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Refelctions on Calvary Fellowship's 2009 "Stepping Out" fund

As 2009 comes to a close, I have been doing a lot of reflecting over the past year about what has happened in the life of our church.  Things certainly haven’t stood still! In fact, we called 2009 the year of “Stepping Out” and created a Christmas offering fund by the same name to help Calvary Fellowship step out in three major ways:

1.    To STEP OUT and help families in our church through temporary financial difficulties
2.    To STEP OUT and serve our community and our world through increased local outreach and local & world missions
3.    To STEP OUT of our facility that into a new church home that would allow us to continue to grow and reach more people for the kingdom of God.

I want to thank you everyone who gave to this, because you stepped out in a big way by giving generously to this cause and helped us do all of these things this year! I’d like to share a few examples with you:

·     When it comes to benevolence, I can’t share the specific details because I don’t want to embarrass any families by disclosing their financial hardships, but I can tell you that we were able to help several families weather financial storms by helping out with a mortgage payment, heating costs, shelter, and more. In tough financial times, it’s great that we as a church family can help our own.

·     When it comes to the community we did a lot of different community outreaches/events (both community service and servant evangelism) including a campaign in which we were able to give out about 1,500 granola bars along with invitations to our Easter service. Sure, they didn’t all come to our church, but at least they got a smile and a small touch of kindness instead of a judgmental angry word from a pushy Christian. And perhaps that will lower their barriers just a little more as Christ continues knocking on the doors of their hearts.

·     In the area of missions we were able to support various short-term missions trips as well as to take on some new missionaries with regular financial support. One that I’m especially excited about is a church plant called Catalyst Church in Middletown that just got started this year and is knocking it out of the park and reaching lots of people in our shared mission filed of CT! Check them out: http://www.catalystchurch.tv/

·     And as for stepping out of the facility…we did it! There were many hurdles for us to get into Conard High, but it has been a great new home for us that has allowed us the space to improve our Sunday morning experience for everyone as well as to create plenty of space for the new people that have been joining us each week.  We completely upgraded our equipment for the main service as well as for the Children’s Ministry to help them both become top notch environments for God’s word to be taught to His children of all ages. Check out this quote from a family that recently began attending:

“Calvary is "contagious" Christianity and we are privileged to call Calvary home.  For current Christians and future Christians, this church and its mission have and will continue to revolutionize lives and I see God working in that mission every day.”

AMEN!!!

As we look forward to 2010, there are some very exciting things ahead for us as a church. However, before we get into any of that, I just wanted to stop and take this opportunity to celebrate what God has already done this year and to thank everyone who stepped out to help  dreams become reality this year!

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)       

Outside Matters

This morning at Calvary Fellowship we continued in "The Secrets of Growing Healthy Relationships" series with a message entitled "Outside Matters." People outside the body of Christ should matter to Christians, because they matter to God. Today we looked at the three principles from Colossians 4:5-6 to guide Christians in our relationships with people who do not believe as we do.

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Thoughts on Veteran's Day

A few years ago I stood in an airport fast food line. I held a $20 bill in my hand as I eyed the menu board trying to decide what to eat. From the corner of my eye I saw two soldiers walking by. I had no idea if they were heading off on a mission or if they were returning home from one. All I knew was that I was very moved and, almost without thinking, I thanked the soldiers for their service to our country, asked them if I could buy them lunch, and then handed them the money in my hand.

This very small gesture was beyond insignificant in comparison to everything that those in the military have risked and endured to insure our country’s freedom and prosperity. Even so, it was obvious that these young men were very moved by the small expression of appreciation. Perhaps it was simply because someone took the opportunity to communicate something many of us feel, but rarely express: sincere gratitude.

Today is Veterans’ Day. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone reading this who presently serves in the military or has ever done so. Our country is deeply indebted to you, and I for one am personally grateful for all you do and have done to protect our lives and our liberties. Secondly, I’d like to challenge us all to think of a veteran we know and then figure out a way to thank and/or bless them practically this week (let’s get creative!). In addition, let’s pray for people we know (and their families) who are presently or will soon be deployed. In light of last week’s tragedy at Fort Hood, we saw that our soldiers face dangers wherever they are, so let’s keep them all in prayer.

And perhaps Christians can do one other thing for our veteran’s; humbly learn from them. Many of us have never been enlisted in the US military, but let’s remember that the service and sacrifice modeled by our military is something Christians everywhere ought to emulate for the ultimate Commander in Chief:

“And as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army.” (2 Timothy 2: 4 NLT)

Singleness: A Gift or a Curse?

Today we continued in our "Secrets of Growing Healthy Relationships" dealing with the unmarried in a message entitled "Singleness: A Gift or a Curse?" The message was given by Leroy Case; who is the chaplain for The Master's School in Simsbury, CT and who himself is single. (Sorry ladies, I'm not authorized to give out his digits).

Rebecca and I, along with some other couples from Calvary, attended Family' Life Weekend to Remember marriage conference this weekend. So I haven't heard the message yet, but I've heard good things about it, and can't wait to check it out!

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Chip's Blog

Chip (one of the guys on staff at Calvary Fellowship) just started a blog. If you like sports and ministry, then you should check it out! [UPDATE: Link Fixed]

http://chipanthony.blogspot.com/

"The Office" Videos

Here is "The Office" video we used as a bumper to the message yesterday followed by the outtakes video:

The Office

This morning we continued in our "Secrets of Growing Healthy Relationships" series with a message entitled "The Office." We talked about 4 ways to transform our workplace from simply a place of business into a ministry, and thereby pleasing God while making our jobs more meaningful and fulfilling.

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Spiritually cold New England

When I read an article like this one I am so thankful that God is using churches like ours to break through some of these stubborn New England trends.

"The Office" new episode Sunday 10AM @ Calvary Fellowship

Very few Sundays go by without job-related prayer requests at Calvary. Sometimes people ask for prayer because they're unemployed and are seeking a job, but more often we get requests from people that already have jobs! Typically people are asking for prayer to help them deal with difficult co-workers and/or a difficult boss. Indeed, the workplace contains some very challenging people that we have no choice but to interact with each day. Just last week I came across this article  describing "Four obnoxious attitudes in the office." Unfortunately, these (and more) obnoxious attitudes are far too common, and articles like this don't really provide very much long-term help in dealing with them.

Fortunately, the Bible contains some very helpful principles pertaining to our attitudes and our actions in the workplace. And even if our co-workers don't change immediately (or ever), there are still some decisions that we can make that will honor God and revolutionize our work experiences. We're going to discuss these ideas this Sunday in a message entitled "The Office." Since most of us spend more of our waking hours with our co-workers than anybody else (including our families), this is a huge area for us to get a handle on if we want to decrease stress and increase joy in our lives.

PS: Wait until you see the bumper video!

Great Employees Only

 "Great Employees Only" by Dale Dauten was a fascinating book to read. The idea is to create a culture where  great employees thrive and everyone else is "dehired" (his alternative to firing). The book intrigued me because some of the things he wrote were so appealing yet counter-intuitive such as his "formula for effortless leadership success":

• 90 percent hiring (and de-hiring)
• 10 percent inspiring, and
• 0 percent management. (If an employee can't be inspired and needs managing, return to top.)

I still wrestle with this and I'm conflicted because part of me wonders if this can really be true while at the same time hoping it really is! Even though there are some philosophical ideas I'm still weighing, there were many great points and there are a few applications that I walked away with right away after reading this book. In mind it makes that makes "GEO" worth the read even if I don't end up agreeing with all of Mr. Dauten's concepts.