our home church. We have been continuously attending, serving, and studying with Pastor Jerry since then. We went to Israel for the first time in December 1999 and Pastor Jerry baptized us in the Jordan River. Amazing!
In our new church, the Lord quickly gave us the opportunity to serve Him when the need for volunteers to help clean the church came up. I also served with my husband at Tahoe Manor, our local retirement home, and at Barton Skilled Nursing sharing the gospel. I also helped with VBS here.
Shortly after that, I began helping Abbie, our junior high Sunday School teacher. When Abbie retired, I followed in her footsteps and began teaching her class. I started substituting for Diana as our ladies’ Bible study teacher, then became a teacher for another ladies’ study.
In 2005, I started working in the church office as a part-time secretary, which became full time about 6 months later. Organizing our hospitality events, volunteers and meal preparations also became part of my ministries. Training to operate the sound equipment and scheduling worship was added to my education. I also trained to help Pastor Jerry in the Chaplaincy and with the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) ministry. I am still joyfully serving our Lord today as the church secretary and administrator.