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"Humble Christmas" begins this Sunday

Christmas can be a crazy time! There is the decorating, the cooking, the shopping, the wrapping, the parties, and (just to keep things lively) the relatives! As the song says, Christmas may be “the most wonderful time of the year”, but often it is also the most chaotic time of the year.

God did not give us Christmas to create more chaos in our lives, He gave it to create peace and hope in the midst of our out-of-control world. Christmas is not about what we have to give. It is about what (or Who) God has given us, and our response to that gift.

This is what we will talk about in our new series “Humble Christmas” beginning this Sunday (December 6^th) at Calvary Fellowship. The series will culminate with our Christmas celebration service on December 20^th that will feature Christmas music, a drama and a message examining what a “humble Christmas” is and how we can experience that and the joy that comes with it. Click here to confirm your attendance on FaceBook and to invite your friends electronically.

This Christmas season, let’s not get so busy with peripheral issues that we forget the reason for the season! I hope you will join us this year for “Humble Christmas.” And don’t forget to bring your family and friends! 

The Six Pillars of Biblical Power

This morning at Calvary Fellowship guest teacher John Rankin taught a message entitled "The Six Pillars of Biblical Power." The Bible teaches us to love God and love one another. This is John's take on how that works.

Click here to purchase the book this message was based on.

Click here to visit the Theological Education Institute's website where you can purchase more of John's resources and/or learn about his upcoming forums and debates.

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.

Loving God's Family -the lost episode

The audio for last week's message ("Loving God's family") is now available.

New Series: "Humble Christmas"

Our new series "Humble Christmas" begins Sunday, December 6th:

Christmas Offering 2009 page up

The page is now up on Calvary Fellowship's website with more information about what the 2009 Christmas Offering is about and how to participate. Check it out:

http://www.calvaryhartford.com/christmasoffering.asp

Christmas Offering 2009 Video

Loving God's Family

This morning at Calvary Fellowship we concluded our "Secret's of Growing Healthy Relationships" series with a message about relationships in the church entitled "Loving God's Family." We discussed how followers of Christ can be more intentional about loving our spiritual family by being intentional about the four levels of fellowship in the church. (Special acknowledgments to Rick Warren on this one)

NOTE: Normally I post a link to the audio, but due to a technical difficulty it is not available now. We hope to have this resolved by next week. I know,I know...everyone was sitting back waiting with bated breath waiting to hear the series' grand finale! :)

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)