About Chapel by the Sea
Shining the Light of Jesus Christ into the WorldChapel History
Established 1968
Chapel by the Sea was born in 1969 when the current mayor of Emerald Isle asked the Bogue Banks Resort Ministerial Association (BBRMA) to assign a minister for the summer months. The first service was held Memorial Day weekend, May 1969 at the Emerald Isle Town Hall, continuing through the summer months.
Note, however, the plaque in front of the Chapel by the Sea building indicates the Chapel was established on May 30, 1968. So it is most likely that the first Chapel body of believers met in a house church on Emerald Isle before being officially recognized by the BBRMA.
Shining the Light of Jesus Christ into the World
In 1971 Chapel by the Sea became independent of the BBRMA. A full-time, year-round minister was installed and ground for the current facility was broken on May 7, 1972. The first service in the Chapel’s permanent home was held on Easter Sunday, April 1973.
Since then, the Chapel has continued to grow as Emerald Isle’s core population has expanded, serving the local community and the crowds who come seasonally to enjoy our beautiful geography. In Sept 2012, a new sanctuary was added to the Chapel and extensive remodeling project gave the Chapel family new facilities and plenty of room to grow. We are thankful to have this wonderful place to worship God, study His word and shine the light of Jesus Christ into the world!
Chapel History
Our Articles of Faith
How Can I Be Saved?
Events
Our Pastors
Visit the Chapel
What We Believe
Our Articles of Faith
Bible
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
Salvation
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential and that this salvation is received through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and not as a result of good works.
Christian Life
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life and to perform good works.
Eternity
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: they that are saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of eternal damnation.
Unity
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Chapel by the Sea is a non-denominational church or as we like to say … a ‘cross-denominational‘ church. We believe Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, paid for our sins on the cross at Calvary. Jesus ‘paid it all’ and ‘all to Him we owe.’ We believe each person is accountable to God for their sins and responsible to be reconciled to God for their sins.“
– Pastor Clay Olsen
Who We Are
Our Leadership
Pastor Clay Olsen
Pastor
Pastor Clay Olsen has been faithfully leading the Chapel by the Sea family since 1987. He earned a Pastoral Ministry degree from Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska, and holds a Master of Theology degree from Covington Theological Seminary. He first served as a Pastor in South Dakota and also ministered as a Prison Chaplain in affiliation with the Prison Fellowship Ministry.
Pastor Clay and his wife, Sharon, have two adult daughters, both of whom are married. Sara and her husband Todd Gealy, along with their two sons, Will and Max, and daughter, Samantha, serve in a mission work in Bangkok, Thailand. Beth and husband Brian Bernhardt, along with their three daughters, Olivia, Eden, and Emma, live in Emerald Isle, and also serve with Smyrna Ministries, an outreach to the persecuted church in the Islamic Context. Clay and Sharon also have a son, Nate, who is attending school at Liberty University.
Pastor Clay is first a student of the Scriptures and then secondly a Teacher. Developing disciples is his passion. Time with family and church family is his joy. And whacking the tennis ball, historical reading (especially Civil War character studies), and trying to keep up with his son in sports are his hobbies. His constant amazement is the grace of God in Christ the Savior.
Contact Pastor Clay by email: pastorclay@eichapel.org
Pastor Robert Kornegay
Associate Pastor
Robert and Josie have been members of Chapel By The Sea since 1981. Active in his church and community, Robert’s custom home-building company constructed the classroom additions at the Chapel and the sets of the outdoor drama Worthy Is The Lamb. Robert also served as the founding board chairman of the Coastal Pregnancy Care Center in Morehead City.
In 1990, the Kornegays joined Mercy Ships for over a decade of missionary service in more than 30 nations in Europe, Africa, and Central America. Robert subsequently led the Relief and Development program on the M/V Anastasis in Africa, the Mercy Ships Center in Switzerland, and the Resource Development program at the International Operations Center in Texas.
In 2001 the Kornegays returned to Carteret County for Josie to care for her elderly mother. Robert continued to represent Mercy Ships while serving as part-time associate pastor at Chapel By The Sea. In 2005 Robert was accepted into the Veritas Graduate School of Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary and the Kornegays moved to the Charlotte area, where Robert worked the seminary administration as he earned his Master of Arts in Religion.
The Kornegays returned to Carteret County in 2008 for Robert to serve as Director of the Carteret General Hospital Foundation for two years. In addition to his part-time pastoral duties at Chapel By The Sea, Robert currently serves on the boards of the Carteret Pregnancy Care Center and the QH2O Ministry, a Christian non-profit funding water projects for the poor around the world. Robert is also a commentator on FaithMatters, a Christian radio talk show aired each week on WTKF 107.1 FM and WJNC 1240-AM.
And, most importantly, Robert is known as “My Friend” by Jesus, “My Man” by Josie, “My Dad” by Kristin, and “My Papa” by Monty, Bradley, and Sarah!
Contact Pastor Robert by email: pastorrobert@eichapel.org
How Can I Be Saved?
2 Corinthians 6:2
“For He says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Our Goal:
To honor our Lord and King, and to carry out the Great Commission. Matthew 28:18-20
“Then Jesus approached them and told them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Our Prayer:
To help others come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, and to follow Him as a faithful disciple. Matthew 10:39 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Luke 6:40“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.”
God’s Message:
There is only one way to heaven and eternal life with Him. John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Man’s Problem:
Man is unfit for heaven because of sin and he destined for eternal death and separation from God. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God’s Desire:
That all man would repent of their sin and be saved. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
God’s Solution:
God’s sent His only begotten Son to pay the death penalty sentence for our sin, by living a life without sin and dying in our place. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
God’s Call:
God is always there calling for sinners to come home. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”
Your Response:
Behold today is the day of salvation. In repent faith, turn yourself over to Jesus Christ today and receive His pardon and His righteousness. You can use this prayer to “call upon the Name of the Lord.”
Dear Lord Jesus, I know my sins have separated me from You. I know that I need Your forgiveness to cover the penalty of my sins and Your righteousness in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I now repent of my sins and turn my life over to You, Lord Jesus. I do believe that You earned my salvation for me; through dying for my sins in your perfect sacrifice on the cross, and through living on my behalf, a perfect life of obedience and righteousness. I trust in you alone to save me, and I am willing to follow You as Lord of my life. Thank You for granting me forgiveness and a new birth into spiritual life, united with You for eternity. I pray this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, please tell me or a fellow Christian as a way to publicly confess Christ and a way for other to rejoice with you. It is important that you find a good Christian church, a body of believers, to serve with and grow with. These will be your friends for eternity.
Now that you are a born again child of God, a Christian, your first work of faith is to seek out a body of Christians, a local church, to serve and grown in. Equally important, you will want to be baptized, as your first work of faith, publicly demonstrating the private confession of your belief in Jesus. And that is what baptism is, a picture of your death (to your sin nature) and resurrection (new life) with Christ. Make sure the church you attend adheres to the essential uncompromising truths that your new life in Christ rests upon … in the non-essentials liberty and in all things love.
Where We Are
Visit the Chapel
Sunday School ………… 9 am
Worship Service ………… 10 am
Youth Group ………… 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Island Kids Club ………… 5:30 pm – 7 pm
From the North:
Take Hwy 17S through New Bern, turn LEFT onto Hwy 58E at Maysville, and continue to Cape Cateret.
From the West:
Take Hwy 70E through Kinston, turn RIGHT onto Hwy 58E, and continue through Trenton and Maysville to Cape Carteret.
From the South:
Take Hwy 17N from Wilmington to Jacksonville, turn RIGH onto Hwy 24E, and continue through Swansboro to Cape Carteret.
From the East:
Take the Ocracoke/Cedar Island ferry, continue on Hwy 70W through Beaufort & Morehead City, and bear LEFT onto Hwy 24W to Cape Carteret.
The Chapel is on your LEFT approx. 1.3 miles past the Water Tower near the Emerald Isle Town Hall.Turn or Continue on Hwy 58E approx. 5.3 miles from the Hwy 24/Hwy 58 intersection in Cape Carteret, across the Cameron B. Langston Bridge, and through the commercial area of Emerald Isle.