Insights into the Promising Future of Calvary Chapel Chuck Smith's Grandson Pastor Char Brodersen

Our conversation with Char Brodersen

By Beto & Mili – ChristianPodcast.com

The First Twelve Minutes: We Really Did Waste Time on Purpose

I hit record and started the way I always do:

“It’s funny sometimes I like to waste time on my videos… I love for like the first 5 minutes to be just like literally like wasting time… one of my favorite bands is Kings of Leon… they have a song that says ‘take the time to waste a moment’… I’m all about that… slow down, we’re not in a rush.”

So we did exactly that for the first twelve minutes.

Mili Walked In With Red Eyes and Zero Coffee

Mili told us she had cried angry tears the night before because The Best Christmas Pageant Ever reopened every childhood wound: no mom, no dad, poverty, Christmas mornings that felt empty. She hates how the season can turn into “me, me, me” and only lets the kids pick two gifts each year so they learn gratitude. Then she laughed through tears because she still hadn’t had coffee (blood work fasting) and the caffeine headache was coming.

Char Showed Up Carrying a Heaviness

Char opened up that he had been carrying a heaviness for days, wrestling with the Lord like the psalmist who asks, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42 & 43). He’s reading a book on church leadership and goodness and felt God gently but firmly re-inviting him to press into some character places he thought he had already finished.

Matthew 13:12 Stopped Us All Cold

I told them I had just read Matthew 13:12 in my chronological Bible:

“Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” (Matthew 13:12, NIV)

We sat with that verse for a long time. Char tied it to Mark 4:25 and the parable of the sower: if you press in and ask, more is given; if you shrug and walk away, the mystery stays closed.

Legacy, Family, and the Moses & Aaron Question

Char told us about growing up in a house that was Grand Central Station for Jesus people, moving to London at 13 to plant a church, his grandpa Chuck learning Scripture while his great-grandma ironed.

I brought up Moses and Aaron:

“A lot of people accuse them of nepotism… ‘Oh you’re just putting him as a priest because he’s your relative’… but I think it’s actually beautiful, because I could almost say Aaron had that passion — it was visible in him… he’s not doing it for a paycheck, he’s not doing it as part of a family business… they really love God and they really love what they’re doing.”

Char answered straight:

“Sometimes you know people are like oh well you know this is nepotism… you’re only in the position that you’re in because of your family… and you’re like well yeah I am only in this position because of the family I grew up in.”

Then he gave the actual numbers:

“I’ve got three siblings um and none of them are in Christian Ministry… out of all of my cousins I think I have 24 cousins on the Smith side… currently I’m the only one that’s in pastoral Ministry.”

Thirty Seconds Later, Char Dropped This

“It just so happens that I am in January I’m going to step into uh the church my grandpa pastored for over 40 years which is pretty wild turn of events something I never expected but I’m going to be the lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.”

Silence.

Then Mili and I both yelled “WHAT?!”

I said, “Congratulations, that’s huge!”

Mili said, “That’s huge!”

…And then we moved on.

That’s what makes this episode so beautiful.

Heaven Comes Down, Not Us Going Up

Char painted the clearest picture of heaven I’ve ever heard: the whole Bible is the story of heaven and earth being torn apart by sin and then put back together forever. The New Jerusalem doesn’t take us away — it comes DOWN (Revelation 21:2). Resurrected bodies. Feasts. Culture. Creativity. Work. Laughter. Everything redeemed and amplified.

Our daughter is already planning to ride dinosaurs in the new creation. Char just smiled and said, “New creation… why not?”

I told them about my childhood dream of a garden in outer space that felt more real than this world, and how sometimes at Sunset Ridge Park in Newport Beach, CA, when the light hits perfect and the kids are laughing, I get thirty seconds of that same feeling — like God just handed me a free trailer of eternity.

Char leaned in and said:

“Take your best day ever… that is what the kingdom of heaven will be like… but forever.”

And Then Mili Stopped the Whole Room Cold

Right after that line, Mili got very quiet, looked straight at the mic, and said:

“If you have experience or you hear someone who is trying to share the gospel and telling you who is Jesus and they give you no hope yeah just be careful that is not coming from God.”

Five seconds of dead silence.

Char whispered, “Amen… that’s the truth.”

How Do We Pray for a Morning Like This?

We were all still sitting in the weight of everything — the hope, the tears, the news — when I turned to Char and asked the only question left:

“So Char, how can we pray for you?”

He didn’t hesitate:

“Honestly I think the thing I always ask for and I recognize I need so much is just wisdom… who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16)

That’s what we’re carrying to the throne for him, for Grace, for Judah, Hudson, and Evelyn: wisdom, protection, fresh fire that never burns out, and that our kids would catch this heaven-on-earth vision and run with it.

Want more of Char live?

KWVE 107.9 FM — Pastor’s Perspective every Monday 3–4 PM Pacific (he takes your calls) and Sunday sermons at 10 AM.

Thank you for letting us waste a moment with you today.

Turns out those are the moments God uses the most.

With coffee, happy tears, and way too much hope,

Beto & Mili

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