Continue earnestly in prayer...

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  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

A well defined purpose...

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

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

And we're off...

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  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Back to Reality...

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  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Sowing and reaping...

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  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Fiscal Responsibility...

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

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

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Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

That's how we roll...

I have a very close friend who is wonderfully unique. He is unique in the widest and wildest possible use of that word unique. As a matter of fact, his entire family is unique in that way. He will always see things completely differently than almost 10 out of 10 people. As a matter of fact, if this guy was in a group of 100 people who were asked some kind of knotty question, while I’m not a betting man, I would be tempted put down cold hard cash he’d see the problem differently from 99 other people! If there was someone else in that group who actually saw it the way he saw it, my well experienced guess would be he’s related to them! This is actually why I love being friends with this guy because I know I’ll get a wise, fresh viewpoint that will always honor the Lord. Sometimes when I’m astounded yet again by his viewpoint and in the shock and awe of the moment, I’ll blurt out my surprise at his viewpoint. He’s responded on more than one occasion rather matter-of-factly: “That’s how we roll” and it will be followed by a slide splitting roar of laughter from both of us. It’s awesome to me to have a friend like this who cares not what people think and is proud of how he rolls through life. I’m proud to be his friend.

Well I’m proud to be the pastor of this group of believers named Calvary Baptist Church. Without a doubt, this church is one of the most unique churches I’ve ever been a part of. The story I’m about to relate demonstrates “that’s how we roll” wonderfully well. I had a lady call me for an appointment the other day so we set a time we could meet in my office. This lady shared with me how she has basically been out of church for over 20 years. I want to be careful not to betray confidences with this so I won’t go into all the details of what was shared. It was clear to me however there was a great burden  in her heart which kept her from finding a place to worship and serve. There were many “reasons” why this church wouldn’t work or that church didn’t quite fit as she’s visited many churches during this time. She told me that she’s been attending Calvary for some time now and I think it is safe to say she was probably looking for many reasons why we would not be a good fit for her also. She shared how she went to one of our Bible Study classes, a class that she really should not “fit” in with. Her station of life and this class group don’t really match up. Maybe she picked it on purpose so she’d have a “reason” to not come back; who knows? God however had other plans it seems. This class has welcomed her in with open arms and have been faithful in calling to check on her. Basically they have loved on this lady in a way that God has begun to change her attitudes and given her a desire to get connected again. She said she has a desire to begin to serve the Lord again in large part because of the love of this class as they’ve wrapped their arms around her. She shared how she’s been confronted by Biblical truth in my preaching which has been hard to face but the love she’s experienced here has kept her coming back for more! She asked me to help her “put the pieces back together” and to help her change. Of course we’re working on this but it is the Lord who does the changing.

I have to be honest with you, I nearly had to bite my tongue and hold myself in my chair to keep from leaping up and shouting “That’s how we roll!” It is a similar story I’ve heard repeated many times in my tenure here as Senior Pastor. It is a story I pray to God will always be the case here at Calvary and that kind of love would always be said of us: “that’s how we roll.” Is that not what Jesus meant when He said in John 13:35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." That’s how every church collectively and how every individual disciple of Jesus Christ ought to roll; loving people to Jesus, confronting with Biblical truth. My heart was thrilled at the work that God is doing in the life of this precious woman who has been dealing with a myriad of hurt in her life that has kept her from God’s people and the Lord Himself for over 20 years. Her story reminds me that every time the saints of God gather here at Calvary, the people walking through our doors are hurting people. Calvary must never be a hotel and a spa for saints; there will be time for that in Heaven later. Here on earth, Calvary must always be a hospital for sinners and forgiven saints. I implore you to remember when you come to church the person you greet, that member you shake hands with, that child or teen beneath the surface smile may have a wound that goes deep; they may be in trouble and need help. That love you show may be just the thing God uses that day to encourage them to keep at it and keep coming back where God’s Word is preached and taught and where truth spoken in love brings about healing in the souls of men, women, boys and girls.

I am so proud of you all. I feel like a proud papa seeing this church being the hands and feet of Jesus each week. We want people to “Encounter God and experience life change”. We want them to connect, with God and others in genuine relationships, we want them to grow in their faith as a disciple, we desire to provide a place to serve the Lord and also as we gather each week, to renew their spirits. That’s what we mean when you see those 4 words: Connect, Grow, Serve, Renew. We believe those encapsulate the cyclical process of making disciples as we seek to “Encounter God and Experience Life Change.” God is still in the business of changing and transforming lives. Authentic encounters with God result in life change, and “that’s how He rolls!” He invites us to be a part of His plans as we love those who come our way. Maybe you’re on the fringe here, have visited several times and you’re wondering what to do next. If you haven’t tried one of our amazing Bible Study classes, please check one or all of them out. It is the best way to find out how special Calvary really is. Maybe God would lead you to join us here as a member. I’d like the opportunity to talk with you about that decision so by all means, call me for an appointment about this decision or something else I can help you with.

Thanking God for how we roll, 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  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph