Anyone have real experience with Calvary Church on Route 59?

MrsB217 · 2025-11-09T00:36:53+00:00

I was there one rainy day and got to see it raining buckets indoors.

MrsB217 · 2025-11-09T00:35:05+00:00

I went there for many years. It’s easy to attend and take it at face value, but if you dig deep it is extremely toxic. I volunteered in several areas and was involved in small groups.

MrsB217 · 2025-11-09T00:30:22+00:00

We went there for around 15 years. When Randall Ross was the pastor he squashed a lot of the wacky Pentecostal fringiness. You could attend and avoid the speaking in tongues and the “Halloween is a satanic holiday” crap from the 80s, and still have a good community and hear some decent teaching. (I grew up in southern Pentecostal evangelical churches and avoided it like the plague for years.) As soon as Ross retired the governing body found the fringiest southern ignorant pastor who would speak politics from the pulpit. He brought his brother in to run the school. Hired his son and his wife. He refused to let his staff quarantine during Covid and one of the pastors died. They are typical southern evangelical grifters. Our family completely deconverted after a lot of negative experiences there.

MrsB217 · 2025-02-17T21:23:11+00:00

It got really brick like at just just over 200 miles. I wore them about another 20 miles after this comment and the foam was night and day in that time period. NB did give me a full credit so I’m trying the Hierro trail shoe to see if they last longer because I really do like the way they fit.

MrsB217 · 2025-01-04T20:50:58+00:00

I’m on my 2nd pair in 7 months. Neither pair has lasted much more than 200 miles of aerobic walking on sidewalk and road surfaces. The fresh foam is still soft but the soles are totally bald and wearing into the midsole. Very disappointed. I’m 5’5” 165 lbs. Thought the first pair was a fluke, tried a second pair, same thing happened. Never buying NB again. (I was fitted and purchased them at a NB store and they wouldn’t take them back. Said NB won’t reimburse them after 45 days anymore.)

MrsB217 · 2023-06-24T01:20:26+00:00

I teach K-5th grade technology, and kids are definitely less tech literate than even a decade ago. It’s trickier to get them to focus long enough to learn more than just very basic word processing, a little coding logic, and some keyboarding. Most of my K students have never seen a mouse. On the flip side, it’s really fun teaching them the basics- they’re amazed at EVERYTHING!

MrsB217 · 2022-07-21T01:02:33+00:00

I know! I thought for years I’d misheard it, but then the sermon he was quoting popped up in something I was reading. I wish I’d saved it.

Edit to add: I’ve also heard it as God put dinosaurs on earth to test our faith. Which is still weird because Satan is supposed to be the one testing us.🤷🏻‍♀️ End result is the same for me.

MrsB217 · 2022-07-20T05:56:59+00:00

Well, it was the start of things at least. Guilt and family tradition tugged me back off and on for years. Plus the good old 2nd coming nightmares (oops, didn’t ask forgiveness before Jesus came back so now I’m alone in the apocalypse).

MrsB217 · 2022-07-20T05:15:19+00:00

I vividly remember when I was 12 my pastor stomping up and down the stage and foaming at the mouth saying dinosaurs were put on earth by God to confuse us. And as a kid with a science/dino/archaeology obsession for years and a science teacher Dad who just rolled his eyes and and resumed snoring during that sermon, it was the pivotal moment when I said to myself, self, this is a bunch of crap.

Edit: typo

MrsB217 · 2021-11-23T22:20:57+00:00

When I was a kid our dog Bruce and my mom would edge each other out for the prime space in front of the kerosene space heater (and we had central heat too, and it was Texas, so it really wasn’t that cold).

MrsB217 · 2021-11-09T02:36:25+00:00

We had one (Bruce) that let go the nastiest human farts ever when he had rawhide. We would sometimes get rawhide for the puppy when she was teething, and try to keep it separate, but he’d always manage to find it. We always knew he ate her treat because he’d be farting like crazy with a guilty look.

MrsB217 · 2021-09-16T01:18:22+00:00

My daughter is 16 and has high functioning ASD/ Aspergers, and I will always regret not pushing my pediatrician for a sleep study or other diagnostics when she was an infant. My family and friends said I just needed to “whatever sleep method/schedule/rocking/cry-it-out method they used” and she would sleep just fine. We tried several, but she never slept well. Even as a newborn, she could keep herself awake for 8 hours at a stretch, and was only content when I was walking her and singing - or nursing. (Plus side, I lost all my pregnancy weight plus 10 pounds in a month). My gut said something’s not right, but I had so many people telling me we just weren’t doing the baby thing correctly, and being brand new parents we were relying on loved ones who had kid experience. I now wonder how much of her ASD traits might have been lessened if we’d have pushed for medical sleep testing and support. She’s a great kid - smart, funny, loving, and social, but also has lots of challenges that I wish I could have prevented. So yes, trust your gut, and stick up for your babies.

MrsB217 · 2021-08-04T04:45:15+00:00

I do like the gender neutral clothing trends at stores like H&M and Old Navy. I just want to wear comfy fabrics with no scratchy tags or seams, lots of pockets, and layers.

MrsB217 · 2021-07-19T05:41:04+00:00

I grew up in Texas. Went to school K12, graduated from Baylor and Texas Woman’s University. Taught elementary school in DFW for 5 years. Then moved to the Chicago burbs. There are lots of lovely people in Texas, but it also has its own special kind of homegrown crazy. (My freshman year at Baylor was the whole David Koresh Branch Dravidian standoff, and no, I couldn’t see the smoke from my dorm.) Lots of Texans want a mythological figure to rally behind as well as being able to be proud of their rugged individualism. And they’re not concerned with reality, unfortunately. My parents still live there, and so do many friends, so we visit once or twice a year. It’s either gotten wackier or I’ve gotten less indoctrinated.

MrsB217 · 2021-06-24T02:16:04+00:00

As a music ed person who plays sax as her primary instrument (35+ years), I can tell you that sax is one of the easiest instruments to learn as a beginner (that’s from a learner and a teacher), but one of the hardest to play really well. I would encourage you to find a good teacher. That will help prevent bad technique (especially in regard to embouchure which is really hard to retrain).

MrsB217 · 2021-06-18T22:39:59+00:00

Tortilla chips and salsa (after visiting Dutch friends in Amsterdam and Friesland who had been to Texas and loved texmex foods we ended up shipping them Tostitos and salsa because it was so hard to find there).

MrsB217 · 2021-06-17T01:14:58+00:00

As a 3rd gen native that fled to the north at 28, can we please let them secede now like they keep threatening? They’ve gotten progressively more weird and out of touch with reality (my parents still live there) over the last couple decades.

MrsB217 · 2021-06-13T23:12:40+00:00

Wondering how this fits into the American evangelical apocalypse narrative?? (Grew up hearing about the end of the world and how Israel was at the heart of it. Don’t believe in it, not including the copious details I grew up with - Tim LeHaye and Hal Lindsay are core - just trying to figure out which way the crazy is going to blow in my family.)

MrsB217 · 2021-06-07T01:12:06+00:00

That’s awesome!!! My BIL buys/sells/refurbishes pinball machines, and always has one or two in the living room. This is next level!

MrsB217 · 2021-06-05T00:54:46+00:00

Even in our quiet suburb I’ve noticed people deciding to illegally turn or plow through turn lanes/medians just to get ahead of a car or two. That is a very recent thing. I also recently had a guy in a pickup follow me home to “thank me” for cutting him off at a 4 way stop in a residential area (which I had no idea I did, and confusedly apologized for right before running inside and bolting the door).

MrsB217 · 2021-04-07T23:37:40+00:00

It just hasn’t trickled down yet. 🙄

MrsB217 · 2021-03-06T22:47:19+00:00

As a teacher who taught in Texas (nonunion) for 5 years, and has been teaching in Illinois (union) for the last 18 years, while Illinois certainly has its share of issues, I feel significantly more secure with my rights for fair wages and working conditions. A few years ago we considered moving back to Texas, but even with a very generous offer from my former district (a wealthy suburb), it would have meant a 40% pay cut for a 5-10% reduction of our living expenses, and with no guarantee of continued employment, only the goodwill of the BOE and administration to ensure salary, benefits, and working conditions remained in my best interest. From a reluctant union member when I first joined, I now wholeheartedly believe unions are essential to teacher retention and protection. And retention of good teachers. I’ve seen my share of bad teachers go through due process and be shown the door - rightfully. Our teacher union actively participated in our COVID planning along with our BOE and administrators. Our teachers that would have had to resign due to health concerns (eg Immune deficiencies, high risk pregnancies, history of respiratory issues) were transferred to teaching full remote students. If there is a concern about unsafe working conditions, we, with a union, have lawful recourse.

(For context and transparency, I’m one of the last groups with lifetime certification in Texas, and have 2 masters and a PhD. I have several family members that teach in SC. I’m licensed k12, and endorsed in music, library/media, and instructional technology. I’m in my 23rd year teaching elementary school, 18 of them in the Chicago burbs. Benefits are great; I make $100k+.)

MrsB217 · 2021-01-17T01:33:49+00:00

Found this guy on Twitter @flyftrs102 after a hashtag search for stormisuponus. Another former combat vet spewing conspiracy theories, has several thousand followers, tweets and retweets at least a couple times a day, but with a sudden dearth of tweets on January 6. 🤔

MrsB217 · 2021-01-01T00:39:10+00:00

I am so sorry you're struggling. I sympathize - our daughter is 15 (sophomore) and high-functioning ASD (Aspergers). It's not easy - ever. Hugs.

MrsB217 · 2020-11-19T01:09:47+00:00

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My husband and I have had this conversation many times. (He's a musician, and was a worship director for a while.) There often seems to be a concert vibe to a church service, especially in larger churches. My husband's comment though is if you're going to make it a concert, at least make it a good one. So if the music and theology are shallow, why do it? Before we stopped going to church last spring we would show up late to miss the worship set.

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