“Just Do Your Job!”

“Just Do Your Job!”  That’s what God woke me up to tell me a few weeks ago.  A good friend and trusted adviser told me several years ago that whenever he can’t sleep at night, he assumes that God is wanting to do some “business” with him.  So – he gets up and spends time reading the Scriptures and praying.  That sounded like a wise perspective to me, and so I’ve attempted to cultivate that same habit in my life.  The problem is – I like sleep.  No – wait – that’s not strong enough —- I LOVE sleep!  There, that’s more honest.  I’m not one of these guys who wakes up in the morning bright eyed and full of energy to take on another day.  I’m a slower starter than that guy — much slower.  I need a good long shower, a cup of coffee, and some personal space before you ever want to talk to me.

So – when God “awakens” me in the middle of the night it’s always a bit of an arguement.  I try to shut my eyes tighter – I try to forget the commitment I’ve made to pray – I barter with God – and I try to go to sleep.  But if I can’t…I finally relent…assuming that the only explanation really is that God wants to do some gardening in my heart.

One such night happened a few weeks ago – and it’s made a HUGE difference in my outlook and perspective on life.

You see, there’s a lot going on in my world right now. 

• My friend, and our Youth Pastor is stepping down to go to Thailand.  So we’re presently working on finding, hiring, and putting a new Youth Pastor in place. 
• We are preparing to embark on our “GO!” campaign, to cast a clear, compelling vision of what God is calling Calvary Christian Church to over the next three years.  And let me just tell you – it’s some BIG audacious stuff.
• We are seriously exploring ways to partner with and help churches in rural Appalachia, specifically a woman named Altha at a church called Clear Fork…
• We are laying out plans to create a downtown Youth Center in Winchester…
• We are developing a longterm Master Plan for our Boonesboro Road Property (47 acres)…
• We are aggressively trying to grow our school in both quality and quantity – so that we can impact as many lives as possible while helping them “fully become who God created them to be…”

Like I said, there’s a lot going on.  And true to my nature — I had been trying to “MANGAGE” it all.  I’m a pragmatist in many ways.  I figure that God gave me a brain, He gave me my abilities, and He wants me to use them to work things out – figure them out – make them happen.  To be honest – I was carrying a pretty heavy load.  It was getting heavier everyday.  I was enjoying life a little less.  Things were getting hard.

And then God woke me up in the middle of the night.

After my usual arguement with God about the time and all that I had to do the next day – I got up and began reading the Scriptures.  Here is where God led me (Job 38):

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?  Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.  Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?  Tell me, if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions?  Surely you know!  “

And I was thinking — “Geez Lord, can I read something else!?”

Later in the same chapter: 

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?  What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?”

This chapter goes on and on and on like that.  God was giving Job the “what for,” reminding Job that he is but a man, and only God is God.  As I sat there in the dark of the night, I wrote these words in the journal beside my bed:

“Lord, I love you.  Thank you for loving me.  I can’t believe you woke me up at 2:15 in the morning to scold me – but I get it, and I’m thankful that you have.  I think I understand what you are telling me.  You are God, I am not.  If I will just focus on the things that I am to do — you’ll handle the rest.  I needed that reminder.  Thank you.  I’m sorry for thinking myself more important than I am.”

Basically – God told me to just do MY job – and to let Him do His. 

That’s exactly how I’ve approached the past several weeks.  And you know what – it works.  I still have a lot going on – but I’m doing a little better job of keeping it all in perspective.  Life and ministry is fun again.

What about you?  Are you trying to do your job and Gods?  For your own sake I hope you’ll reflect on this – and back off.  Let God do God’s job…He’s WAY better at it than you are!

Our Future @ Calvary Christian Church

Most of us have had times in our lives when we wished the future was more clear.  I’ve heard people say – “Why doesn’t God just give us all a roadmap so that we don’t lose our way?!”  It’s frustrating to not know the future – and frightening.  I’ve learned, though, that the process of discerning our future is often the very thing that draws us closer to God.  Those who “find their way,” and fully become who God created them to be tend to be those who SEEK God by drawing near to Him and listening earnestly for His voice.  That process actually helps us grow, and helps us to develop a more discerning spirit.

God has been moving at Calvary over the past several months.  There has been a heightened sensitivity to His presence in our worship gatherings; and there has been more visible response to His calling of individuals.  One such example is that we celebrated our 55th & 56th baptisms of the year on Sunday with Carol Edgington & Jim Bennett.   This is the most EVER in the history of Calvary Christian Church!

I believe that much of the reason that we are seing God move so powerfully among us these days is that our Elders (our Governing Body) have been committed to discerning God’s plan for Calvary Christian Church – and they have demonstrated true resolve that Calvary WILL fully become the Church that God created her to be. 

One such example was in our last Elders meeting.  (Our meetings, by the way, are a true joy 90% of the time.  I love our Eldership.  We enjoy each other, always have food in our meetings, and they always last longer than they should due to the stories, laughter, and conversation that are shared.)  In our last meeting – the Elders had to approve the recommended budget for 2010.  We have a finance team that assists Cathy Smith, our Administrator, in developing our budget each year.  Cathy & her team had done a great job, and had recommended a budget that was very fiscally responsible.  In putting it together they had addressed some problem areas from our 2009 budget – areas that we had underfunded.  But in doing so – they had made a couple of very modest cuts to a couple of ministry areas.  As our Elders reviewed the proposed budget – a very passionate discussion ensued.  45 minutes later, no one had become red faced and pounded the table — but several of our Elders had enthusiastically expressed their opinions.  And much to my delight – here was the principle that emerged from that meeting:

We are a church that is moving FORWARD!  Ministry budgets (Youth, Children, Worship, Missions, etc) should never be cut unless there is a clear and compelling case to do so.  Instead of being cut – they should grow whenever possible!

Perhaps that doesn’t seem all that significant to you – but it is.  Churches, like people, very easily become self-centered.  No one means for it to happen.  I’ve never met a person who said that it was their goal in life to be selfish — and yet I’ve met many selfish people.  It’s the same with churches.  Churches don’t mean to become inwardly focused.  But it still happens.  Many well intentioned Christians in church leadership positions unwittingly end up leading with a survival mentality: 

• Let’s hunker down…
• Protect what we have…
• Don’t take risks…
• If it’s not broken, don’t fix it…
• We can’t afford to _____ …

But not our Elders!

Here at Calvary we are SEEKING the Lord’s guidance, dreaming dreams, making plans, and striving to ADVANCE the GOOD NEWS that Jesus saves!

Here’s just a little teaser – just a taste of some of the questions that we are asking and projects that we are working on right now:

• How can we reach more teenagers & connect them to Jesus?  What needs to be done to re-invigorate, inspire and motivate our youth?
• How can we partner with struggling churches in Eastern KY to help them not only survive, but thrive for the Kingdom of God?
• Can we launch a traditional worship service that would inspire those among us who prefer the more traditional flavor? (it’s not just an age thing!)
• How do we continue to make space for our school?  God is blessing it (the school has grown from 176 kids in August ‘08 to 262 kids at present - during a recession!).  We have an incredible staff and they are changing lives – how do we keep enabling the school to expand?  How do we continue to improve what we are offering?
• We have almost 50 acres of property out on Boonesboro Road.  How could we use that land to God’s glory in the future?  How can we create an environment out there that serves our community and adds value to all — while also giving us great opportunities to introduce people to Jesus?

If we continue to SEEK God – our future as a church is bright.  I am so excited to be serving this community, in this way, at this time.

By the way – we’ve hired one of the best church Architectural teams in the country to help us develop concepts for our 50 acres.  Keep in mind that these are longterm ideas — glimpses of what the property could look like in 5, 10, 15 years.  Here’s a concept that we’re working on:

Church in Rural Areas & Appalachia

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the plite of the rural church in much of America.  I have some close family members who are young – in their mid to late twenties – who don’t have a walk with God.  They live in a very rural county of less than 30,000 people.  The county is religious – and has a lot of churches.  But to be candid – most of those churches are dead or dying.  The role of the Pastors in those churches is to keep the people attending happy — which means that no one in those churches is spending any creative energies trying to reach my lost family members – and the others like them.

This is, by the way, the nature of things in the church.  The longer a church has been in existence, the more likely it is that the church is totally programmed to meet the needs/wants/desires of its attenders — as opposed to trying to reach the lost.  This is exactly why church planting has become so embraced over the past decade.  New churches, by their very nature are going to be far more evangelistic than old, established churches.  Planting new churches is one of the most exciting and effective evangelistic practices happening in the world today.

The problem is — that doesn’t do much to help rural communities.  You see — if someone has $100 to plant a new church (it takes FAR more than that by the way!), they are 9 times out of 10 going to invest that $100 in a place where they think it is likely to be the most effective – which is translated as reaching the most people.  This means that most church planters (and the people who fund them) look to plant churches in emerging communities – areas that are growing rapidly.

So, the rural church gets left behind.  And so do my family members.  When you look closely at the rural churches in a lot of communities – they can’t afford to hire a fulltime preacher.  So – they find ways to get by.  Some of them employ retired preachers to show up on Sunday with a sermon.  Others utilize the services of Seminary students who are looking to supplement their income while going to school.  Others wind up using laypersons – Godly men, but men who usually lack any formal Biblical or theological or minsterial training.

The result of this practice is that so many (but not all) of our churches in rural communities endure poor preaching, poor theology, and poor leadership.  Is it any wonder that they fail to be evangelistic, and that the definition of success ends up being that we just keep the doors open?

This is a problem.  The problem exists here in Clark County.  It also exists in Appalachia.  By all accounts – the regions beginning just 30+ minutes to our east are some of the most poverty stricken, demoralized, and hope lacking communities of this great nation of ours.  Missions agencies and groups come and go – spending thousands of dollars each year – but the area doesn’t change.

Why?

I think it’s because of the church.  You see, Jesus is the hope of the world – but God has chosen the Church as the redemptive vehicle to share the hope that Jesus brings.  Until the church becomes stronger in our rural communities — until it is better fed and better led — people in our rural communities will not experience nor see nor expect the power of God to do anything special in their lives.

What difference could Calvary make in this situation?

82 Hours of Prayer

I am serving as Host to our prayer experience tonight.  It’s 2:54 AM on Wednesday morning.  There are just 16 hours left in our churchwide prayer experience.  There has been a steady flow of people in and out of the Worship Center for prayer tonight.  Right now there are 4 people in there praying.  Let me just say that again in case the significance of it escaped you the first time.  IT IS 3:00AM — AND FOUR PEOPLE ARE IN THE WORSHIP CENTER PRAYING!!  We only asked for one person every 30 minutes.  Amazing.

I had a few minutes between visitors at about 2:30 — and I walked into the Worship Center to make sure that all of the candles were still burning.  I can’t explain it — but in the few brief moments I was in there I felt a flood of emotion flow through me…sending chills up and down my spine — and my body just tingled.  I know that sounds crazy -

Oh — wait — another visitor.  THERE ARE FIVE PEOPLE IN THERE PRAYING!!!!  It’s 3:05AM.

I don’t expect you to relate to what I’m describing or even believe me.  I can only describe the overwhelming sense of peace that I experienced.  It was so much that I felt immediate joy and spoke out loud to God — “Thanks for making it crystal clear to me that you are here.”  Wow.

God is moving.  He’s up to something good…

Architects & the BRP

It’s been awhile since I posted here…in fact, I’m pretty sure that this is the longest drought I’ve had since I started this blog.  I’ve learned that blogging is a very real discipline.  That’s why you see so many blogs that start — and the author posts 2 or 3 times — and then abandons it forevermore.  It’s hard.  I can’t really pinpoint exactly why I haven’t written over the past month or so.  I guess it just boils down to a capacity issue.  I’ve been operating at or near capacity for awhile now.

Let me catch you up a little on what has been going on recently…

We’ve hired an architect to help us Master Plan our 50 acres out on Boonesboro Road.  I announced here many months ago that we had already done this — but we ended up re-thinking our decision at that time.  We reviewed the qualifications of almost 20 architectural firms during the months of August & September — including several interviews – and finally chose to go with Visioneering Studios for our Master Plan.  I spoke about this process on a recent Sunday morning, but let me clarify it again here.

In the early part of this year, our Elders made the bold decision to begin moving forward with an eventual – longterm transition of our church from our present location at 15 Redwing Drive to our property out on Boonesboro Road.  The keywords there are “eventual” and “longterm.”  No one has lost their mind.  We are not proposing that we are going to build a multi-million dollar building out there next year or anything like that.  What we are doing is laying out a road map of sorts for our congregation to follow into the future. 

Our dream is to identify THE MASTER’S PLAN for our 50 acres — and clearly lay that before our congregation and community.  When this plan is developed, there will be no more guess work — no more uncertainty.  We will KNOW what the future holds in terms of facilities and the BRP (Boonesboro Road Property).  We will then break the plan down into phases — that will be implemented at various times in our future depending upon the growth of our church and school and the needs of our community and ministries.  Most of our leaders readily embrace the fact that a total transition to the BRP is a minimum 10 year process.

The most immediate question, and one that I am prepared to answer now is:  “Why relocate to the property at all?”  The answers are fairly straightforward. 

Calvary Christian School:  Our school is a critical ministry of our church.  We believe that the school is the greatest ally we have to help children fully become who God created them to be.  And thankfully, God is blessing our school.  The tough economic times of the past two years has resulted in most schools raising tuition and experiencing declines in enrollment.  For Calvary – it has been the opposite.  We have experienced an astonishing 47% growth rate from August of 2008 to the present — and we currently have a record enrollment of 259 kids!  While this growth is a wonderful indicator of God’s blessing — it comes with an added burden on our facility.  The school presently occupies nearly every room in the building Monday-Friday.  This summer four of our church staff gave up their comfortable offices and found more creative solutions to accomodate the growth of the school.  Presently three of our staff share the same office.  We are determined to do whatever it takes to enable the school to continue growing — but the reality is that as both the church and the school grow — we WILL EVENTUALLY run out of creative solutions to accomodate the growth!

Parking:  Our parking lot is strained between 10:30 & Noon on Sunday mornings.  Typical advice for a church like Calvary would be that we should have a bare minimum of 400 parking spaces to accomodate our capacity during peak attendance times.  We fall about 100 spaces short of the recommendations.  In addition to that – flow in our parking lot is poor, and the lot actually narrows in the middle – giving people the impression that the lot is full, and obstructing the view of spaces down at the bottom of the lot.  Our church is growing – and with growth we will feel this “pain” in the parking lot even more.  HOWEVER — the real parking lot crisis is looming before us in about 10 years.  The bottom section of our lot – roughly 70-80 spaces is actually not our property.  It is land leased from Rosemary C. Brooks place – our neighbor.  Indications are that they do not intend to renew this lease with Calvary in the future.  When we lose those spaces – it will be incredibly difficult to function at our present location.  We have looked at lots adjacent to or neighboring us, but we feel that the asking prices for these lots far exceeds the value that they would add.

It is our intent to do whatever it takes to fulfill our mission:  “Helping people fully become who God created them to be!”  To do that will take vision, boldness, hard decisions, sacrifice, and all of us working together.

We hope to have the Master Plan completed by the end of the year.  We will then identify “PHASE ONE” of the project — the first portion to be implemented – and share that with the congregation in the spring. 

We expect Phase One to focus primarily on the development of some basic infrastructure, along with some wonderful park and recreation spaces — including playgrounds, sports practice fields, pavillions, shelters, etc.  It is our hope that the BRP will become a public use property that adds value to not only our church — but to our community at large.  There are presently no park spaces on that side of our city — and we hope that our Phase one efforts there will meet an important need.

It is our hope that by taking our time, and by being extremely prayerful and intentional about every phase of this development — that each phase will build upon the next — and that every shovel full of dirt moved and every structure built will take us one step futher toward complete relocation someday in the future.

Please be praying about this exciting future!

Our Vision at Calvary

Luke 6 is a beautiful and powererful chapter in the Bible, where Jesus offers us a free flowing picture of what a true disciple of Christ looks like.  He talks about how we should:

• Love even our enemies
• Do good to those who hurt us
• Bless those who curse us
• Pray for those who mistreat us
• We should not retalliate like the world – but love
• We should be merciful, and tender-hearted
• We should not be judgemental or condemning — but gracious and forgiving
• We should be loving, giving, generous people — people who treat others as we would like to be treated

He concludes this powerful and challenging section of Scripture with the reminder that a good tree produces good fruit – and a bad tree produces bad fruit.  In other words – don’t produce fruit that looks like the world.  Instead – produce fruit that is countercultural in its goodness.

In the middle of the passage – he offers this thought:  (Luke 6:38) “Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.  For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Now, we usually use that passage of Scripture to talk about being generous with our finances – and certainly it includes that thought.  But if you look at the context, it doesn’t take long to see that the implications of the verse go far beyond just simply giving your money.

Jesus is talking about living generously and magnanimously in ALL areas of life.  His expectation is that as His followers we will be changed from the inside out – and that change will manifest itself — and be obvious to even a casual observer.  But I ESPECIALLY love the part where he says that His blessing in our lives will be “pressed down, shaken together and RUNNING OVER.”  This language creates a word picture that makes my heart beat just a bit faster.  You see, God’s blessing in our lives is not just to “fill” us up.  He wants to fill us — but then wants and even expectst that blessing to OVERFLOW out of our lives — and INTO the lives of others.

In John7:37-38, Jesus says it this way, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

I LOVE that!  “Streams of living water (life giving power from Jesus) will FLOW from WITHIN us!”

In Isaiah – the prophet tells us that “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.”  This is the promise that God will quench our personal thirst.  He will heal our broken-heartedness.  He will renew us, restore us, and make us whole.  But the promise is incomplete if you stop there…look at what else He says:  “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”  (Isaiah 58:11)

You will be like a “well-watered garden” – healthy, robust, and whole.  But you will ALSO be like a “Spring whose waters never fail!”  Where do people go to refresh their supply of clean water when theirs runs low?  To fresh water springs whose supply never seems to end.

I believe that the Lord has promised to FILL His people to overflowing.  I believe that He has called Calvary to be a people who are overflowing with His scandalous love and all consuming power – and thereby radically transforming our community and our world!  We are not a church of consumers – looking for “the church” to meet our needs, but we are a people who have been FILLED by God — and are now resolved to obediently allow that blessing to OVERFLOW into the world around us.

We will accomplish this by SEEKING God with all of our heart, mind, soul, & strength — by SERVING God and man with the gifts, passions, and resources that we’ve been given — and by SHARING our lives with others in meaningful friendship.

A church committed to this end will change the world — one relationship and one person at a time.

The Win!

Every team or organization needs to know what a “win” looks like.  In athletics it’s easy.  The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the game – or the person who crosses the finish line first.  In business, the win is often fairly easy too.  The win is when we turn a profit, when we outperform our competitors, or when we surpass the previous quarter’s earnings.  But in church life – defining what a “win” looks like can be elusive at times.

Some people define a “WIN” in terms of attendance.  The more butts in the seats – the better we’re “performing.”  Others think of the win as being about meeting the budget, thefefore they are super focused on the size of the offerings.  For others, a win is as simple as being able to open the doors each Sunday and “have church.”

At Calvary, we’ve defined a “WIN” this way:  “We want to see ordinary people transformed into “FULLY BECOMING” followers of Christ.”  In our way of thinking – the WIN is about spiritual growth – life transformaiton.

But right away we have a problem.  It’s easy to measure the score at the end of a game.  It’s easy to look at a profit/loss statement and see how we performed.  It’s easy to count the number of heads present at worship or to evaluate the size of the offering.  Those things are easily measurable because they are quantitative.  But life transofrmation is more qualitative than quantitative.  Developing into a “fully becoming” follower of Christ is about what’s going on inside of a person — and that is a very difficult thing to measure indeed.

We admit that it is difficult to measure, but we do believe it’s possible.  We believe that a fully becoming follower of Christ will have a life with Jesus, and that he/she will be moving TOWARD the center of God’s will for his or her life.  The FORWARD movement TOWARD God’s will should produce visible fruit in the following ten areas of life:

1.  Love for God — Leading to a personal and growing relationship with God thru Jesus

2.  Love for People — Leading to meaningful friendships

3.  Personal Health — Honoring God with your body & life

4.  Love Life — Honoring God with all aspects of your love life – in ways relevant to your life stage and situation

5.  Raising Kids — If children are present, raising them to know and love God

6.  Finances — Honoring God with personal resources

7.  Impacting Others — Consistently sharing what you’ve experienced with others; overflowing with God’s love

8.  Life @ work — Honoring God in your work & daily life

9.  Improving Your Serve — Living beyond yourself by serving God & others

10.  Moral Choices — Conforming your life to God’s Holy standard

Using a tool we’ve developed called the “LifeWheel,” we believe that it is actually possible for an individual to subjectively assess their own degree of spiritual health relative to these ten areas, and thereby gain some understanding of whether or not they are fully becoming who God created them to be.

Next week – Our Vision…

Calvary – Our Identity

I’ve been having a lot of conversations lately with people who don’t know much about our church – trying to help them understand who we are as a church – and who we believe God wants us to become in the future.  These conversations have forced me to go back to the basics.  You see – over the past four years we have developed a number of key concepts that help us to understand who we are and what we’re about.  The problem is – in the day to day grind of life and ministry and church rhythms it’s easy to set these statements aside and lose track of them.  If we’re not careful we can slowly drift off mission — and forget who we are and what we’re about.

If this happens to me (the guy who gets to live in this stuff all day everyday) then there’s a good chance that this happens to those of you with “real jobs” too!    Please afford me the opportunity to take you on a little refresher course.

Our Mission:  We exist as a church…”to help people fully become who God Created them to be!”  God has a plan and purpose for every person’s life even before He “knits us together in our mothers womb.”  It is a plan to “prosper us, and not to harm us…a plan to give us hope and a future.”  Unfortunately – most people in this world never discover that purpose due to their own sin, the sins of others, the baggage that they carry, and the brokenness of this world.  Our mission as a church is to call people to a saving relationship with Jesus – and to full maturity in Christ so that they experience everything that God originally planned and prepared for them.

Our Strategy:  Seek – Serve – Share —— Seek God with all of your heart; Serve God & man – learning to live beyond yourself; Share your life with others in meaningful relationships.  If you consistently live out these three principles — you will fully become who God created you to be.

Our Values:  The following eight values are quality characteristics that must be present if our church is to be healthy and ultimately bring Glory to God.  They are all equally important – there is no heirarchy.

• Empowering Leadership:  We equip & empower people to do ministry.
• Passionate Spirituality:  Our love for God is real & runs deep.
• Inspiring Worship:  There is energy & anticipation when we gather as the church.
• Holistic Small Groups:  Our groups “do life,” not just church.
• Gift-Based Ministry:  We encourage people to serve according to gifts, passons & personality style – not according to the needs of the church.
• Need-Oriented Evangelism:  We start where people are.
• Functional Structures:  We think in terms of easy, obvious, & strategic steps.
• Loving Relationships:  It’s all about people.  Period.

The WIN:  The ultimate goal of all of this is to see ordinary, often under-achieving people transformed into “fully becoming” followers of Jesus Christ.  This person will have a saving relationship with Jesus, and will be moving toward the center of God’s will for his/her life.

Next week I’ll go into more detail about what the “Win” looks like — and describe our VISION for what we believe God wants Calvary to become.

Be the CHURCH!

Things are good!  Here’s a rundown since my last post:

• We celebrated a baptism on Sunday, and another one on Tuesday night.  If I’m not mistaken that makes 30 so far this year.  Thirty people who have believed in Jesus as their savior, repented of sin, confessed Jesus as Lord and submitted to Him in baptism!  It never gets old – it is always a joy.
• I was able to deliver $975 in personal donations and sponsorships to Clark County Community Services – money that YOU gave to go toward their campaign to help the homeless.
• Last week I sent an email informing people about a need within our Ginomai ministry.  Ginomai is the Greek word for “be” or “become.”  It is a ministry where we partner a coach with an underresourced family – and we try to help that family better their situation in a holistic way.  We asked for individual donations to get a good used car for a family.  I pleased as punch to tell you that so far we’ve received close to $7000!!!  The money will be used to get a clean, reliable used car for this single mom — and if there is money leftover we will put it to helping another family that we are currently working with!
• We prayed for a team of 12 people on Sunday who were leaving later that day for Haitti.  They made it to their destination safely, and will return to us at the end of next week.
• Calvary Christian School has enrolled our 242 student!
• I heard from a friend who had moved on from Calvary for a season that as he looked on what God was doing – he was drawn back.  He’s going to be worshipping with us again soon! 

No matter how good things get around Calvary, there are always reminders that not everyone see’s things as I do.  There are subtle reminders that people are not in step, not bought in, not on board with the direction we are going.

I spend a lot of time thinking about this – and I’ve drawn some conclusions that are quite freeing for me.  When people are “out of step” around Calvary these days – the reasons generally fall into one or more of the following areas:

• They have a narrowly defined view of what “Church” is – and we’re not meeting it
• They mistakenly think that ACTIVIY equals accomplishment, especially certain specific activities
• They tend to only hang around other people who think just like them – and thus reinforce their opinions
• They have elevated the importance of their own personal role over everything else
• They tend to major on minors and minor on the majors

 

In a sentence – their thoughts about church tend to center on how it is that we should DO church — rather than on how they themselves can BE the church.

God calls us as individuals to BE salt and light – to add value – to make a difference.  He calls us as individuals to love, and give, and serve…to go and do…and be.

What about you?  Are you caught up in how it is that we should be doing church — or are you sold out and wholeheartedly focused on how you as an individual can BE the church? 

It makes a difference.

Catching UP

 

The view from our houseboat all week.

Our houseboat on Dale Hollow lake.

We had a great vacation last week – enjoying 5 days on a houseboat in Dale Hollow Lake.  We drove the boat into a secluded cove – tied it up – and pretty much stayed put in that spot the entire time.  We just relaxed…as much as you can on a 53 ft. boat with 4 kids!  We were an hour from any possibility of getting a cell phone signal – and that in itself was greatly relaxing.

 

On Friday of last week we packed up, turned the boat in (a 3 hour process), drove home to Winchester

The Entire Garver Clan - Four Generations.

(a 3 hour drive), unpacked and repacked and then headed for Indianapolis to visit Nealy’s family (a 4 hour drive).  Friday was a killer day.  We celebrated her grandfather’s 80th birthday – and took a family picture with the entire Garver clan.  We worshipped with Nealy’s family on Sunday, and then drove back to Winchester that evening.

 

I heard great reports from everyone about what a great job Rob Hill did preaching while I was gone.  I listened to his message this week – and wholeheartedly agree – he did an excellent job!  I’m telling you – we are really and truly blessed at Calvary to have both Rob & John Hearn on our ministry team.  They are gifted young men, fully devoted to God and His calling on their lives.

Hobalabadingdong getting the kids at Endzone hyped up!

We also had ENDZONE this week.  This was a 3 day event for children ages K – 5th Grade.  It was a sports camp, where the kids learned soccer, baseball, and basketball skills — but they also learned about God.  Les Ferrell did a great job teaching the kids everynight from Hebrews 12:1 — “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

We had close to 100 volunteers for this event — and you all were awesome!  I was so impressed.  We had just under 200 kids everynight, and it was a truly God honoring, spectactular event.  Rachell Colebank (our Children’s Minister) did an excellent job.

All in all it’s been a busy, but truly great few weeks.  Through all of it – about 8 people have been baptized in the past two weeks — and I’m expecting a couple more this Sunday.  We had another “SECOND SATURDAY” event also – where a number of folks came together to serve in our community.  REMEMBER – we gather together every second Saturday of the month at 8:30 am to serve others.  This Sunday we will be sending out a team of young people on a two week Mission trip to Haiti.  We’ll be praying for/commissioning them in both services.

Endzone Opening Activities