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News Coverage of the move to Conard

WFSB (Channel 3) covered Calvary Fellowship's move to Conard on the news tonight:

Some Press

The Hartford Courant ran an article about our move to Conard High today. Check it out!

Lost in Place

Today we concluded our "Lost" series with a message entitled "Lost in Place" about how we can be near to God in proximity, but far from Him relationally. While studying the prodigal son's elder brother we discussed what it means to be lost in place, what some of the characteristics of it are, and what to do about it if we find ourselves in this condition.

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

Can we reschedule?

One of the things that has really helped me, my family and our church over the past 4 years has been the changes made in my work schedule. Here are the versions of my schedule I have had over the past few years:

1st year -No day off most weeks. I worked a full-time job and was in church start-up mode and so I rarely had a day off. This may have been necessary in the beginning (debatable), but it took a heavy toll on my family.

2nd year -I took Mondays off. At first I liked this, because it definitely beat no days off! Plus, I am usually wiped out after Sundays, so it felt like this was a good time to recharge. However 2 factors eventually became clear to make this less than ideal: 1) I was giving my family my leftovers on my only day off and 2) There was so much follow-up to do from Sunday that it was an internal battle to not focus on work that day (that I often lost).

3rd year - I switched from Mondays to Fridays off. This was a MAJOR improvement! In my Monday "funk", I could still focus on follow up and admin tasks, as long as I didn't have to focus on anything too creative. By Fridays I felt fresh and ready to unwind with my family with one major exception...I had the pressure of the Sunday message to finish the next day!

4th year -(With the addition of staff; thank you, Jesus!) I was able to take a 2nd day off. Friday became my sabbath or "dark" day and Tuesday was just an off day (I still might check e-mails or take a few calls, but I was not at the office). I loved the extra day off, but this schedule still had its challenges such as the constant pressure to finish the message on Saturday, 2 disconnected days off with no "weekend" feel, and Emily rapidly approaching elementary school (which would mean that I never get to see her if I work all weekend).

Into the 5th year (recent modification) -I maintain Friday as my dark day, but I've made Saturday my new flex day (I do spend several hours Saturday night reviewing the message for Sunday AM. Here are the new advantages:

1. Two days off in a row (sort of) which has made all the difference to my wife.
2. I can still spend time with my daughters as they go into grade school.
3. The Sunday message is completely done by Thursday night! (This has made life amazing for me and our staff who had been waiting on me to finish the message so they could finalize other service elements).

I know that this post has a very narrow scope of interest and application. I write this to encourage and challenge other pastors/ministers (though it could easily apply largely to small business owners & entrepreneurs). Here are some questions you should consider:

1. Have you reviewed your schedule lately?
2. Is it still working for you?
3. What changes can you make to improve things for you, your family, your staff, your church?
4. If you can't practically make the changes now, what goals can you set to do so in the future?
5. Are you taking at least one day off? Don't follow my early example and sin by not taking a Sabbath!

Conclusion: Work hard, but also be smart and strategic. Your schedule may need to change as your stage of life, family situation, and church stage all change. And never sacrifice your family in the name of ministry or anything else!

Lost & Found

Today we continued in our Lost series with a message entitled "Lost & Found." We talked about the 3 things the father does when his lost son comes home and what they teach us about the relationship between us and our heavenly Father. We also discussed 2 things we should do in response.

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

Calvary Fellowship hosts 0-60:

 Pumped that Calvary gets to host this leadership training event for church leaders next week!

If you are a church leader, sign up and come out!
If you are a part of Calvary, we can use a few more volunteers that day to take good care of our guests as they are equipped to further the Kingdom even more effectively!

Calvary Fellowship Staff Update

This past Sunday, we made several major staff announcements:

1. Mike Tolerico will be leaving our staff on July 8th. He is returning to Colorado to help care for his family back there as they go through some very difficult times. We will all miss the Tolericos, but we support them as they go forward into what God has called them to do.
2. Dave Swanson will be moving from part-time to full-time beginning July 1st. Dave has done a phenomenal job of leading worship and he will now handle some additional areas of responsibility including Home Fellowships, Outreach/Missions and some administrative tasks.
3. Chip Anthony has joined our staff as of June 1st. Chip has been around almost since the beginning and served effectively and faithfully, now he'll just be doing it full-time! Chip will oversee Service Oversight, Special Events, Assimilation and whatever else we can sneak onto his desk!

When Calvary first started, I was the only staff member for a few years, now I don't know what I'd do without these guys! I am so honored and blessed to serve with such a great group of men!

You can watch the staff announcement made at service this past weekend here:

Penn: If you believe in God, you should tell people about Him!

When I first came to town to start Calvary Fellowship, I met some "ministers" who looked down upon me because we were evangelical (a dirty word here to many). I honestly was taken back, because I had never considered for a minute that there was an alternative to Christians being for evangelism,proselytizing or whatever you want to call it. If you believe in God, devil, Heaven, Hell, etc., then why in the world would you NOT tell other people?!?

This past Sunday I recast the vision to our church that we need to be all about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to "lost" people. Despite my best efforts, a well-know atheist (Penn Jillette) made a better case for why Christians should evangelize and how they should do it than I did as he recounts an experience with a man who reached out to him.

Forget tolerance, political correctness...whatever. We have a great message that the world needs to hear (their souls hinge on it), we should not hesitate to share it! Penn has a great message for us, we should not hesitate to hear it!

Calvary Fellowship -Past, Present & Future

This video was shown at Calvary Fellowship's 4-year anniversary celebration this past Sunday. In it we looked back at where we've come from and looked forward to the exciting next chapter in our journey (by making a BIG announcement).

Thought's about Calvary's 4-year anniversary celebration

Yesterday we celebrated Calvary Fellowship's 4-year anniversary. Here are some thoughts/observations I had from yesterday's big event:

• I am impressed by how hard the staff and everyone in the church body worked to pull off the service and the after-party (there were a lot of moving parts)!
• The worship was inspiring and amazing (HNL, Dave and team!)
• Mike doing the announcements in the sumo suit was pretty outstanding (I hope his dancing to "Kung Fu Fighting" was taped!)
• It was exciting to make the staff announcements that Dave was going to full-time and that Chip was joining the staff full-time as well (It was cool to see everyone so receptive to these guys). I am blessed to have such a great team to work with!
• The video that Chip and Mike put together recapping the past 4 years and announcing our next step was superb!
• Everyone was so excited that we're moving to Conard High! (I was shocked and happily surprised that people stood up, clapped and even shouted...IN CONNECTICUT!!!)
• The message was all about reminding everyone of the mission of the church to search out lost people; I reaffirmed my commitment to the vision and asked everyone else to do the same (as far as I can tell, it seems like everyone is on board!).
• The baptism, as always, was very moving to me (just so great to see people taking such visible steps of faith -it excites me for them and for us as a church).
• The authentic TX BBQ was unbelievable -brisket, burgers, chicken, dogs (Tuner and his crew were beasts...thank you guys!)
• It was cool to see so many people sporting their new highly fashionable Calvary t-shirts.
• I'm not sure if the kids had more fun in the bounce-house or the adults did in the sumo ring!
• I loved being able to stop and talk to a bunch of people that I hadn't even met before.
• Highest attendance ever (except Easter); over 225 for the service and more people strategically showed up afterward for the BBQ! :)
• I walked around with a sense of awe...knowing that I don't deserve the privilege of being the pastor of such a great group of people, but delighted by God's grace that I get to be. 
• I am so thankful that Rebecca was crazy enough to answer this calling of God with me (I also don't deserve the privilege of being her husband, but am again delighted by God's grace that I get to be)!
• I am amazed at what God has done in the past 4 years and am excited to see what He will do in the years ahead!

"We praise you, Lord, for all your glorious power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts." -Psalm 21:13