Category Archives: Church Growth

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For Parents

childs hands

This Winter we have two great opportunities for every parent at Calvary.  First, Pastor Clark and I will be teaching a two week class addressing issues surrounding parents and their kids use of technology.  We find stats such as the average child is first exposed to pornography on the internet at the age of 12 staggering, and we want to do something about them.  So, we are going to teach this class for parents addressing issues such as how to filter content on the internet, monitor their kids on Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, the whole gamut. We’ll also be sure to leave some time at the end of each class for parents to ask any questions they like on the topic.  The class is scheduled for January 23rd and 30th at 10:15. Location TBA.

Then on February 5th Calvary is hosting a Home Improvement Ministries conference entitled “Sacred Parenting in a Not So Sacred World.” Gary Thomas is the guest speaker so it guaranteed to be a worthwhile day.  Here is a brief write-up on the conference…

In a world that is less than “sacred,” we as parents are often at a loss on how to raise kids who honor God, their parents and others.  We’re looking for easy steps to “new kids” when we may do better to look first at our own lives.  Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Marriage and Sacred Parenting, helps us understand “How Raising Children Shapes Our Souls.”  In addition to Gary Thomas’ three plenary sessions, practical workshops will round out this incredibly important day.

You can find out more about the conference by checking out this site.

If you’re a parent be sure not to miss out on these two great opportunities.

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The Digital Story of the Nativity

This has 850,000+ views on Youtube, but I just stumbled across it.  Interesting to think what the birth of Christ might have looked like if it happened today….

If you can’t see the video click here.

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A Lesson From the Ballet

Last night my wife and I went to see the Nutcracker in Boston with some friends.  I got into the set design and theatrics a little more than the ballet, but one thing in particular intreged me about the performance…there were no words.  No lines for the actors to recite, no songs that were sung.  The only way the story was communicated was non-verbally.  I knew this would be the case, but it amazed how they were able to clearly communicate a whole story without saying a single word.  The old study that says most communication is non-verbal didn’t apply to The Nutcracker, as 100% of the story was communicated without words.

Nutcracker

As I sat there watching the performance a quote attributed to Francis of Assisi came to mind, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”

Quite often, we tell the story of how Christ has changed our lives by the way we live out our lives.  When we won’t cut corners at work that tells part of the story to our co-workers.  When we are the same person at church and at home that tells the story to our family.  When we are kind and cheerful that tells the story to our neighbors.  How we live our lives often tells more about how Christ has changed us than with what we say with our mouths.

Don’t get me wrong using our words to tell people about Christ is still terribly important.  Christ told his disciples to go into all the world and preach.  Following that command you see the disciples using their words quite often.  Don’t believe me, just read the Book of Acts.  The truth is that command wasn’t just for the disciples, it is for us too.

But the disciples didn’t win people over with just their speech.  Acts 4:13 states, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”  It wasn’t what they said, it was how they said it.  They lived their lives with courage and people could tell that they had been with Christ.  The disciples talked about Christ a lot, but their speech and their actions matched up.  Their actions amplified their speech.  Often you don’t see that with Christians.  Some will  say one thing in church on Sunday morning, but the way the live their lives Monday to Saturday doesn’t back up their words.

Can people tell you follow Christ by the way you live your life?  Do you actions match your words, or do your actions give some non-verbal clues that you may not believe the words that are coming our of your own mouth?  What story do your actions tell?

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Christmas Eve

This past weekend we had 2,218 people come out to see The Gospel According to Scrooge at Calvary.  That shatters last years attendance high of 1,514.  We actually had so many people attend on Saturday and Sunday nights that we had to turn people away, as we simply didn’t have enough seats.   Top top it all off we had 25 people accept Christ as this year’s performances.  And the holiday season is just warming up.

christmas time

This Sunday you do not want to miss church.  We have a special Christmas performance by our worship team and a few others.  Then on December 24th we will be having our candlelight communion service at 6:00.  This Christmas Eve service is one of the highlights on our church calendar every year.  The service starts at 6:00 PM, but I would recommend arriving early to get a good seat.

To check out everything that is going on around the church checkout the website at www.lynnfield-ccc.org.

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Breakthrough [Great Quotes]

“If…your soul cries out to God, for the living God, and your dry and empty heart despairs of living a normal Christian life…then I ask you: Is your desire all absorbing?  Is it the biggest thing in your life?…If your heart cries “Yes” to the questions you may be on your way to spiritual breakthrough that will transform your whole life.”

– A.W. Tozer, in Keys to the Deeper Life

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/79102167@N00/12687461/

On the contrary, if your desire is half-hearted.  If you want God on your terms and on your schedule.  If He is only a small part of your life, then be prepared to live continue living a dry and and empty life.

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Christmas Season at Calvary

This past weekend we kicked off the Christmas season here at Calvary with A Night in Bethlehem.  If you missed last Sunday night you missed an incredible time.  We had several hundred people touring ancient Bethlehem, which was constructed in our church basement.  They saw all sorts of shops with cool crafts and games, 70+ sheep, manger scene, and so much more.  Definitely some major improvements this year.  A special thanks to everyone who helped out, and to all those who participated.

As great as last weekend was it was only the beginning of what we have planned for this Christmas season at Calvary.  Tomorrow begins our performances of The Gospel According to Scrooge.  We have four performances this year Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 6:30, and a matinee peformance at 2:00 PM on Saturday.

We also have a Christmas Eve Service at 6:00 pm on the 24th, and even some special Christmas festivities for some of our services leading up to Christmas.  For a full listing of events that are going on around the church check out our website at www.lynnfield-ccc.org.

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The Wrong Goal

“He [Christ] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”  – Paul in Colossians 1:28-29.

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/bpc009/3286015968/

Many churches are short-sighted.  Many focus entirely on the number of people they can get out to church, and not on the spiritual growth of the people sitting in the pews.  Don’t get me wrong, it is important to count how many people are coming out to church.  As the old axiom goes, you should “Count people, because people count.”  Every person is an eternal soul, and if the number of people coming out the church is not growing, or worse is getting smaller, then there is a problem.  A large Sunday morning attendance though, is only a small part of the picture.

I don’t think Christ had a large group of uncommitted undiscipled believers in mind when he pictured His church.  In fact, Christ always seemed to be running the uncommitted crowd away.  Yet, many churches seem content with filled pews.  They seem to think God is happy with a full church, yet Paul in Colossians 1 says that ultimately that is not what we are working towards.

“So that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”  That is the ultimate goal.   Mature believers, that is what churches should be counting in addition to Sunday attendance.  Not just how many people fill a pew, but also how many people are involved in ministry, how many people attend a small group, how many people are involved in personal evangelism, how many people are parenting their kids in a godly way, how many people are applying Biblical ethics in their marriage and their work, how many mature believers there are as a result of the church’s ministry.

It was to this end that Paul strenuously contended, and it should be the end that we work towards as well.

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Giving Thanks

If anyone had a reason to not be thankful it was them.  They had just been conquered by a foreign army, despite being the children of God.  Their city lay in ruins.  Their kings and leaders were removed. The people where starving in the streets with no food to mock.  Their enemies mocked them, and their friends and allies abandoned them.  It had become so bad that the people in Jerusalem somberly stated in Lamentations 2:5, “The Lord is Like an enemy.”  Basically they were saying, “God, why is this going on?  Where are you at?”

Pumpkin

You would think that if there was anyone who would have a hard time giving thanks it would be these people.   Their city destroyed, their nation in shambles, their lives turned upside down.  Yet they stated in Lamentations 3:21-25, “Therefore I have hope; because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.  I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion.'”

In this midst of tragedy these people realized that they had at least one thing to be thankful for, and that was that God was there for them.

This past Thanksgiving you may have struggled to come up with something to be thankful for.  Maybe you lost someone dear to you this year.  Maybe you or a loved one is facing a major medical issue.  Maybe the stack of unpaid bills just gets taller and taller.  Whatever is going on in your life you have at least one reason to be thankful, and that is that God is there for you.

The people of Jerusalem realized this.  Even in the midst of great tragedy they had at least one reason to be thankful.  And so do you.

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Worship Leads to Missions

Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is only only step from rapturous worship to a radiant missionary spirit.”

To The Ends of the Earth

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/bemky/2948751601

The Lord’s Prayer starts out in worship by saying “Our Father, hallowed be thy name.”  The next line is about missions, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Worship leads to missions.  Or, perhaps I should say, true worship leads to missions.  If we worship God wholeheartedly then then out of that pure worship you would expect to see commitment to what is most important to Him.  If on the other hand our worship is half-hearted then one would expect some to see some pathetically diluted down form of Christianity lived out in the life of the “worshiper.”

So the question to ask is does our worship lead us to be passionate about those things that God is passionate about?  Does our worship lead to missions?

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A Moment That Changed My Life

There have been a few moments that have radically changed my life.  The moment I became a Christian.  When Becky and I met, and when we got married.  The day my son was born.

Nicaragua Poverty

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/croma/457713321/

There was another moment that changed my life.  It happened while I was on a missions trip to Mexico.

I was a 21 year old intern working for the Youth Department Northern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God.  My job was to help lead a group of teenagers on a missions trip to Reynosa, Mexico.  We did a lot of ministry that week, but one moment stands out more than all the others combined.

One afternoon we headed out to an outreach.  I didn’t know exactlly where we were going, only that we reaching out to some children.  As we drove, we passed by parks and schools with tons of kids, so when turned down a dirt road that seemed to be leading to the middle of nowhere I started to question our host missionaries strategic intelligence.

The road didn’t end up leading nowhere, it ended up in the city dump. I remember being confused as to why we were at the dump, and not back at one of the parks we passed, but as soon as we unloaded the truck and turned on the sound system I understood why were there.

When the music started playing people, kids, started coming out….literally from under the trash.

As we ministered in the dump that day I saw poverty first hand.  I saw kids without clean water, without adequate clothing or shoes, with houses made out of cardboard, and families whose food consisted of the trash others had thrown away.

This is a little embarrasing to say, as I was 21 at the time, but until that day I didn’t realize what poverty was.  I honestly don’t know that it had clicked in my brain that there were kids dying every day from malnutrition, from diseases they caught from drinking contaminated water.  I don’t know that I really grasped that there were children who had no homes to live in, or schools to attend.

That moment changed my life.  The size of my world more than doubled that day.  I realized that there is a big world, with a lot of big problems, outside of Missouri.  On that day I vowed that I would be someone who got involved in helping to solve some of these problems.  This one moment in my life is a major reason I am both the sponsor of a Compassion child, and am a Compassion Advocate.  It is a major reason I love BGMC as much as I do, and am driving to Panama to raise support for “No Child Without.”

I’m thankful that I experienced the dump on that day.  It changed my life.

What about you, have you had a moment that changed your life, your perspective, your entire world?