May 8, 2012

Super Summer of Service…

Summer is rapidly approaching as the warmer temperatures arrive and the school year is winding down, thoughts of summer vacation trips and opportunities to unwind and take a break are on everyone’s mind. Weekend trips to the beach, the lake or the mountains, going to see family and getting a change of scenery are wonderful things for our families to enjoy together. I really hope and pray your time off and away will be a refreshing encouragement to you. As the lead under-shepherd God has placed here at Calvary, I have some encouragement for you as we head into the summer months.

First of all, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the very Son of God, set an example for His followers after seasons of intense ministry, took time off to refresh and spend time by Himself or with His disciples. Jesus understood the rigors of ministry, He understood the reality that serving and investing in others is fulfilling and rewarding but it is exhausting work. Jesus also understood that life and ministry is a marathon and not a sprint. So to keep from burning out, Jesus regularly took time out to rest and to pray. For all of you who faithfully serve and labor for the Lord here at Calvary, let me encourage you that if the Son of God needed to rest and recharge, you and I most certainly do as well. God has built in a Sabbath Day of rest every seven days so I encourage you to rest. When Jesus rested, He didn’t take a break from God, He went places to pray and reconnect with His Father. You should too, go check out that church near where you are vacationing. Bring me a bulletin because I like to see what other churches are up to.

Secondly, I want to encourage you to plan ahead. It is important that if you have a Sunday responsibility and you are going to be out of town, make sure you have your responsibilities covered in your absence. That should be understood but sometimes it is not and when the summer breeze blows, the beach calls and off people go, so excited to go but they forget their responsibilities. On more than one occasion I have walked through our children’s or preschool departments on a Sunday in the summer and the volunteers are scrambling because people who were scheduled to work did not show up or make provision for their absence. Communicate and plan ahead if you are going to be absent.

This brings me to my third encouragement that many people don’t stop to realize. While you take a vacation and head out of town, your church is open 52 Sundays a year except this year we actually have 53 Sundays of ministry. People forget that our expenses continue even through the summer and many churches struggle during the summer months because giving declines. I know people don’t intend for that to happen, but in the hubbub and bustle to get loaded up and get out of Dodge, the tithe and offering is often forgotten. When I’m travelling, I plan my bill paying with my bank and I schedule out the payments that need to be made and I include Calvary in that process so I know my tithe and offering comes to God’s storehouse. Again, it’s a simple matter of planning ahead so let me encourage you make sure you don’t forget your tithes and offerings. I’d also caution you in these tough economic times not to take the money that belongs to the Lord to spend on your vacation. He will not bless that time of recreation if you rob from Him.

Fourth, for too many years, we’ve have slogged it out through the summer with a grueling schedule of activity in the summer that included trying to have services on Wednesday evenings. As a staff we’re challenging our leaders and ministries to have an intentional purpose for all we do. We’ve found that our Summer Wednesday schedule does not have the impact or reach the intended purpose. We made a recommendation at our last church in conference that was approved; that we cancel our Wednesday evening schedule for the summer except that choir and praise team will practice on Wednesday evenings.  What we’re proposing instead is what we are calling “Super Summer of Service”. We’d like to see families and Bible Study classes take on a servant evangelism project during the summer. It doesn’t have to happen on Wednesday or take place every week. We need to move church beyond the walls to engage our community and show God’s love in a practical way. These projects are fun and the only limitations are the extent of your imaginations. Here are some ideas to help stir the creative juices:

·         We’ll have access to a list of people who’ve recently moved to a 3.5 mile radius around Calvary. Put together a “Welcome bag” with an area map, coupons to local restaurants (your favorite places) or things to do, fresh baked goods and deliver this to the new family. Invite them to come to church with you. The church will supply the bags, maps and you all can organize putting the bag together and the delivery team. This is so effective! When we first moved to North Carolina to go to seminary, within a day, we’d met all our neighbors who brought pies or veggies from their garden and at least three of them invited us to their church. We have a mailing going to these homes and the list will be available the week of June 18^th.

·         Families with young children can schedule a play night in Shamrock Park behind the church. The church will provide juice boxes, water and wrapped snacks. Your family goes to play and offers others free juice or water and a snack. It opens up conversations and an easy opportunity to invite them to VBS July 16-20. You’ll be shocked at how simple and effective this will be!

·         Bible Study classes could offer a free car wash to show God’s love in a practical way. Be creative to the location it’s hosted and we’ll pay for the water for the business owner and the supplies to wash cars. Talk with people while their car is being washed. They are shocked it’s free and very open to talk about spiritual matters. We’ll provide an invite card or brochure about Calvary.

·         Goodie baskets for our police or fire departments are always a hit. Tell them their neighbors at Calvary appreciate them and we want to care for them and their families.

·         Feed parking meters during the day downtown or at the parking garage and put a card on the windshield telling them Calvary is showing God’s love in a practical way. We’ll provide the cards and the buy the quarters.

These are just a few ideas and there are many more you could do to take the church to the streets. Find a need in our community and fill it. Our plan is to have a big picnic at the end of the summer to give you a chance to share what God did with these simple service projects. The impact of this for the Kingdom of God will be profound and there will be people who go to Heaven because you cared enough to engage in Super Summer of Service! Pastor Mike will be coordinating this effort so let us know what you’re doing so we can help you make your project a successful endeavor. Sure there may be things we try and fail at it, but that’s okay because you never know unless you try!

Finally, be in prayer for these projects that people will see and hear about Jesus in our service and come to trust Him by faith. Pray for our Maine Mission team at the end of June, our youth going to Philadelphia on mission at the end of June, our senior youth headed to Haiti on mission in July, our 4^th of July musical and our VBS in mid July. All of these are great opportunities to see people come to Christ, not to mention our weekend worship services that happen every Sunday. Rest, refocus, renew your spirit, but let’s make Summer 2012 a super summer of service that expands God’s kingdom. I’m looking forward to some rest and refocus time, but also a super summer of service from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com 

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

"This is the birthday song, it isn't very long, hey!" Happy birthday Addison! Two years ago today you were born on a Sunday morning in Fort Worth Texas. Your Mommy  and Daddy Ginny & Stephen, Aunt Rachel & Uncle Thomas and whole family were so excited you were coming into the world. We were concerned because both you & your mommy was having a lot of trouble as she was in labor. You started the journey into the world in the early morning hours of April 25th 2010. I'm your mommy's dad, grandpa "Pops" and a pastor in Maryland. The morning you were being born, your mommy's mom, your grandma "Nana" was on the phone with your aunt Rachel who was telling us that your mommy was having a hard time. In those early hours that morning, since we were so far away, Nana and I could only pray for the situation that was going on with you and mommy in Fort Worth. We had to trust the Lord would help you and mommy with this birth. I remember laying in bed praying while Nana who is a nurse was talking and sharing wisdom with Aunt Rachel about what all to do. I was scheduled to preach in a few hours and I was confident you and momma Ginny were in good hands. We went to church and held our morning worship services. I didn't know it while I was preaching but Aunt Rachel was sending Nana text messages telling her she needed to get on a plane to get down there as soon as possible because they needed help. Knowing you were having a hard time and mommy was too, our whole church prayed for you both during our morning prayer time that day and many people prayed for our family during those days. It was amazing! As a matter of fact, your home church, Birchman Baptist Church was an incredible blessing to our family. I am so thankful the Lord gives us tremendous church families who come alongside us in times of trouble. I'm sure you've figured out after almost two full earthly years in Heaven that Christian people are an amazing bunch of people. It's not really them so much as the grace of God and the Holy Spirit of God who lives in them that allows them to serve the Lord Jesus in such practical ways. It's crazy I know to think two years on earth have passed by but for you in Heaven, it probably seems like just a few seconds or even a minute.

Well during the Sunday School hour after our first worship service, I went to my office and quickly purchased a plane ticket for Nana and she had little time to pack. One of our faithful deacons and his wife drove Nana to the airport in Baltimore. Your Aunt Beth, Mommy Ginny and Aunt Rachel's sister rode to the airport with Nana and Mr. & Mrs. Owens. Nana got to Fort Worth and was so excited to see you there in the hospital. It wasn't long until we heard that there were a number of complications. That's just a big word that means several things happened that mommy couldn't control, the doctors couldn't control, and sweetie you had no control over. It's okay that none of us humans could control those events because the God we love and serve as a family was in complete control. He was then and as you well know He is today also. I don't have to tell you that because the Lord Jesus has personally shared with you all about that. As a matter of fact, Pops probably needs to hurry and finish because Jesus has a special birthday bash planned for you today!

Anyway sweat pea, Nana told Pops it wasn't looking like you were going to be able to stay with us very long here on earth so I needed to get airline tickets for me, Aunt Beth, Uncle Ralphie, & Uncle Garrett to come down to Fort Worth as soon as we could. You remember your Aunts and Uncles, they all took turns playing with your hands, stroking your beautiful brown hair and reading stories to you while you were in the hospital after we got there. Pops got to read you a "Winnie the Pooh" book and your Daddy Stephen's family were all there too. Your Aunt Holly & Uncle Matt from Houston came up to see also as well as your Great Grandpa Green and Great Grandma Green. Great Grandma Wychopen, you call her "momo" came too. "Papa" Wychopen came later after you got to meet Jesus.

The day before you got to go meet Jesus, your whole family took turns holding you and playing "dress up". Your mommy brought a whole department store it seemed of clothes for you to wear. We took lots of pictures of you and mommy had a bag full of hair bows to put on your beautiful little head. It was an amazing time and we will never forget it. The nurses at Cook Children's Hospital, the doctors and all the staff helped our family so much and figured out a way for us to hold you on a pillow because there were lots of tubes and a machine helping you breath. One of their staff made a clay mold of your precious little hands and feet and gave it to your mommy and daddy. We all cried seeing that. A few minutes after we learned that you went to meet Jesus while mommy was holding you, I'm sure you were so busy and happy to meet the Lord face to face, you didn't know; but Pops has been taught all of life to be thankful by your great grandpa and grandma Green. I went back into the NICU unit to thank the nursing staff for their great care and kindness to our family for that week we got to have you. I thanked them for their wonderful care for you and for all they did to make our brief time with you so special. They allowed all of us to crowd around your bed on dressup/picture day, to sing to you, to laugh, pray, read Scripture and yes cry. Those nurses heard your special daddy pray an amazing prayer I bet they won't soon forget. Because of you Addison, you helped your family witness to those doctors, nurses and hospital staff and tell them about Jesus. Your brief little life here on planet earth made such a great impact for God's Kingdom and I can't wait till Jesus shows us all how far reaching your little life has made. I know a lot of people talked to Jesus because of you and it gave Jesus a chance to talk to them. Anyway, when Pops thanked those nurses, they began to cry. They couldn't believe in the middle of such a sad time I would come back to thank them. One nurse got up and came to hug me. They told me often times after a baby meets Jesus the parents are so angry they yell at those nurses and say mean things. She told it meant so much to them to see our family and to be able to care for you. They said you have a special family and it's true. It's not that we're so great, it's just that our Savior is so special which of course you know first hand now.

I know you are but I'll tell you that your mommy and daddy are the most amazing parents because of how they have stayed faithful to Jesus in all of this process of giving you back to the Lord. Because of you Addison, their relationship with Christ is much different than most Christians because they have had to lean on Jesus more as they have processed their grief and sorrow. Nana and I marvel at God's strength and power shown in the lives of your mommy and daddy. They are a testimony to anyone who cares to notice of how God is bigger than the heartache of life. I'd be lying if I said it has been easy for them. It has been so hard, yet they continue to shine as testimonies of the grace of God and they remain loyal to Jesus. As a matter of fact, on the marker at the place in babyland where we laid to rest your little body, they put the words of Mr. Job. I'm sure you've probably met him by now, but what he said after losing all of his children and everything he owns continues to encourage us: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Mr. Job wrote that in his book that God included in His Bible in chapter 1 verse 21. Would you tell Mr. Job when you see him from your Pops that I am so thankful for those words the Holy Spirit inspired him to write and that he faithfully wrote down?

Addison, Pops is so proud of you and I'm so proud of your mommy and daddy. I've cried alot wishing somehow I could "fix it" for mommy and daddy. I wish I could wave a magic wand so you could come to play with your little brother Landon that God gave to mommy and daddy. You'd have a ball romping with Landon but watch out because he's a big boy! I'm sure you're faster than he is but I wish I could take you guys to the McDonald's playground and watch you play. Oh you'd also have a ball with your cousin John Thomas. He was born to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Thomas exactly one month before your brother Landon. They are a little over one year old. It's funny, John Thomas was born in February, Landon was born in March and you were born in April! One birthday right after another. I know the Lord scheduled John Thomas' and Landon's birthdays directly ahead of yours because He wanted to remind us His grace is bigger than our sadness of not having you here with us. Jesus wanted us to forever remember His joy and faithful provision is able to do "exceedingly abundtly beyond all we can ask or think." After you met Jesus, the doctors did some tests and learned about a rare problem both mommy Ginny and Aunt Rachel have. Because of you Addison, they were able to figure out how to care for mommy and Aunt Rachel in future pregnancies so that by the grace of God, John Thomas and Landon were born healthy. If you hadn't met Jesus, we would not have known and Landon or John Thomas might not have been born healthy. As we all celebrate their birthdays and yes even today as we observe your birthday without you being here, we know God's purposes and plans are greater than ours. I understand the hope Mr. Job expressed out of his sorrow and today on your birthday, I choose to say blessed be the name of the Lord.

Addison, I know you have to run because Jesus is waiting for you. What He has planned for you is much more important than anything old Pops could say. When you crawl up in Jesus' lap today and you see His warm smile. As He runs that nail scared hand through your precious brown hair, remember it's because of Jesus you are safe and secure at our true home in Heaven. Remember sweet pea it's because of Jesus you'll never have to suffer in this world of evil your family lives in now. Remember Addison that it's because of Jesus, your mommy and daddy whole family will see you again some day in Heaven when Jesus decides it's time. You need to pray to Jesus and ask Him to bring John Thomas and Landon to trust in Him by faith as soon as they are able to understand what Jesus did to save them. I know they are cute but they still have that sin problem that is going to have to be dealt with. That's what Aunt Rachel and Uncle Thomas, Momma Ginny and Daddy Stephen are praying for those boys, it's what Nana and Pops are praying for as well. We're all so thankful Jesus made a way for our sin problem to be cured and forgiven if people would just trust Him by faith.

One more thing Addison, would you give Jesus a hug from Pops today and tell Him I love Him?  Would you please thank Him for His grace and mercy to our family. I'm thankful that you are in His care and for all that He does for us. I can't really express it appropriately, but I'm confident He'll know what I'm trying to say.
Happy Birthday!

Love,
Pops

After almost 27 years of marriage, I've learned a few things about my wife and myself. I am one of those people prone to get into a rut and stay there with my surroundings. I have stuff arranged a certain way in my office, on my desk, my dresser drawers and so forth. It used to stress me out when I noticed stuff was out of order. 27 years and 5 kids later, not so much. It's just that I was taught that old axiom "a place for everything and everything in its place" and I took that to heart. I never have to look for things because I know where they are for the most part.

One of the things I've learned to appreciate and love about my wife is she is an organizer. She makes our home a wonderful place to live and I look forward to coming home to our physical surroundings that make for a warm and inviting place. Early on in our marriage, living in a small old farmhouse, or living in a townhouse, she was constantly looking at how we could use the space better. I would come home and she'd announce she wanted to rearrange the furniture. Me being the "stick in the mud" creature of habit I am would generally protest and say "oh sweetie, it's just fine as it is." The truth is I was being lazy because her desire to rearrange the furniture meant lots of heavy lifting for me! She would lovingly explain all of the marvelous benefits we'd enjoy by moving stuff around and through her “subtle persuasion” (okay “subtle” may not be the right word...) I would help her move everything sometimes up or down multiple levels. Yes it was a pain, and yes I was sore for days afterward; but boy did I learn my wife was right! After she got me to cooperate, I would invariably enjoy the space much more and it would help our family tremendously to function more comfortably. 

I tell you this story because Calvary's ad hoc vision team and site plan development teams have been hard at work praying about our current ministry needs and future ministry needs that we believe the Lord would have us to do. With much input from church council, ministry team leaders, and a trusted architect who has donated lots and lots of professional time to us, we've been examining how our facilities enhance and/or hinder our ministries. We've been diligently looking at how we can appropriately and fully utilize the property the Lord has given to us right in the heart of Bel Air and Harford County. We've been prayerfully asking God to provide the vision for what He wants Calvary to be in order to reach as many people with the Gospel as we can.

We believe God in His sovereignty placed us where we are and with that understanding, we realize we have roughly 5 acres on this campus that still has room for some growth, but our physical lot has limits on the numbers of parking spaces that we could have as well as the size and type of any buildings we would potentially build. This will also directly impact the size of worship attendance as well and that is okay because we need to be planting new churches in other areas to "make it hard to go to Hell from Harford County."

The good news is through some conceptual drawings from our architect, we've seen we do have room to grow here. Through a number of meetings, discussions and prayer, we believe there is a need for a multipurpose type building that would house a gym to accommodate the physical activities of children and youth ministry that could also be used for outreach events involving sports. The space could be used for meals and fellowship and to minister to our community as well. When we say multipurpose, that is the best word to describe it and we've had a few “dream sessions” on Saturday mornings with key leaders asking how such a space would be used. It was exciting and encouraging to see what God could do to expand His kingdom through this type of space.

However, we also recognize that buildings take time to build and money to be raised and unless you have a clearly defined purpose for any building, it doesn't solve all the issues the ministry might need to address. The vision team and site plan development team have also been faithfully looking at our current use of space and we think there are a number of things we could do to help us use the current space we have in more effective, efficient and more importantly impactful ways. Our current layout worked well in the past but is that still true?

For example, let's say a young couple with 3 children arrives to visit Calvary for the first time on Sunday. They have a child in kindergarten, one in 2nd grade and a 7th grade teen; they also want to go to a young married class. They arrive right on time at 9:45 for Bible Study and show up at the greeters’ desk on the main floor by accident. They got lucky and found a parking spot out front, yet they drove around the building 3 times before finding that spot. They have to go down stairs to the preschool department and check in child 1. Take the elevator up two levels to get kids 2 and 3 checked in, then to get to the young married class, they have to back down two levels to the fellowship hall and they are forced to open a curtain and step into a crowded room of adults sitting around a table with no extra seats and worse they interrupted the guy praying and everybody instinctively looks up at them! Talk about an intimidating 1st visit! By this time it is nearly 10:10 they are majorly uncomfortable and completely turned around having no idea how to get back to retrieve their children so they miss concentrating on the Bible Study. If you were this couple, how likely would you be to return with your family the following week?

Sadly, this scenario happens currently at Calvary with great regularity. The good news is that for the most part, our church family is a warm and friendly bunch and the love you show helps people overcome the barriers in place. But we need to remove barriers for people to help them come to Christ. I have shared a couple of times as part of my vision casting responsibilities the message from Mark 2 I called "A recipe for our future." That text from Mark tells of four friends who carried a paralyzed man to Jesus who was teaching in a house that was packed and they couldn't get in. These amazing friends of this poor guy had the right mindset: A “Whatever it takes to get him to Jesus” attitude and they removed barriers to get the man to Christ, even tearing a hole in the roof! Jesus met the man's most important need of being forgiven of his sin, and then Jesus healed his physical need.

The point is that we need to have that same attitude here and see the reality of the barriers we have that could be corrected; not just from building a building, but by simply rearranging where classes meet for example. I'm sharing this information with you now because it is important for all of us to embrace some needed changes that must be made with our current space. There may be some remodeling that needs to be done, Bible Study classrooms may need to move to other locations to help our flow, function and God-given mandate (purpose) to make disciples. The leadership teams working on all this don't have all the answers, but we're confident by summer and in preparation for fall, we'll have a clearer picture of what needs to change.

We’re applying the practical principle “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” Some classes don't need to move at all and so we'll not move them. But if you're class is asked to move, please be cooperative and embrace the rearranging, knowing it has a well planned, thought out and prayed through purpose. We'll do our best to communicate and explain what is happening along the way. I know change can be difficult and reorganizing will involve some sweat equity, energy and significant financial resources. However like with our homes and families, rearranging, remodeling or even adding an addition at church can produce wonderful long term results as we keep our eyes on the God sized big picture of making disciples.

I need to run, sounds like I have a couch to move, from my little corner of the world to yours...

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com 

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

On my walk the other morning, there was a definite change in the air. I heard more birds singing than I had in a long time, the air temperature was decidedly more warm than in previous days, robins were digging up worms in my yard and on Main Street, trees were blooming with pink blossoms. Even I can figure out spring has sprung. The time has changed over to daylight savings time and my body is trying to adjust now to it being dark again when I take my high school son to school. What all this means in church life is that Easter will be upon us in a very short period of time. I love spring and I love Easter because we have the occasion to celebrate our risen Savior’s death, burial and resurrection.

The Easter season is a busy time in church life as we head into Palm Sunday when our choir and orchestra will sing and play the songs of the cross, we’ll observe the Lord’s Supper as part of that presentation in a special way and proclaim that Jesus Christ is risen indeed. On Good Friday, we’ll have our annual noontime service when many people from our community will come to Calvary to reflect on the cross and our Savior who laid down His life there and then share a fellowship meal together. Saturday will bring our annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt and then on Resurrection Sunday we will celebrate Jesus. The whole week will be an amazing time of worship, celebration and fun.

There are a number of ways for you to get involved. First and foremost is to begin to pray for God to speak to people who have not placed their faith and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. Easter is a prime time of year to invite people to church and they will come, they’ll hear the wonderful Gospel message and by the grace of God, they can be saved! Ask the Holy Spirit to draw men and women, boys and girls to Christ through our Easter ministries.

You can also volunteer to help at the Good Friday luncheon, or Saturday's pancake breakfast and egg hunt. Many hands make light work and you’ll be blessed and encouraged serving alongside your church family. Let the office know you can help even if for just a little while.

You can also take a few of the invite cards we have at the exits to make it easy to invite lost people to come with you to church. Don’t invite friends who already go to church. Focus on people who don’t attend anywhere or haven’t been in a long time. Offer to give them a ride and invite them to lunch afterwards to help them come. Why? Because you love them and you want them to know the Risen Savior!

On Easter Sunday, if you are able, park in the parking garage up the street to make room for our guests and walk down or catch the shuttle we’ll be running. Be looking for people you don’t recognize, great them warmly and love them like Jesus. Move to the middle of the row to make room for guests to sit on the ends. Don’t sit in the back rows, move forward and take seats closer to the front for the sake of our guests who come in late so our ushers can help them get seated quickly – Okay preacher, you’ve done gone to meddlin’! Seriously folks, think of it as though someone’s eternal future in heaven or hell depends on what you do that momentous Sunday – in reality, it does.

We’ve just begun our emphasis for our Annie Armstrong offering for North American Missions. Each week we’ll see how that offering is used to support missionaries and their work to reach people with the Gospel right here in North America. Our church goal is $16,000.00 and I realize the economy is bad and things are tight for everyone, I know you cannot out give God. I need you to prayerfully consider how you could give more than you’ve ever given before so we exceed this goal. We are at a critical time in human history, the Lord’s return is soon and people need the Lord. Your sacrificial gifts will help spread the gospel right here in our country and Canada. Having been a North American Missionary and church planter, I can tell you the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering is a great blessing to the missionaries who serve with NAMB.

I love Easter. I love proclaiming that Jesus Christ is risen and I always marvel at the gift of God’s grace in saving this sinner and turning me into a preacher. Let’s enjoy spring and let’s go fishing for souls this spring. Those robins in my yard remind me the early bird gets the worm. Start praying and inviting your lost friends and loved ones to church and be the early bird. “Going fishin’”; from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com  

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

That was part of the veteran missionary and Apostle Paul’s instructions to the believers in the Colossian Church in 4:2-3. His full statement was “Continue earnestly in prayer being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains…” The term “earnestly” could also be translated “steadfastly” or “fervently”. The idea is to engage in focused, intentional and resolute prayer. He also uses the term “vigilant” which means to be watchful in prayer – that term vigilant describes what is expected of a soldier guarding something or someone; they are to be wide-awake and on duty at their post. What was Paul asking this church to pray so intently about? He wanted them to pray to God with a thankful heart because God is the only God able to hear and answer prayer. But his specific request was for an open door for his missionary team to proclaim the word of God and preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was encouraging these believers to continue to pray earnestly and vigilantly for him and those with him as they proclaimed the Gospel and the Word of God.

Having just returned from an incredible trip to Africa, I feel a bit like the Apostle Paul because it was evident to all of us on our team and our missionaries there that God’s people were earnestly and vigilantly praying for us as we went out into the bush to engage people with the word of God and the message of Christ. Being on the receiving end of these kinds of prayers over the course of this trip, I have a renewed appreciation for the importance of prayer in furthering the work of the Kingdom. It is vital for the people of God to pray for the work of God whether here at Calvary or across the ocean reaching people without access to the Gospel.

Before we left the country, we left a daily prayer list and prayer cards for our church family to have so you would know how to pray specifically for this trip. In looking at that list of items we asked you to pray about, I think nearly every one of those prayer requests was answered. There were some we may not know how they were answered until we get to Heaven, but I know many of the measurable requests we saw answered in a God sized way. We’re looking forward to sharing about our trip during the Bible Study hour at 9:45 on Sunday March 11. Everyone from grade school, youth and adult classes will meet in the Sanctuary to hear this report. (For our devoted preschool workers, our team will be happy to come speak with you if you miss the report).

I will share a quick account of how your prayers were answered specifically. The last day of going to the bush, three of us men drove an hour and a half one way across non-paved roads/desert sand to go meet a man who was at best a “folk medicine man” or at worst an outright “witchdoctor.” The drive out to this place was quite rigorous (that’s a polite way to say it felt like it beat us to death) and I started to get sick about 15 minutes from our destination since I was in the back seat. Fortunately I recovered quickly when we arrived (answer to prayer). We met the man we were looking for riding out of his village to town on his horse. If we’d have been a mere 5 minutes later, we’d have missed him and driven out there for nothing. He forgot we were coming but God orchestrated it so we’d connect with him out there in the middle of nowhere. We went to his thatched roof hut/compound and sat in the shade to tell him Bible stories. I had the story of God healing Naaman in mind to share in order to make the point that God heals in ways so He alone gets the credit. However, our host was a hyper little man and he never really sat still long enough to talk. Instead, he got word to a number of other men in the area and before long about 10 men were in front of us to listen to Bible stories. Our missionary looked at me and said “tell the parable of the sower.” So I applied my principle of being flexible and told that parable and explained it’s meaning – of course through our missionary who interpreted for me and this took quite a while. I made the point Jesus made “He who has ears to hear let him hear.” We told them we had more stories to tell if they had ears to hear and that God wants them to produce fruit for Him. It turns out one of these men was the chief who is in control of this area. Our missionary shared with us later he had met the chief once before and basically said unless we were there to put in a well for them, he didn’t want to hear anything we had to say and we wouldn’t have permission to talk to his people. This time however, the chief said he wanted to hear more and invited the missionary (and us) to come back! He thanked me repeatedly as we walked to our truck to leave!

Only God could orchestrate such a dramatic change of attitude in one key man’s heart. God orchestrated the timing of our visit and that our medicine man contact was the means to introduce us to whom we were really there to see, the chief. Coincidence? Luck? Good fortune? No way! It was because God’s people were earnestly and vigilantly praying for us – for an open door to the word and to preach Christ. So my encouragement to you is to “Continue earnestly in prayer...” We must pray earnestly for God’s work in and through each of us believers. Prayer is the weapon Satan has no ability to stop (Eph.6:18), whether we go down the street to talk to our lost neighbor, our lost co-workers, classmates, or some village chief on the other side of the globe. The prayers of the saints of God have incredible impact for God’s kingdom and in encouraging saints who are in distress. Continuing earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving, from my little corner of the world to yours…

 

Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

  www.calvarybelair.com  

A well defined purpose…

As I write this, I’m amazed to see the date and that it’s already February as the year is off to a fast start. Not much has changed in a couple of thousand years of serving the Lord. You see in Mark 6:30-31, the Apostles came back to Jesus after He sent them out to do ministry and they told Him all about it including what they had had been teaching. Jesus’ response to them was refreshing in that he didn’t say, “get back out there and keep at it, time is money.” Instead, Jesus said “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.” Then we’re told “For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.” I love the fact that the Son of God pulled His disciples aside from the rigors of ministry in order to rest and refocus. Ministry picked back up immediately following this time away apparently with great impact with the feeding of the 5000 and a myriad of other miracles shortly after.

With all the hubbub of the holidays and the start of the new year, the earliest time our pastoral staff could pull aside for a planning and visioning retreat was at the end of January. For two days we pulled out of the office and set aside a time to worship together, pray together and work on refining our purpose as a church and our leadership roles. In my “State of the Church” address on January 8^th, I stated that we need to analyze what it is that we do and simplify a number of things that hinder the work of the ministry. We seem to have much that keeps us very busy but we need to ask what impact does this busy schedule and myriad of processes actually have? 

I’m thrilled to tell you that our time spent together was a blessing and encouragement to each of us. I believe we came out of this planning retreat recharged, refocused and excited about our future together. We talked much about the need for a well defined purpose for all of our ministries and activities we engage in at Calvary. Most of the time the first instinct is to talk about what we should do and while that is important, what we do should flow out of our purpose. Purpose helps answer the question “Why are we here?” Purpose is not a goal to shoot for; it is our reason for being. Purpose provides direction, boundaries and motivation; a well defined purpose will move you forward to make a great impact. Plans, goals and activities should all flow out of the purpose. Purpose also helps you identify things you will not do.

On the flip side, lack of purpose leads to a meager impact at best. A lack of purpose shifts the focus from ministering to people to a maintenance mode of maintaining programs or massaging personalities. We asked some tough questions related to what drives our church. Is it tradition – doing what we’ve always done? Is it personality – doing what he or she wants done? Is it finances – doing only what we can afford to do? Maybe programs drive the church – doing what everybody else is doing (or because the publishing arm of our denomination is pushing it). Maybe facilities drive the church – doing only what our space allows. Events can drive the church – doing what everyone expects. Some churches have allowed un-churched people to drive what they do so they do everything they can to make church not seem like church – (that sounds silly and it is silly!) Sometimes a “maintenance mode” drives the church – doing just what is needed to achieve last year’s results. These are tough questions to be sure and it’s okay to be honest that some of these components have driven us and currently drive us as a whole or specific ministries. We can’t improve what we’ve not willing to identify as a problem. We also need to understand that sometimes maintenance mode is a necessity because we lack appropriate leadership but it shouldn’t remain that way. These ways of thinking and “leading” don’t leave room to dream of what God might want to do in and through the ministry. Healthy churches are driven by purpose and I know all of us as a staff desire for us to be a healthy church that is flourishing for our Lord Jesus Christ and for His honor and glory.

This idea of a well defined purpose is not new and many of you have probably read this stuff before in Dr. Rick Warren’s books “The Purpose Driven Life” or “The Purpose Driven Church.” Since I don’t want to be guilty of plagiarism, much of these ideas come out of those works. I believe Dr. Warren actually got his ideas from Jesus because everything the Lord did flowed out of His purpose to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The principles shared in those resources are very helpful and practical for both churches and individuals to identify their purpose. Now don’t worry, we as a staff have no intention of trying to turn Calvary into a Saddleback Church clone. Many church leaders have made the mistake of trying to take what works in a Southern California context and make those strategies and goals their own. In the process, they ignore their own ministry context and wonder why it doesn’t work. They simply didn’t take time to identify their own purpose, they just adopted Saddleback plans.

The great thing about a well defined purpose is that it forges your own unique identity and shows us we can minister appropriately according to our unique context here in Harford County. One of the things we want to do this year as a staff is to lead us to help define our purposes. We got the ball rolling a few years ago when we identified our purpose as “Encountering God, Experiencing Life Change.” That’s our DNA, our purpose in a simple concise statement – We want to be encountering God as we “do life together.” We affirm that authentic God encounters always result in lives being changed.

This year we’re going to be encouraging us to think in terms of purpose across the board in our ministries. Our ministries must flow out of our overall purpose of encountering God, experiencing life change in the cyclical process of making disciples. We’re going to have a great time working through this together among our ministry team leaders (our committees). As you see some changes being made, it’s because we are identifying a well defined purpose for ministry so we can introduce more people to the Lord Jesus Christ and make Christ followers out of them.  From an eternal perspective, that is the best purpose any individual or church family can have! It will be challenging, it will cause us to think, evaluate and examine if we’re actually carrying out our purpose. But I am convicted to the depth of my soul we must engage in this healthy dialogue of defining our purpose or we’ll be no further down the road of making disciples 10 years from now than the hamster that runs the little treadmill all day long. The poor critter is wiped out from lots of activity and spent energy but never got anywhere!

So let us begin this journey together of a well defined purpose, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com 

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

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Christmas decorations put away, all the college football bowl games are over and the NFL playoffs are in full swing (Go Ravens!), annual “State of the Church” message has been preached, discipleship classes have started, it’s cold, it must be January. We’re off to a great start at Calvary after a nice Christmas and New Year break from our regular schedule of events. Our Wednesday evening schedule has resumed with our AWANA ministry to disciple children and is cranked up and running again for the Spring semester. These children are hiding God’s Word in their hearts, they are studying to be Approved Workman who Are Not Ashamed (AWANA). We have some dedicated leaders who work with nearly 100 children weekly making disciples of grade school aged children. This is an enormous opportunity and responsibility God has given us to plant the Gospel, a love for Jesus and His Word deep into the hearts of these children. We have a number of children whose parents do not regularly attend Calvary but over the years we’ve seen several families come to Calvary because of our AWANA ministry.

Right now they are gearing up for the AWANA Olympics where our team will travel to another church in Maryland to compete in the games they play. If you’ve ever wondered about the red, blue, green and yellow stripes on the fellowship hall floor, that’s for AWANA games. Their game time is a lot of fun as I’ve been down there during our second hour helping out. I need to make an appeal for help in this critical ministry especially during the 2^nd hour from 7:15-8:15, especially for our men to step up and help. Our AWANA commander (who happens to be this pastor’s wife) has her hands full during that period because this is when our Sparks group of Kindergarten, 1^st & 2^nd grades are doing their game time. There are over 40 children in the Sparks group and without enough supervision and adults providing instruction for the games… let’s just say I think it would be easier to herd cats from Maryland out to the West Texas prairie. I know that may not be the best way to recruit but it’s the current reality because we don’t have nearly enough adults in 2^nd hour. Many of our volunteers work with the Sparks 1^st hour but then head out to choir practice 2^nd hour so there is a void during the game time. I know it may be hard for many of you to arrive by our early 6:15 start time but making it to church by 7:15 would be no problem for you. The games are simple and the kids are obedient and listen because they want to play the games. Because of their ages and attention span, we need a 1 adult to 2 children ratio for it run smoothly. What we have currently is about a 1 adult to 8-10 children ratio and we need to change that! It really helps if we have a number of men involved because you just have a way of being “large and in charge”. There is a game leader who gives clear instructions, your job should you choose to accept it, is to take those instructions and help line the kids up, get them ready for the game and cheer them on. (This tape will not self destruct in 5 seconds…I’ll keep repeating it till we get helpJ!)  The children have a ball blowing off energy after studying God’s Word and memorizing Scripture; a well run game time sends them and our leaders home happy and encouraged about their night at AWANA. I can tell you I participated in AWANA when I was in grade school and most of the verses I have committed to memory I learned in the AWANA club. If you want to help, you need to call Cheryl Green to see how you can get involved.

January also means for myself, Michele Emerson, Patty Wackford, and Matt Cruikshank, we’re less than a month away from our trip back to the region of West Africa I went last year to explore mission partnership opportunities. Because of security concerns for our IMB personnel, I’ll not share more about where we’re going specifically in this context. There is a bulletin board from our Mission’s Committee by the Greeters Desk that explains this. We’ll be working with Hausa and Fulani people groups telling Bible stories in their language with audio recordings and picture books, helping build relationships so the Gospel can take root in a Muslim culture. We’re also taking equipment to help the missionary show the Jesus film for the first time in the villages he’s been working in which will be a huge opportunity to see many people turn to Christ. I’ve heard of many accounts where the Lord used this video in other contexts to reach entire villages with the Gospel and the response was tremendous. The need is great, the people are friendly and receptive to this good news and it speaks volumes to them that we Americans would travel all the way around the world to share this important news they have not heard before. We also desire greatly to be a big encouragement to our missionary personnel faithfully serving there.

The logistics of this trip are very hard. Getting there literally is the most difficult and expensive part flying commercial air as far as we can to the capital city and then taking a small missionary aviation plane out into the bush where we’ll be working. 4 days of the 12 day trip are consumed with travel. Our team has been training on what to expect, the culture of the people, learning some basic greetings, getting all the paperwork, shots and gear ready. What we need is your prayers because Satan certainly doesn’t want us to go. Pray for the logistics of travel, for our luggage to arrive in full and especially for our equipment as we have to leave our large luggage at a bus station overnight to be shipped out to the missionary house since the small plane cannot take it. Pray for health, strength and a flexible attitude for all of our team members so the work of sharing Jesus would not be hindered. It would be easier to stay home quite honestly, but when I think it would have been easier for Jesus to stay home in Heaven than to come to earth in order to reach this hard-headed sinner, I’m grateful Jesus came so I could be forgiven. I can’t wait to share that with these special peoples. Our church is fully committed to mission endeavors as we develop an Acts 1:8 strategy, in this case to the uttermost parts of the earth, to expand God’s kingdom. Thank you in advance for praying for this trip and for our team.

God has great plans for us at Calvary in 2012 and we’re off to a great start. Let’s be obedient, let’s be faithful, and let’s celebrate Jesus as we encounter God and experience life change each week. Let’s ask God to help us introduce others to Him and to make us sensitive to the people around us and especially the children God has brought to us. Looking forward to a great year of serving the Lord together, from my little corner of the world to yours…

  Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

  www.calvarybelair.com  

I’m kind of in shock. I find myself here at the beginning of 2012 wondering what in the world happened and where in the world did 2011 go? Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Year have come and gone with what seems like the speed of light but I kind of feel that way about the whole of 2011 also. Time off from the regular schedule and routine has been a nice break. Having the kids out of school and a chance to sleep in and catch up on some much needed rest has been great. Going to parties or special events has been nice but the regular schedule and routine are slamming us all back to reality. The alarm clock for the high school kids sounds much too early and the pace of life is at freeway speed once again. So much of I wanted to accomplish in 2011 did not happen but that’s okay because I always have more work to do than I’ll ever get to in my lifetime (or at least what I think needs to happen).

By the time you get this article, I will have shared what I call “The State of the Church” message. It is an opportunity to reflect on the past year and the work the Lord has done through us. It’s been a good year for Calvary over all and we celebrate what God has done. As a leader however, I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to the Philippian Church as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil.3:13-14).” How many New Year messages have come from that text down through the ages?

Paul was a goal setting visionary leader who did not want to dwell in the proverbial “good ole days.” Paul was looking forward to the new adventure that awaited him in his walk with Christ. That’s the way we Christians are called to live; with eyes for the future and what the Lord would have us to do. I encourage you to set some goals for this New Year, prayerfully asking the Lord to help you with this in all areas of life. Ask the Lord to help you choose your priorities carefully and in a way that would be pleasing to Him realizing your life is not your own but it belongs to God. What I love about Paul’s writing here in Philippians is the encouragement that even if you blow it, you can put it behind you and press on.

An amazing Biblical principle and truth is that by God’s grace, we can always start fresh with God, not just at the start of a New Year, but literally at the end of every day and if we’re willing to, we can start fresh with God the second we blow it and the Holy Spirit convicts of us sin if we’ll repent immediately and ask for forgiveness. I think one critical mark of a Spirit filled Christian is one who takes responsibility for and repents immediately of sin in their life upon conviction. They don’t gloss over it, attempt to rationalize or justify it, they don’t blame-shift, and their response is like David’s when convicted of sin. “I have sinned against the Lord…(2^nd Sam.12:13)”.

I think one worthwhile goal every Christian ought to set is to resolve to repent the moment the Holy Spirit knocks on your hearts door and says “Hey pal, you blew it there.” The response should be: “You’re right Lord. I’m so sorry for that sin, would you please forgive me?” By doing so your relationship with Christ can be restored instantly and the repentant believer can have fellowship with Christ restored.

As we begin 2012 together as a church family, I believe the Lord has great plans for us this year. I believe we can make a huge difference for God’s kingdom if we resolve to put the Lord first in everything. Your Ministerial Staff will be making some plans and developing some strategies for this year at the end of January for two days of prayer and dreaming with God about what He wants us to do. We’ll be challenging our church leaders to examine their purpose for existence as a ministry and how that purpose fits into the overall vision and mission of our church. Where change is needed, we need to be flexible and willing to change. In areas and with processes that work well, we need to continue to be faithful but we need to be able to learn how to apply principles from that successful ministry into other areas. I’m excited to have an almost complete compliment of ministerial staff and office staff. But we cannot do what God is asking of us as a church without the dedicated service and ministries of our members. Will it be hard at times? It will be excruciatingly hard at times when personal life and church life vie for the precious commodity of time. I love the attitude of one of our men as I had lunch with him the other day. The gist of what he said was “I have resolved that whenever God asks me to do something, I’m going to say yes no matter how much I already have on my plate.” I was so encouraged by his tremendous attitude that his life belongs to the Lord and whatever God wants is what he plans to do with his time, effort, energy and resources. That attitude first is a God honoring attitude but it is contagious and exciting and I want our church family to approach 2012 with that same attitude because eternity is at stake for millions of people around this world.

Let’s press on together, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let’s let that be our reality here at Calvary. Looking forward to 2012, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com 

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

Since we no longer live in a mostly agricultural or farming culture anymore, the principle of sowing and reaping is somewhat foreign to many of us. The principle is simple, what you sow or plant in the ground, will allow you to reap and harvest the fruit of what you planted later on. Oh there is a lot that happens in between the sowing and reaping/harvest time to ensure you have a good crop. Water, sun, fertilizer, pulling weeds and a whole lot of patient waiting, in some cases months or even years before you see fruit and enjoy it. Planting a sapling orange tree in the fertile Rio Grande Valley of South Texas where we lived for many years will take about 5 years to produce mature oranges. Some pear trees are the slowest in producing fruit, in some cases 6-12 years of waiting before the first pear is plucked and it’s sweet fruit is enjoyed.

God talks about this principle and through the Apostle Paul, He encouraged the Galatians in Gal. 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” It’s really easy to grow weary in sowing – in the context here of sowing good. Often the good may not seem good to others, especially in disciplining and correcting our children. The kids pretty much hate it; and make it clear they hate it. Consistently witnessing to a lost friend or family member may not seem good to them and they may respond with anger or reject us as friends. That kind of stuff can make you weary. Yet God makes a promise: “in due season, we shall reap…” Notice the harvest, the reaping happens in season. God doesn’t necessarily reveal when the reaping season is, but He promises there will be a harvest. His promise here is contingent on not giving up or quitting. The phrase “if we do not lose heart” is an old fashioned way of saying “if we don’t throw in the towel and quit.” Quitting guarantees the harvest will not come. Briars, thorns, weeds, animals, scorching heat, lack of water – downright neglect of the crop, quitting guarantees there will be no fruit at harvest time. In this context, the fruit produced from doing good, won’t be there because someone lost heart and quit. God’s encouragement is to keep at it. Keep sowing and working that field and in due season, you’ll enjoy the fruit.

I had something happen to me this week illustrating the principle of sowing and reaping proves true once again and it brought me tremendous encouragement. Briefly, it had to do with the church my family and I planted by God’s grace in New England. We labored diligently for 5 years and poured much blood, sweat and tears into that field God called us to work. We saw some great times of harvest as we literally plowed granite in the Granite State and gave everything we had to birth a church with just the 7 in my family. We had much support from our home church, FBC McAllen and my beloved Pastor Bill Sutton, along with many other SBC churches. In those 5 years, we saw old Satan pull out all the stops to try and keep this fledgling church plant from happening. By the grace of God, we eventually saw 130 or so gathering for worship weekly and saw the church beginning to flourish with disciples being produced. Yet there was a problem. God needed to move me out of the way. The reason why is not important for this discussion. In my heart, in spite of my desire to start and pastor the same church for 30 or more years, I knew God was going to move me to another field of service. After a year of praying about it and waiting on the Lord, God spoke clearly and moved us to Houston to labor in the vineyard there.

There was a plan in place for the transition for the church; a seasoned interim pastor was to come on board but at the last minute, his wife became ill and he could not take the position. The lay leaders I had trained and handed leadership over to had some deep struggles internally after we left and sadly Satan got a foothold. From the bits and pieces we heard, the church pretty much shriveled up and for all practical purposes, had died. Many key leaders we love dearly left the church and found places elsewhere to serve. No one really communicated with us so we Greens had no idea what all happened. It was like we fell off the planet and for years heard nothing. Someone told our home church in McAllen the church had closed and that news broke our hearts. I found myself questioning whether it was worth it. My kids were broken at the thought that all those labors were for naught. We grieved as a family. My wife and I have shed many tears together and prayed for that church, wondering if our labors there were in vain…until this past Tuesday.

The short story is I got a call from the original man I called “our person of peace” when we began to plant the church. This gentleman had been so helpful to us in helping us learn the community and avoid some pitfalls. He was un-churched at the time having been hurt in another church. He was a believer who had great leadership in his former church. It took many years but he began attending. In my discussions with him, he shared the church had gone through some deep waters because of poor decisions made after I left and attendance dwindled down to 7 or 8 people. But the church had called a New England native, serving in Arizona to be their pastor and now after 2 years of ministering, they had over 70 in worship last Sunday! At a recent fellowship dinner, they had over 100 attend and needed to cart in more tables and chairs! This man shared he often testifies to the labors and the foundation that was laid by our ministry there. The church continues to support our convention and missions and God is working!

Later on I checked out the church website and was astounded to see the pictures of ministry and gospel witness the church is engaged in with people being baptized, new faces I don’t know, new life, new preschoolers, grade school kids, new praise team. The church not only has a pulse, but it is flourishing! The tears of weeping I have shed in prayer for that little church plant over these years, wondering if we’d failed or misunderstood God’s call, gave way to tears of rejoicing! I shared this news with my family and they wept for joy also. I love what Paul said to the Corinthian church in 1^st Cor. 3:6 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” Praise be to God! Thanks Lord, I needed that! In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build His church. Personally seeing Him do that in the face of Satan and his minions just fires me up!

The lesson is simple: Don’t quit! You will reap in due season, just don’t quit! Keep teaching dear Bible Study teacher when you think no one is listening or cares. Keep working with those little kids in the nursery; keep teaching those grade school children. Keep ministering to teenagers when they wear you out. Keep correcting your children mom and dad and teach them Biblical truth and principles, don’t quit single mom being dad and mom to your children, invest in those grandkids even though they seem to be straying from God. Keep working on your marriage when you think it’s hopeless. Keep loving on that friend, family member or co-worker that is lost and keep sharing Jesus with them. Keep speaking the truth in love to those basket case friends who keep making stupid decisions. Be courageous and just don’t quit working for the Lord! God promises you’ll reap in due season, on His time, if you keep sowing good and do not quit. I’m rejoicing in tears and praising the Lord for the principle of sowing and reaping, from my little corner of the world to yours…

  Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

  www.calvarybelair.com  

We have been subjected to relentless news media speculation, polls, pundits and prognosticators about the 2012 Presidential Election. Who is the best candidate, who is leading the latest poll, who has the best plan for economic recovery and so forth. You also hear a lot about government spending and calls for balancing the budget and fiscal responsibility. For all the hot air blowing out of politicians’ mouths in Washington DC just 65 miles south of us, you’d think our climate would be more tropical and there would never be a need for a jacket!

Well at Calvary, we take the concepts of fiscal responsibility and balancing our budget seriously because we are stewards of money that does not belong to us, it belongs to God who will hold us accountable for how we us it. (Wow – what a novel concept for our government – stewardship & accountability because the money they’re responsible for belongs to someone else! Sigh.)  We began our budget process in July of this year and after many rounds of discussion and tedious work, we believe we have a balanced budget plan for our church in 2012. Often the task of budgeting for ministry needs is pretty overwhelming and hard to actually calculate. Since we know it gets more expensive every year to operate, the ministry leader might create a safety valve and simply add 3, 4 or 5 percent to what was budgeted last year trying to plan and anticipate ministry needs. Sometimes this approach serves us well and we’re right on target.

For the first time in our church history that I’m aware of, our 2011 budget was just over $1,000,000 (one million dollars). While that is exciting to some degree, we’ve not consistently been meeting our weekly budget need this year. What I’ve learned in my experience and have been taught is that not meeting your budget need over the course of the year can have a negative effect on your overall church giving. People see that you are not meeting your budget and can become discouraged that it cannot be made up if the target is too far out there.

Okay, this is where I need to say “relax and take a deep breath” for some of you because you’re worried about the financial health of your church. We are fine financially. Our church is a great steward of the resources God gives us for ministry. Even though we’re behind in our budget giving, we never spend more than we take in and there are things we budgeted for that we’ve not spent or it cost less than we figured. This combined with the fact we’ve not been paying an associate pastor or full time ministry secretary mean we’ll end 2011 with a budget surplus that we’ll save toward future ministry needs. So the church is in sound financial shape and God’s people are faithful to give to support the work of the kingdom.

One of the things I asked our finance committee and our ministry leaders to do this year was to prepare their Ministry Action Proposals (MAPS) based on actual expenditures. This approach gives us a more accurate picture of what we really need to have to fund the ministries at Calvary. It is still hard however because of the generosity of God’s people who pay for ministry related needs out of their own pockets and never turn in receipts for us to reimburse them for those expenses. I have asked our ministry leaders and finance committee to pare this budget down to a more realistic figure but also maintaining a faith component and to dream God sized dreams for what He wants to do through our church ministries in 2012. This is no small challenge! I'm pleased that the finance committee's hard work has reduced our overall budget that we as a church family will discuss on Sunday evening November 20th. In this issue of "The Way", you will find a copy of this budget plan for 2012.

As your Pastor, there are several things I would like to ask of you related to this budget proposal. First of all, I’d like for you to review this prayerfully and become familiar with it knowing it represents much hard work by our ministry leaders and finance committee. Secondly, I’d like for you to plan to attend our budget discussion Church in Conference on Sunday evening November 20^th at 5:00 p.m. so you can make an informed decision regarding our church budget. That meeting is your opportunity to ask questions or provide input to our budget process. I’m concerned that the vast majority of our members will vote on such a critical church family issue as our ministry budget and have no idea or understanding what they are voting on because they did not come to the discussion meeting. Thirdly, be ready to support the final adopted budget with your vote on Sunday December 4^th. Finally, prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you commit to regarding your offering giving over and above your tithe. The tithe is non-negotiable to the Lord, 10% of your income belongs to God (Malachi 3:10). What you need to ask God to show you is what He wants you to commit to give in 2012 as an offering to Him. That is the percentage over 10% you give to the Lord. I remember my pastor years ago saying “The tithe is a good place to start but a terrible place to end.” I whole heartedly affirm that. Some years God has told me to give 11%, one year I remember God had me to commit to 14% of my income. Whatever God says to you, you can commit to be obedient to Him knowing He will provide.

Remember Paul’s inspired message to the Corinthian Church in 2^nd Cor. 9:6-8 “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

I praise God for the generosity of our Calvary Baptist Church family and for your faithfulness to the Lord in your tithes and offerings for Kingdom work. I appreciate all the hard work all of our ministry leaders in this budget process and our Finance Committee, particularly the leadership of our Chairman Bill Karczeski. I believe God has great things in store for us as church family in 2012 and I am excited to see what God will do as we partner together, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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