Calvary Church

Calvary began on March 25, 1866, as Midway Baptist Church, meeting in a log cabin at the site of the present Clearwater cemetery. It is the first church in Clearwater and the first Baptist church in Pinellas County. The congregation took the name Calvary Baptist in 1923, filled a landmark downtown building from 1926, and moved to its present campus at McMullen Booth and Drew in 2005.

Senior pastor Willy Rice was licensed and ordained to preach at Calvary under Bill Anderson, who pastored the church for 27 years. Rice returned as senior pastor in 2004 and was elected the 66th president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2026. Since 2016 the church's X150 initiative has planted or launched 171 churches, equipped 159 leaders through the Calvary Institute, and helped 285 children in crisis find permanent homes, against ten-year goals of 150 each.