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$543.20 more to Haiti

Calvary just received a check for $543.20 for our "Gold for Food" campaign to benefit Haiti. We will be giving all of that here to continue to assist our Haitian friends. For those who contributed, way to go!

We still hope to do a short-term relief trip to Haiti over the summer. Keep praying and stay tuned...

Coming soon...one more illegal white powder!

OK, I had no plan to feature salt in two posts this week, but SERIOUSLY?!? NYC is considering legislation that would ban the use of salt in restaurants for meal preparation. If you heard this weekend's message then you know how much I love salt. And if you have ever heard me talk politics then you know how much I loathe the proliferation of well-intentioned nanny-state laws. I talk to a wide variety of people and I've never met anyone that said, "You know, we REALLY need to do something about salt!" I'm quite sure most people don't elect politicians to remove their freedom and responsibility to choose by legislating every aspect of their lives. When will people say "Enough!"? Deep breath...rant done. Pass the salt, please.

West Hartford News article on our Community Outreach event

Check it out here!

What the Easter pieces REALLY look like!

My last post made the invites look wild and distorted, so here is a more accurate (though perhaps a little muted this time) version featuring our direct mail piece:

 

Easter invites have arrived!

[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

I just opened our Easter Invites and they look great! (The print version is not nearly as fluorescent as the digital image appears.) Our door-hangers, postcard mailers and local newspaper ads will all look similar. (Why we're doing such a big push for Easter will be the subject of an upcoming post).

Honestly, I did feel a little weird about putting my picture on the cards. We have never done that before in any form of advertisement in our almost 5 years as a church, and hadn't planned to this year. However, Annmarie, the graphic designer who created this piece, challenged me to think differently.

I didn't want to put our pictures on because we didn't want to make it about me and/our anybody else. However, Annmarie reminded me that the purpose of a promotional piece is not only to promote the event and/or organization, but also to give info about what it's all about. She shared that she and her family only came after they visited the website and saw pictures of young children, a live contemporary band, and a normal looking (i.e. no robes, etc.) pastor. Her point was, why make people go to the site to discover this when so much about Calvary can be conveyed in a few simple pictures?

She made sense, so we did it. We're excited to see what happens with this new approach.

Vintage Jesus

"Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears was a great book about Jesus! It dealt with the history of Jesus, the purpose of Jesus, the prophecies of Jesus, His past visit, His future return and much more. Mark offers much of the witty insight and Gerry injects much of the scholarly background making "Vintage Jesus" very much a layman's theology book on Christology that is informative, inspiring and even entertaining. Personally, I found myself even more appreciative of and enamored by Jesus by the end of the book; and that alone made it worth every penny to me.

In the Mix

Today at Calvary our "Digging In" series shifted to it's 3rd and final phase; Community. In a message entitled "In the Mix" we discussed 2 things that Jesus tells His followers that we are, and how these things have to be thrown into the mix of a community to see it transformed.

Click here to download or listen online to the message.

Some press for "Rock the Revolution"

Our student ministry's kick-off event got some press in the Hartford Guardian...

Buzzmarketing

Wow, am I behind on my book reviews! I know, the world is feeling the loss. :)

Anyway, I LOVED "Buzzmarketing" by Mark Hughes. In this book, Mark (who has a background in executive marketing) bypasses the traditional means of marketing a business or organization and gets into buzzmarketing -which involves six secrets to get people talking about what you are doing.

While not every idea is transferable to a church, I did find plenty of useful ideas for my context. For example, his 6th Secret (yes, I'm going to share the secret) is "Policing Your Product." (Churches do not actually have products, though we do create environments and experiences.) The whole idea is quality control; keeping everything up to your desired standard, and being strict about it! Mark underscores this through a fascinating Apple anecdote in which Steve Jobs held up a huge batch of Macs waiting to ship (orders were already in and deadlines were already missed) because the box they were shipping in wasn't the right color!

At the end of last year Calvary was dealing with some quality control issues that were partly related to still learning how to utilize our new venue and partly related to a lack of training. The end result was that though we all worked very hard throughout the week and on Sunday, the results were diminished due to things like poor sound quality, etc. It was frustrating to the staff and the congregation.Some of what Mark shared really helped educate and motivate me on turning these things around.

A really exciting thing is that a couple of years ago (after he wrote "Buzzmarketing") Mark became a follower of Christ. His upcoming project "Not Now" (to be released this year) features his story, and the stories of 9 other men who turned their lives around by turning their lives over to Christ. And I am humbled and honored that one of those chapters was written by yours truly! Mark has been a great guy to get to know and talk to, and we both hope his next project will bring much glory to God, and inspiration to those still far from Him.

Rock the Revolution!

Revolution, Calvary Fellowship's new student ministry, is getting in high gear for their 3/28 kick-off event; "Rock the Revolution!" Details to come, but in the meantime check out the invite cards (Nice job on the cards Annmarie, and Colin on the logo!):