Life Happens in Decades

Life happens in decades.  I have taught it for years.  I did not invent the concept, 

but I have lived long enough to recognize its truth.

This week, my wife and I celebrate our 

20^th wedding anniversary. 

This milestone has proven to be a great place to pause and reflect on the life that we have shared.  I have spent a great deal of time contemplating all that our life has enjoyed and endured.  Such contemplation has served to under-gird the thought that life is full of blessing – even in the midst of trial.

I think about the start of our life together, and the obstacles that we faced.  

 In the beginning, there were some in our lives who loved us very much, who were determined that should we marry, our marriage would be full of trouble and that it would most likely meet with drastic and disastrous conclusion.  The nay-sayers, while few, were often the loudest sound in the room.  It was often very difficult to think or reason beyond the opposition that ensued.  Yet, we did.  Both of us were determined in our heart that our marriage was not simply something that we desired, but something that God was orchestrating.  

 There was a plan for each of us, but more importantly, there was a plan or both of us together… 

and it would take the two of us being one to fulfill that purpose. 

In entering that marriage, we considered what we would accomplish in ten years.  

Then, we did it.  We married and like any marriage, found that not everything was easy.  In fact, marriage is hard…particularly when you are determined to do more than survive.

A lot happened in that first decade.  We learned early on that we had to be (meaning, “I” had to be) extremely careful in our spending…to live within our means.  That lesson allowed us to create forward momentum in caring for our family, and our home.   

Patience was a requirement.   

You cannot have everything you want, and certainly right now.  But contentment taught us what we really wanted rather than what we thought we wanted.

In the first decade, we were blessed with four children.  Yep, Cindy was a baby factory.  Those early childhood years seemed as though they would never end.  Nights were sometimes endless.  The money thing took on a whole new dynamic.  The romance of being together took on a new flavor.  The time for Cindy and I to share together began to require invention and great creativity.  Living within your means with four small children meant they were always within arms reach.  The house wasn’t that big.

In that first decade, we became very solid about the work God placed into our hands.  We did not go the traditional route of schooling, where you finish high school and go to college, then figure our how to make it apply. We launched head long into what we believed God called us to do, then tailored our education to accommodate what we were building.  I am not touting that as the best method, but it proved practical and worked well for us.  I am especially proud of Cindy, who managed to run the accounting side of our ministry, birth, raise, and home-school four kids, and earn the first of two doctorates.  

If anyone asks…I married UP!

Fast forward to the next decade.  The children were growing.  The home-school continued.  We traveled and ministered all around the United States.  I used to joke that my kids were out of warranty early.  Yet God had begun dealing with our hearts about the decade in front of us.  Over the first the years of the second decade, He turned our hearts to a different realm of ministry.  Travel gave way to being home.  Itinerant ministry shifted into pastoral ministry.  Home-schooling shifted into going to school.  The house was traded for a bigger house.  We continued our education.  Cindy earned her second degree - a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. The family grew.  Life grew. And, with it, the joys and pains grew…as did our faith in God and in one another.

The life that seemed to move at a snail’s pace now juggernaut’s down a timeline in a blur.   The kid’s I taught to ride bikes are now starting to drive cars.  

Girl’s don’t have “cooties” and boys aren’t “GROSS!”  

 Money took on yet a different dynamic, because the economy of our second decade is different than the economy of the first.  

 Funny, the money struggles that we faced which kept us “tethered” have proven to be the lessons that have kept us 

floating this time around. 

Hmmmm.  

 The time Cindy and I share together requires even MORE creativity and invention, because now the kids KNOW…and let’s just leave it at that!

As I stated in the beginning, life happens in decades.  It is one of the most important things ever taught to me and one of the few lessons I can say I held to throughout my life.  I could not draw a picture of everything I wanted to see accomplished within a decade.  However, I can say that I was able to frame a picture of many things I wanted to happen in that decade.  Having that picture gave us something to shoot for.  It provided a destination and with it a determination to “get there”.   

Where there is no vision, people perish.   

This has proven to be true in our lives, and as I look over the past two decades, I am thankful that much of what we set out to accomplish, we have accomplished.  Some thing are not done.  yet they are part of the master plan and will be fabricated 

into the next decade.  Such is the beauty of growth.

What does the next decade hold?  Kids could get married and maybe even make us grandparents ( it better be in that order – lol ) College graduations? There are certainly some areas of ministry that God is leading us into, which have not been tapped yet.  All of it will eventually require a plan, but in this moment, it requires a dream.  All that we are called to accomplish and who we are called to be is right in front of us.  We cannot be small in our thinking.  We cannot be afraid.  Just as it was in the beginning, we cannot yield to the “saner, safer” voices who are intent on keeping us nicely anchored in the harbor.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.” 

                                                                                                         Grace Hopper -  

The next decade will see sunny days, and squalls.  There will be joy.  There will probably be pain.  Most certainly there will be trials, because every great accomplishment occurs with trial.  The next decade will NOT be easy, but it WILL be great!

What Is It Going To Take To Change My Life?

I can’t take it anymore!  I don’t want to live this way! 

What is it going to take to change my life?  

These are statements I hear all the time from people.  Life can be frustrating.  Life in these times can be particularly frustrating.  There is a phrase that has been true for as long as time.  In recent times, it has become a “buzz phrase” if there is such a thing.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  If you want your life to change, you have to evaluate each aspect of it and determine what are the anchors that are preventing true change from occurring.  Some things need to be reprioritized.  Others need to be cut off completely.  Too often, our passions and desires cloud the issues and make it difficult to know which is which.

In my own life, I was anchored between two conflicts.  One the one hand, I am compassionate to a fault. 

       I am the typical “Take in the stray three-legged dog” guy.  

I have a heart for people and want to see them succeed – at any cost.   Unfortunately, that cost has often proven to be one that I am willing to pay more than being the price that the one I am helping is willing to pay.  That is a dangerous and expensive problem.  As a minister raised in a minister’s home, I can attest that a curse of ministry is the tendency to pay that price at the expense of one’s own family.

Or, family itself can be the problem.  This weekend a friend of mine jokingly (but pointedly) made the statement, “If you can effectively overcome the demands and judgment of family, you can easily handle any demon in hell.”  For some, I would have to admit there is probably a truth in that.  After all, I have helped a lot of people wade through family situations, and when selfishness is involved, 

the rules that will keep family close are the 

same ones that allow for the greatest damage.  

In any case, my compassion for people has often lead me to sacrifice beyond what is reasonable or even righteous.  I become an enabler rather than an agent of empowerment.  This conflicts with the forward momentum in my own life and success.

The second conflict occurs when in helping such a person I get to the place where enough is enough.  

For me, the flip side of compassion is cynicism.

It is the by-product of helping those who insist on being enabled rather than empowered.  I have a sanguine personality.  If you have studied personality traits, you know this means that I am fun loving, energetic, engaging, trusting and optimistic…and an extremist.  These are traits that, tied to compassion, make it possible for me to keep paying the aforementioned price that too often proves costly and ineffective.  For me to stop paying that price is always an extreme decision. 

My protection device seems to be the embracing of cynicism.  Because I believe that there HAS to be a way for it to work, when I come to the reality that for whatever reason it cannot or will not, I tend to go from being extremely positive to extremely negative.  The willingness of others to live in failure somehow becomes MY failure.  What did I do or NOT do that prevented a win here?  Making this break fuels cynicism and turns me into someone that I have no desire to be.  I go from being extremely positive to EXTREMELY NEGATIVE, which is dangerous for a sanguine. Because we are extreme, when we get negative, we get REALLY negative!  Because we are outspoken and usually the loudest voice in the room, we can really

My greatest conflict was found halt between these two extremes.  

How long do I fight for the win for someone who needs change but is unwilling to change, and how do I let go of the fight to bring that change without taking on the responsibility of what can amount to certain failure if I do?

Then I realized that the anchor holding me back was not the decision of who to prioritize and what fight to fight, but that

the true anchor that was preventing me from success was my inability to see what responsibility is mine and what

responsibility belongs to someone else.  

It is my job to influence.  It is my desire to bring change.  It is not my responsibility to make the decision for them.  Discovering this helped me cut loose the real anchor that was stopping my progress, for me and for my family.  

The professionals call this co-dependency. As long as I was willing to “hang in” until others made the right decision, their wrong decisions prevented me from moving forward.  I could blame their unwillingness to change, but in the end, the inability for me to move was not their fault, but my own.  I was the one responsible for balance in my life.  In short, cutting the anchor was not simply about cutting someone off, but determining what price I was willing to pay (and ask my family to pay) for his or her success.

What is it going to take to change your life?  You must look through the circumstances and situations you are facing and find the TRUE anchors.  Be honest with yourself and deal with them.  Then you can move forward! 

YOU ARE POWERFUL!

You are a powerful person! You have great gifts which have been woven into your DNA from the moment you were created. Those gifts are ignited by action - by study, practice, and performance.
You are a powerful person. This means that you should consider the use of that power. Every person has an effect on others who are around them...EVERY person.

That is easy to believe when we see "High Producers" who affect people, such as a famous singer who's music affects you, or a mentor who's word inspires direction for your daily life routine.

It is not as easy to believe that others (every day, normal people) have the power to affect us, but it is true.  

The guy on the curb, who holds up a sign 

asking for money affects you. 

You are moved to help, or moved to roll up your car window and pretend to be on the phone, in order to avoid his gaze. Also, there are thoughts that go through your mind about what he should do to change his condition. That guy has the power to affect your compassion or to make you uncomfortable.

My point is that every one has power to affect someone else. 


The key is recognizing three things:
What is your gift and your power?

                How does your power affect others?

How can you best use your gifts and power

to make a positive difference on others?

David Foster posted an article on his website:

http://davidfoster.tv

In the article, David offers insight on the use of power of a leader.  As believers,

                                                           we are called to be leaders -

...in our families, in our churches, on our jobs, in every area of our lives.  His approach is written to those in specific positions of leadership, but I think if you read carefully, you can apply much of with he communicates to many areas of your life.

Take a look at it.

Five Legitimate Uses of Power - David Foster

If you’re a leader, you have to ask yourself this question almost every day, “What do I do that others can’t do? What do I do today with the position and the power that has been handed to me?”

A lot of leaders answer this question without thinking.  But it’s incumbent upon every leader to ask themselves, “What are the legitimate uses of my power?”  Here are five I can think of:

1. Use your power to empower, which simply means you give everyone in the organization the permission to do their job, to carry out their task, and not be held up with endless bureaucracy and procedures.  Empower the people in your organization, group, or company, and they will pay you back tenfold.
2. Use your power to free-up. Don’t allow good people to be bogged down by endless levels of communication, procedure, or in-fighting.  Where there are bottlenecks, step in and free-up the free-flow of meaningful action and creativity.
3. Use your power to enrich. As a leader, you make the decision that your group will have a learning environment.  Are the people you’re working with and leading feeling better for having worked with you and around you, and achieving a common goal?  Enrich people that you have been given the responsibility to lead and they will enrich you.
4. Use your power to take initiative. The leader is the one who has to do the first next right thing. You have to take action.  People in your group and company will react, even overreact, and fail to act.  And many times they’ll blame it on you because you’re the leader after all, and you have to initiate.  You have to be a self-starter.  You have to make sure that the momentum of the group is maintained.
5. Use your power to protect. What are you supposed to protect?  The people?  Yes.  The product? Certainly.  The service? Of course.  More importantly you protect the mission, vision, and goals of the organization.  No one in your group is more important than the mission for which the group exists.  All of you serve the mission, you promote the vision, and you take action that leads to the achievement of your stated goals. Protect the mission against apathy, and most importantly protect it against success.

Consider these words today.  Apply them to your life - to your relationship with your marriage, your kids, your job, and with people you relate with in life who are affected by how they observe you in your walk with God 

Lead with excellence.

t

BEING REAL

Writing is a joy for me.  Whether it is for a blog, or for a newspaper or a magazine, I consider it a privilege to share the gospel with others.  I do not take it lightly when people take the time to hear what to have to say.   

                      As a result, I am thrilled when I receive feedback from something I have written or shared.  It lets me know that people understand what I am saying and that it has really touched their life in some way.

I occasionally receive a comment that when I write an article such as this: "It doesn’t feel like a Bible teaching”.  Motivational?  Yes.  Inspiring?  I hope so. Once, I received a comment that,               

                “It was nice, but as a pastor, 

                     shouldn’t you be teaching people the Bible?”  

Actually, I do…every week as I pastor Bethesda Church. 

I also teach the Bible (or try to) in every situation of life that I encounter.

Whether I am sitting in a local restaurant having breakfast or sitting in an auto shop, 

I look for ways to communicate the gospel by demonstration.  For example, last week 

some friends of mine began dismantling an antique car.  It looked great on the outside, 

but needed repair as part of the car’s frame has rusted out.  It was a perfect moment to comment 

on how the car was like people.  

Everything looks great on the outside, but the inside has been eaten away 

because of neglect.  It became a “teaching moment” with a REAL outcome.  

That moment led to someone approaching me to say, 

“My heart is like that car.  Can Jesus help me?”       

Jesus taught in different ways.  The Gospels record that 

                             He read the scriptures and taught in the temple.  This is probably the process that people today can best relate with, as the method for delivering the gospel is widely seen as a pastor opening his Bible in front of a congregation on Sunday morning.  

Jesus also ministered to the multitudes.  There are accounts of Him 

preaching and teaching to crowds of thousands. 

                         He loved to teach in parables.  

He would take a story with real life relevance and would use it to expound upon both the nature of man and of God’s Kingdom.  He also loved to go into the street, locate the one who would listen and reach them where they were.   I find it interesting that those encounters carry more significance in the heart of people than the other methods of instruction.  

People are familiar with the Sermon on the Mount. 

By familiar, I mean they know that there was one.  However, ask around

 to see who knows anything about the content of the Sermon on the Mount and 

you will find few who can offer true insight.  But, the number of people who can 

relay a story about a person who had a specific encounter with Jesus is much greater.

People relate to a message or a lesson when

the elements of that lesson reflect

something of their life.

My point is this.  

One of the greatest tools Jesus employed when teaching others is that 

                     He was real.  He expected them to be real – 

not to be something they were not for the sake of impressing Him.  

He met people where they were.  He taught them by example, and by relating 

His teaching to their current life situations.

The purpose for the temple was and is still important.  

                                      Going to church is vital to your life.  It affords for you training that can make the difference between success and failure in raising your kids, or saving your marriage.  It creates the opportunity to build family style relationships with others – the way families are supposed to be – 

not the dysfunctional chaos that many suffer. 

For as long as there has been religion, there has been a mindset that we have to put on our “religious face”.  On Sunday, we wear the right clothes.  We sing the right songs.  We have our spiritual moments.  In a restaurant last week, I overheard a mother tell her 12-year-old son, “Don’t you dare cuss at me on Sunday.”  What about the rest of the week?  Why are Sunday values different than the values he should be living by Monday through Saturday?  That is not “being real”.

Jesus was hard on those who weren’t real.  He was much harder on those who put up a front for the sake of religion than He ever was on someone just trying to wade through life.  He challenged those who struggled with sin to recognize that 

        life could be much better if they would embrace 

                                                         His love and His instruction.

My purpose in communicating as I do is to demonstrate that God is REAL.  And, that in coming to Him, He desires for you to be real.  

                           You come to Him, faults and all. 

You don’t put on some “spiritual air”.  

It is not His desire to change you into something you are not.  

It is His desire to complete what He created you to be.  He wants you to know that He is not “put off” by your current state. But if your current state is eating away at the value of your life, He has both the ability and the desire to change it.  

He wants the real you to discover the real Him.

That is the core of His Gospel.  That is “being real”. 

Prayer - Randall Wallace ("Braveheart" Screenwriter @ National Day of Prayer)

The other day my friend, Brian Bird, posted this link on his website.
Brian is an amazing person.  He is a writer.  He is a partner in Believe Pictures.
His stories and his films are creatively constructed to touch the heart of people while at the same time
provoke them to thought and even to action.

I haven't known Brian very long, but even in the few short moments we have

 had together, he has demonstrated a special gift of communication which prompts

thoughts and ideas to awaken within you.  It is a gift that I believes God reserves

for certain people.  His thoughtful insight for me proves to be both a joy

and a challenge at the same time.

I share this because I believe that it is important for people to recognize when God places
such a person in your life.  When God wants to bless you, 

He places someone in your life.  

It may not be face to face.  But, someone. somehow will speak a word into your life
that will serve to adjust your perspective,  
                                  enlarge your vision or,
                                                                               strengthen your resolve

to stand and be as God designed you to be.

When God creates access to such a person,
that access should be treasured.  It should be celebrated.  The words that are spoken which
have the ability to inspire should be cherished.  They should serve to stir passion within you.

Their greatest value is discovered when their fruit matures

from enlightenment to accomplishment - from initiative to achievement.

Brian is such a person.  And being such a person, he also knows when others offer a similar
gift.  Recently he posted a link containing the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast.

The speaker was Randall Wallace, the screenwriter for the movie, Braveheart.
I invested 20 minutes to hear what this Hollywood Writer had to say to the world leaders
who were gathered in that room.  I was moved by his testimony and his simple call to prayer.
I was motivated and challenged as he inspired these leaders to pray.

The average Believer prays less than 3 minutes a day.

The average PASTOR - less than 5 minutes. 

How can we expect more from our leaders than we do of ourselves.
We need to recognize the power of prayer.  We need to become motivated to pray.


I always encourage my readers and my congregation to invest in motivation - particularly the kind that will produce Kingdom fruit.  I offer you this link and urge you to invest a few moments to receive from this funny, insightful caring person.  And, thanks Brian for bringing him to our attention.  




http://www.garydavidstratton.com/2011/culture-making/academy-award-winning-screenwriter-randall-wallace-braveheart-at-national-prayer-breakfast/

Our National Anthem

Oh Say Can YOU See?

I would like to start with the disclaimer that what I am about to say is not meant as an
attack on an individual.  It is simply a thought that was triggered by a mistake made during
this past Sunday's Superbowl opening ceremonies.

Christina Aguilera was slated to sing our country's National Anthem - a tradition that occurs at
virtually every sporting event in our nation.  As a professional musician, I am certain that
there was a great deal of practice that took place in preparation for this event.  For a musician, the
opportunity to sing the anthem at the Superbowl is probably one of the most significant moments
one can achieve. 

She missed it.  I feel bad for her.  Anyone can make a mistake, and that is what it was - a mistake.
She is not going to get much of a fair shake for it...or is she?  My kids were watching the
opening ceremony and they caught the blunder.  What bothers me is that there was a time when there
would have been no consideration for such a blunder, for such a thing would have been unheard of...

To NOT KNOW our National Anthem?!?

As I stated, this singer is a well-known and rehearsed professional.  I am POSITIVE that she knew the
words to our nation's anthem.  She would have memorized them for the purpose of being able to sing
them professionally, knowing the mark that this event would have on her career.

Here is my problem.  It is one thing to memorize something.  It is another thing to KNOW something.

I was not taught to memorize the National Anthem. I was taught its message, its purpose, its significance,
and its value.  It is just the same as memorizing scripture.  As a child in a faith-based school,
I was required to memorize long passages from the Bible.  There was even reward for those who could
recite the entirety of what had been memorized throughout the school year.  Yet, for all of the
memorization, and for all of the prizes (which I won - after all I was a pastor's kid), those passages
were just words on a page.  They were words to be forgotten once the prize to be won was delivered.

The passages that I really remember are not those I memorized during those school years, but the ones
that have a direct impact upon my life. Honestly, I could not recite those passages from
memory with any degree of accuracy today.  However, the ones that I have carried in my heart as a part
of my belief system, I can rattle of with great accuracy.

They are not memory verses.  They are part of the foundation of my life.

Hence, my issue with last night's blunder.  The reason last night's blunder bothered me is not that
someone forgot the words.  It is that it underscores that those words have come to have little value
in the minds and hearts of many of our nation.  Men and women have died for the freedom afforded only
to Americans.  Others have lived the entirety of their lives in the service of others to defend and
to preserve that freedom.

When Francis Scott Key penned the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner, he was declaring in victory
in the face of certain failure.  His words served to rally a nation to believe they could always
win, even against over-whelming odds.

Hollywood has fought vehemently to break this American Spirit.  They speak of freedom in the form of
tolerance, while at the same time, have created a doctrine that belittles any idea or thought which
points to the greatness and virtue of a nation under God, indivisible.

Many entertainers have discovered that one way to boost a wavering career is to become a political advocate.  I have listened and observed - sometimes with amusement, but more often with disgust as people who do not hold sacred the value system upon which our nation was designed, wax poetic in trying to prove a point which is usually contrary to reality.  They rattle off about our nation's constitution and its history with
great inaccuracy.  And, they get a free pass because they are not politicians, but entertainers fighting for a
compassionate cause. 

Missing the words for our national anthem is to me an indication that the message of that anthem is only
on your tongue, not in your heart. It was the opportunity to demonstrate your talent before millions of people,
rather than demonstrate the conviction of your heart.

I believe in promotion.  I believe if you have the opportunity to sing before millions of people, you should do it.  However, whether you sing, play ball, work in an office, or build cars, you should live your life with conviction.  As a singer, sing what you believe.

As I said, there is no judgment here for Ms. Aguilera, nor on what she believes or does not believe.  I am simply pointing out There is a concern that her blunder points to a greater lack of conviction in our nation. 
We WILL see if the media, which is notorious for taking such actions to the proverbial woodshed, will trumpet the moment or pretend it did not happen.

As for you, my reader - I urge you to consider the core values upon which our nation was founded.  Consider
"What price Freedom". Consider the benefit to being "The land of the free and the home of the brave".
And, learn your National Anthem.



The Star Spangled Banner -

Francis Scott Key




Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

CHURCH TRAGEDY

One of my dear friends, John Muratori is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Life Family Worship Center in Cheshire Connecticut.  I have ministered for their congregation and have a great love in my heart for Pastor John, his family and his people.

On February 2, we received news of a terrible tragedy.  I offer this letter from Pastor John.  I ask you to read it, to be in prayer for him and for the Calvary Life Family.  I also ask that of there is anything you can do to bless then through this time, please contact our church office. 

We can be reached at:   912.368.6121  or  http://theamazinglife.com.

To: Our Faithful Congregation and Friends of This Ministry:

It is with a broken heart that I share our church home has collapsed under the weight of all the snow accumulation.We in New England have weathered three major storms seeing more snow than we have in decades.
 

Let me say it has been a long road to get us to this newly built place of Worship, allowing our congregation to have a place of permanence for generations to come.

Today will be ingrained in my memory all my days.  

You see, I was with my two sons, Executive Pastor and another leader in ministry. We were putting signs on the door for people to stay out of the facility until an engineer could arrive.  

We walked into the foyer to make sure everything was closed; at that moment I heard the small voice of the Lord say, "Get Out!"  

Suddenly, we heard the loudest bangs from the sanctuary. We ran outside the building and I watched with my sons as the building collapsed. Yes, covered with dust, I witnessed a project that took 2 years to build fall in 30 seconds.  My sons were shouting and crying as we got to a place of safety.  

Once I gathered myself from the shock, I heard the Lord say amidst the rubble:

"The vision is still standing, the mission hasn't changed, this ministries purpose is found in Him."

We now find ourselves at a unique place in Christ -- One that will challenge our members' commitment and resolve. As a church we are still becoming, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him (1John 3:2).

This one thing I have learned, this trial is necessary in order for us to become all He desires.

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan (trials of life)? (Jer. 12:5)

We need to be closer, stronger, and persevere more than we have in all our previous years. We pray God will send us His friends from around the Nations to stand along side us as we rebuild His House of Worship.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. (1Peter 1:6-7)

--Pastor John Muratori

  

I am also including a list of immediate needs that we have compiled. Ongoing updates will be posted daily at www.calvarylife.us.

Our most immediate needs at this point are:

• Facility: as we have suffered a total loss and can no longer use our facility, we need a place for services and temporary offices
• Travel Sound system
• Microphones
• Instruments
• Cameras/Camcorders
• Computers & Printers
• Copy machines/ Fax machines
• Office furniture
• Financial Support

The Bible tells us that when one suffers, we all suffer together.  This situation represents a physical setback to the congregation at Calvary.  It DOES NOT represent a setback to the kingdom of God.  God’s glory WILL be revealed through this trial and His kingdom will be advanced.

Thank you for your prayers,

TJB