The Early Years
"The church is between the Zigzag Inn and the Doughnut Shop on Hempstead Turnpike." People recognized that location immediately.
Five weeks after the Kerns arrived in East Meadow with their four-month old son, Tom, the first service was held in a vacant store. 37 adults attended the service and 14 children the Sunday School session on June 11, 1950. Calvary's Sunday School continued during the summer months with new children enrolling every Sunday. Services were held for 3 1/2 months in the store. On September 17, 1950 we moved into the partially completed frame building which now serves as the narthex and office area.
Calvary was founded at the right place at the right time. East Meadow was growing rapidly; Levittown, even faster. Beginning in 1949 Bill Levitt built 4,000 homes a year, four years in a row -- mainly on onetime potato farms in Levittown and adjacent communities (Wantagh, Hicksville, Westbury, and Carle Place). New houses were reasonable. Levitt homes sold for $7990 (no down payment, with a monthly payment of $58). Houses in East Meadow cost a few thousand dollars more. Thanks to the GI Bill of Rights many veterans bought homes in the area at that time.
At first we were a church of young couples. It was the time of the "baby boom". The result was that Calvary experienced phenomenal growth in a short period. In 1954 there were 255 Sunday School enrollees. The Sunday School enrollment peaked in eight years -- with a total of 804 in 1958. The Sunday School staff at one time reached 125.
The average Sunday morning church attendance peaked in 1963 at 681. It was necessary to hold three Sunday morning services and three Sunday School sessions simultaneously throughout the year. What a privilege the Lord gave us to reach so many!
After the numerical highs of the late '50s and early '60s, church and Sunday School attendance decreased year after year. The public school population also decreased. Fewer children meant fewer parents in church. By the time Pastor Kern retired in 1982, church attendance per Sunday was 410 and the average Sunday School attendance per Sunday for 52 weeks was 103. Since then attendance figures continued to decline with a slight upturn in Sunday School and church attendance in the last few years.