BillLaMorey.com

Why I'm glad I taught through Revelation

I'll be very honest, I was very intimidated and a bit overwhelmed at the thought of teaching Revelation. There is a reason most churches never teach it (except the easy part; chs. 2 & 3). It was without a doubt the hardest series I had to prepare and deliver messages for. Prophecy is NOT my teaching sweet spot. I'm much more at ease with narrative or even imperatives. But Revelation...well it is unique to say the least! It took me more preparation time for each message than anything else I've ever taught, and it forced me to brush up on my eschatology and overall theology. There were weeks that I thought I did a decent job of presenting the message and other weeks that...well, let's just say I wish I could have had a Mulligan.

Despite the diffuclties I am glad that I "manned up" and took on the book and here are a few reasons why:

1. People want and need to know this stuff -end times sells books and movies and there is a reason; people want to know what the world is coming to. (People thanked me throughout the series, and told me that they had never been taught Revelation)
2. It challenged our church -There were concepts/ideas that wouldn't be presented in probably any other book/series that were brought to the surface to consider. (After all, who naturally gravitates towards a topical message on the Lake of Fire or the Whore of Babylon?)
3. It grew me as a teacher -After teaching Revelation for months I found it easy to discuss issues in our relationship series (even controversial ones) that might have been more difficult in the past (Revelation built my teaching muscle!)
4. It gave us all a vision for Jesus as an exalted King. -It's great to study the 1st coming of Jesus in the gospels and the ramifications in the epistles, but Revelation like no other book highlights the majesty, power and glory of Jesus, and we need to understand this since this is the Jesus coming back for us!

For these reasons and more, I'm so glad we worked through the book of Revelation at Calvary Fellowship, and make no mistake, I'm also glad to be done! :)

 

Our Response to Revelation

This morning we concluded our Revelation series! In a message entitled "Our Response to Revelation," we discussed our proper response (Inreach, Outreach, Upreach) to God's final written words to humanity in the book of Revelation (and the entire Bible).

The worship was EPIC today!

I can't reproduce that, but you can click here to listen to the message.

Biblical Counseling at Calvary is open for business!

This past Sunday at Calvary Fellowship we announced the launch of our Biblical Counseling ministry and we introduced everyone to Kristin Chace. Kristin (Biblical Counseling Director) will lead the Biblical Counseling ministry with the help of Mandy Miltimore (Biblical Counseling Administrator), and it will be staffed by trained and qualified men and women within our church body.

Rather than go on about this myself, let me share with you Kristin’s words about how this ministry can benefit you and how you can take advantage of it if you're a part of the Calvary family:

 The mission: “Helping People Find Hope, Healing and Freedom in Christ”

“Whether you are a seeker of faith, a new believer or have been walking with God for a while, we all experience personal trials, transitions, temptations and tragedies that leave us broken, burdened or burned out. These can often become obstacles in our life and relationships. The biblical counseling ministry is a place to talk privately and confidentially with a trained biblical counselor about life situations and personal struggles from God’s perspective.  Your biblical counselor will listen and explore your concerns and offer biblically sound guidance and counsel to help you grow in repentance, intimacy and maturity in your relationship with God and with others.

Biblical Counseling is a ministry of committed followers of Christ serving and discipling others in the Calvary Fellowship community. There is no cost for the services.  Biblical counseling at Calvary is NOT professional therapy.  However, we can provide contact information for trusted psychological and medical professionals, when needed.

If you would like to find out more about meeting with a biblical counselor, please contact our administrator at bcadministrator@calvaryhartford.com.

If you are interested in being trained to serve as a biblical counselor at Calvary, please contact our director at bcdirector@calvaryhartford.com.”

Thanks Kristin, we’re a blessed church to have you leading the way on this! I believe the addition of this ministry ties in perfectly to our 2010 theme of “Digging In” as it will afford the opportunity of any of us to press into and work through the issues that hold us back from the freedom to follow Christ fully!

The Anatomy of Explosive Outreach Seminar

If you know me, you know I am passionate about reaching New England for Christ through local churches. That's why I'm thrilled to host my good friend Bob Franquiz's "The Anatomy of Explosive Outreach Seminar" this Monday as the first event at our brand new church offices!

If you are a church leader in New England and your church is committed to reaching your community, you (and your team) need to sign up now! As you know we don't get events like this often around here, especially for FREE! (Registration is required so we can plan effectively for our guests.)

Event details:

The Anatomy of Explosive Outreach Seminar

Date: November 22, 2010

Time: 10AM-12PM EST

Location: Calvary Fellowship
                     1245 Farmington Avenue Suite #202
                     West Hartford, CT 06107

Seminar Description:

Get Explosive Results from your Outreach and Marketing efforts!

Too many leaders are spending a lot on outreach and seeing little by way of results. 50,000 pieces of direct mail are going out and only a few are showing up to the event. Thousands of dollars are being spent online, but only a few clicks are translating into people at the church services.

Here's the reality: Now is the best time to reach people!

But to reach those in our community, we need to know the essentials of outreach. Some people in your community are one click on Facebook away from attending. Some are one direct mail piece away from visiting. Others are one Google search from coming to your church and taking a major step of faith.

That's why we're offering this Free Seminar on November 22nd @ 10AM-12PM EST

Here's what we're going to cover in this 2 hour Seminar:
- The 1 thing you absolutely must do in your outreach/ marketing efforts
- The surefire way to make sure your outreach efforts work
- How to spend less on outreach/marketing and reach more
- How to have a clear strategy to reach people in your community
- How to make your church a people-reaching magnetic
- Learn the classic mistakes most churches make... and avoid them!
- Plus a lot more!

Heavenly Promises

Today in a message entitled "Heavenly Promises" (Revelation 21-22:5) we discused seven future promises about Heaven to encourage us on Earth now!

Click here to listen to the message.

An exciting next step for Calvary Fellowship

I am so excited for our church because yesterday we finalized the decision to go forward with a brand new office space for Calvary Fellowship effective 11/19. I realize that 99.9% of you are thinking, “That’s great, but where is the exciting part?” That is the exciting part! Let me explain.

It’s not just that the Calvary staff will be able to move from our current sardine-can-like conditions into a more productive work space that excites me (though our staff really likes that). There are two other reasons why I think we as a church should all  be excited about this move.

1.     It will multiply ministry opportunities within our church. In addition to more suitable office space, we will now have a larger common area that will easily seat 50 people in which we can do classes, trainings, groups, etc. anytime we want to! In the past these types of things have been limited due to space constraints, but not anymore. And we already have a bunch of things mapped out to launch in 2011 to maximize use of this space.

2.     It is a big next step for our church. Just like we encourage everyone in our church to individually take next steps, we need to take organizational next steps too. I remember when my “office” transitioned from a table at Panera Bread Company to our current office with me as the sole staff member. This office has served us well, but now that there are four of us on staff, it’s time to take the next step! And I believe that each next step is worthy of celebration, because it reminds us that God is at work and moving us along on our church’s journey.

For those who are part of Calvary Fellowship:

I would like to extend two opportunities for you to experience this next step with us:

1.     Please help us move! We’ll be moving from our current location to the new one on Saturday, November 20^th. E-mail Chip (chip@calvaryhartford.com) for more info or to sign up.

2.     Join us for an open house on Monday, December 6^th anytime between 7-9 PM at 1245 Farmington Avenue Suite #202 in West Hartford.

Thank you for all of your praying, serving, giving and everything else you do to make next steps like these possible!

Sunsets and Shattered Glass

Mike Tolerico was a part of the Calvary Fellowship church family for a couple of years. He even spent part of that time as a vital part of our church staff team. So of course I had to get his first book "Sunsets and Shattered Glass" when I heard it was released.

I've always thought Mike was a good writer, and this book has certainly reinforced that. Mike writes a sort of poetic prose that makes you think and feel all different sorts of things. Insight tangles with passion, anger dances with beauty, and reason collides with rawness. Each chapter takes you on a adventure that might encourage you, make you laugh, make you think or might even leave you reeling from a sucker punch to the gut (in words of course), and yet all of which is strangely enjoyable. Even when I disagreed with Mike (and what fun is reading a book that you don't disagree with even a little?), I didn't disengage because the reflections were still very well written and fun to read.

On a personal level this book came at a good time for me. I read so many books on theology, church, leadership, etc., and sometimes I just need something that touches the soul. This is a great book for that! I found myself reflecting more about God, my relationship with Him, and my relationships with others; and that's got to be a good thing, right?

I strongly encourage you to show some love by buying Mike's book AND reading it.

Proud of you, Mike.

 

 

 

Intro video to today's message (Star Wars style)

After a 5-week hiatus from Revelation we needed a refresher to bring everyone up to speed. Rather than using an extended introduction to my message, I thought we should use a video. Chip exectuted it flawlessly; check it out!:

 

Law & Order

This morning we resumed our study in Revelation (chapter 20) with a message entitled "Law & Order."

We talked about some major theological events (like the millenium, the 1st and 2nd resurrections, the great white throne judgment and more) and what the their implications are for us today.

Click here to listen to the message.

I must have confused people today (sorry!) because a few people mentioned they would have benefitted from a graph. Here is a chart of the entire book of Revelation from H.A. Ironside courtesy of the blueletterbible.org; I hope it helps! (click to enlarge):

Revelation Reloaded: A New Hope

This Sunday at Calvary we will begin the final phase of the Book of Revelation; check out the preview trailer:

Revelation Reloaded Trailer from Chip Anthony on Vimeo.