MEET OUR SENIOR PASTOR
CHET LOWE
Word-driven, Spirit-led, People-oriented.
ABOUT CHET
Chet was born on September 1, 1970 in the Bahamas. At the age of seven, Chet began his first ministry—a Vacation Bible School for the neighborhood children right in his parent’s garage. Having grown up in a Christian home, he watched and learned the foundational truths of practical Christianity from his mother and father, Ira and Pam Lowe. Chet grew up with an older sister, Susan and a younger brother, Matthew.
At thirteen, Chet felt God’s call on his life and joined a youth team who traveled to South Korea to build a church. A year later, another adventure took him to Liberia, West Africa to build a schoolhouse. These trips solidified in his mind his desire to serve the Lord no matter the calling or the place. For a boy born on a small island, he was ready to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”
In 1994, Chet married his wife, Andrea, and since then they have dedicated their lives for the sake of the Kingdom.
Chet’s passion for God’s work led him to return to Liberia in 1995, with Andrea and their four-month-old son, to minister to the Liberian nation in the middle of its civil war. For several years, he and his family worked diligently to bring peace to the hearts of men in the midst of such turmoil and strife. Threatened with war, ambush, disease, and hunger, Chet and his family were able to see the fruit of planting 17 churches. These churches co-labored with him in his desire to minister to the children who were fighting in the civil war. Working in conjunction with the local church, Chet opened seven rehabilitation homes known as Joseph’s Brethren. These homes ministered to over 1,500 child soldiers (ages 5 – 18) by taking them out of combat, showing them the love of Christ through a well-structured, six-week ministry, and placing them in foster homes until their biological families could be found. During this time, their own family grew through the adoption of three children from Liberia and two more through natural birth.
Upon his return to the United States in 2000, Chet joined the staff of his home church of 15 years, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. He had the privilege to serve the Lord as both the Adult Family and Outreach pastor and oversee several ministries of the church such as Couples, Biblical Counseling, Singles, Parenting, Foster Care, and Global Missions. During this time, he completed his Master’s Degree in Christian Counseling and had two more children through natural birth. Chet served at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale for 27 years.
In 2005, he pioneered a young adult discipleship ministry, known as Patmos: Reality Discipleship. It has operated since then in several different locations including the Bahamas, Brazil, Florida, El Salvador, and California. Through this ministry, he adopted his fourth child, a son in the Lord, and discipled hundreds of young adults.
In 2011, Chet’s brother, Matthew, who was a United States Navy Lieutenant, died when his plane went down. He was only 33 years old. Within a few months of Matthew’s passing, Chet also lost his father and uncle.
Patmos moved to Southern California in 2015. With God’s word to “rebuild” and “revive” in California, an opportunity opened for Chet to become the lead pastor of Coast Hills Church in Aliso Viejo. He had the privilege of shepherding the precious people of that community church from 2016 to 2021.
It was at this point that God began stirring in hearts for a new step of faith and made it clear that the first word—rebuild—was for Coast Hills but that the second—revive—was for another congregation. Through much prayer and fasting, God led Pastor Jeff Gill of Calvary Chapel South Bay to transition the leadership of the church to Chet.
Chet and Andrea believe in glorifying God together through L.I.F.E. (Learning the word, Investing into relationships, Following the way of Christ, and Engaging our world). They have passionately led us into the new season of the church, now known as Calvary LIFE.