[Cayman] Calvary Christian Center founder John Anderegg dead at 80
By Mark I. Johnson, Daytona Beach News-Journal
The Rev. John P. Anderegg, who turned a small, dilapidated Ormond Beach church of fewer than a dozen worshipers into a 1,500-member congregation and school, has died.
The businessman who turned man of God, often referred to as “Pastor John or Pastor Dad,” turned his second career into 40 years of service to church and community as founder and pastor of Calvary Christian Center, today one of the largest local churches. He died Monday at age 80.
“He grew his church,” said Calvary Assembly Deacon Mack Ballard, including helping to form a congregation in the Cayman Islands.
Born the only son among three daughters to Carl and Mercedes Anderegg in Warren, Pa., on Oct. 11, 1932, Anderegg joined the Air Force and was stationed at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
It was there he met 16-year-old Bobbie Jean Williams.
According to the couple’s daughter, Sandy Johnson, her father was infatuated with his future bride, but she would only meet him at church. He agreed and from there gave his life to Christ.
When overseas duty separated the two during the Korean War, the couple’s faith kept them together. They married when he returned to Tampa after a year apart. The couple celebrated their 59th anniversary in January.
That faith continued as Anderegg began to climb the corporate ladder at Lainer Business Products. Then, in 1972, while kneeling in prayer at church one day, Johnson said her father, then a 40-year-old successful businessman, was shown a vision of a small, over-grown church. It was then he left the corporate world and entered Southeast Bible College in Lakeland to begin his second career in the ministry full time.
Two years later, Anderegg found that small over-grown church at Andrews Street and U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach.
“He challenged the congregation (of 10 people),” Ballard said.
He told them that he and his wife would work to make the church work if they would commit to make the church work and within a year that congregation was building a new worship center on the property. That was followed by another church that eventually became the Ormond Beach Civic Center, Ballard said.
That led to the purchase of 28 acres off State Road 40 west of Interstate 95, where Anderegg decided to build a school, Calvary Christian Academy.
“The services were held in the gym,” Ballard said. “He was a tremendous blessing to the whole Halifax area.
Anderegg continued at the helm of Calvary for 17 years before retiring in 1992.
Retirement lasted only six months, according to Johnson, when her parents helped a prayer group in Grand Cayman form a church. That congregation grew to more than 100 and purchased land, building a church. Health issues forced the couple to return to Florida for a rest, she said.
Anderegg again accepted a call from Calvary and agreed to serve as interim pastor. That service lasted another two years during which he built another worship center on the Ormond Beach site — with a sanctuary that would hold 800 — before he retired again in 1997.
“Pastor John or Pastor Dad” continued to stay active with congregations in Hampton, Va., and in Leesburg, his daughter said.
When he wasn’t preaching, Anderegg occasionally played golf and enjoyed reading, although his main interest was his wife, Bobby Jean, and their three daughters and their families. The couple also have 10 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
“He was a wonderful dad,” said Johnson, emotion choking her voice. “Every Easter he bought each of (his girls) a corsage to wear.”
Anderegg is also survived by his eldest sister Joyce Anderegg.
Viewing will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Lohman Funeral Home, 733 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach. The funeral is at 2 p.m. Monday at Calvary Christian Center, 1678 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, with internment to follow at Volusia Memorial.
The family asks that contributions be made to the John Anderegg Memorial Fund for Church Planting at One Church, 1675 Dixon Road, Longwood, FL, 32779.
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