Tonight, our church family took another major step forward to embrace the heartbeat of God to partner with Him to penetrate the lostness of the world. We hosted an international mission’s banquet to kick off 2010 and we begin implementing the vision of being a church that not only gives sacrificially to missions but that will sacrificially go on mission. We heard from Pastor Nathan Lino of Northeast Houston Baptist Church and an IMB trustee share the vision and heartbeat of God that His churches will be mission sending agencies, full of believers who will embrace God's desire for us to be "bi-vocational" missionaries. Pastor Nathan used Philippians 2:3-11 to demonstrate this heartbeat of God which is illustrated by the greatest missionary martyr in the history of mankind, none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus left His comfort zone of heaven to come to earth to be like us, to eat like us, dress like us, and to share with us how to rescued from the darkness; all because He was burdened for our spiritual well being and to redeem us from lostness. Many of you heard God speak to you this evening in that moment in time and many of you indicated you will go when God calls you to go on short term mission trips.
We are going to pursue the Acts 1:8 mission pattern God has already given us to follow: we're going to penetrate lostness in Bel Air, our Jerusalem, in Harford County our Judea, in the Mid-Atlantic, our Samaria and ultimately to the uttermost part of the earth. Pastor Nathan shared we must be patient as it takes time to implement the vision and see it come to pass, but we will be moving in this direction. I am developing opportunities and researching where the Lord is working, I am praying about strategic partnerships and opportunities we will have this year and in those that follow as to where we’ll go. You’ll begin to hear and see these opportunities God will be giving to us. I am looking forward to leading you in this God sized challenge of penetrating the lostness of the more than 10,000 people groups not engaged with the Gospel. To reiterate the perspective Pastor Nathan shared tonight, our IMB, the largest mission sending agency in the world is engaged with 1,200 people groups with full time missionaries. The vision is that the membership of churches just like ours will engage those unengaged people groups by answering God’s call to be “bi-vocational” missionaries like the Apostle Paul who was a tentmaker. Whatever your vocation, you can use that to support your calling as a bi-vocational missionary, ready to launch where God calls you for a short term trip.
Pastor Nathan shared so many encouraging stories of how the Gospel is penetrating lostness because people just like you and me were willing to go with God to share the love of Jesus Christ in person. It was incredibly encouraging to hear of God’s working in such amazing ways right now in His world. Think of what we’re missing out on while we stay home. But by going, you and I can see God working around the world like in the Book of Acts. An adventure awaits, a God sized work is in progress and God is inviting you to get in on it. A word of warning however is in order as Pastor Nathan so powerfully shared: “Penetrating extreme lostness does not come without extreme sacrifice.” I would add that Satan is not at all pleased with us embracing the heartbeat of God and he and his evil forces would prefer for us to just stay home. He is already working on the “what if” plan to keep you in your comfort zone and unengaged from the mission by getting you to worry about all the “what ifs”.
Some of our early trips will be exploratory and strategy trips to lay the foundation for the future. I’m planning on heading to Moscow this spring and I want to take a few of you with me to explore opportunities with an area coordinator who is a friend of mine. Closer to home, we’ll participate in “Embrace Wilmington” to help start churches with our state convention. I am so proud of you Calvary, for listening to and embracing the heartbeat of God. The vision has been launched, the adventure begins, from my little corner of the world to yours…
Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church www.calvarybelair.com
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
From all of us...
Church family,
All of us in the church office wanted to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I want you to know as your Senior Pastor, God has blessed Calvary with an incredible team of people in our pastoral and office staff who labor intently through the year behind the scenes to do all that must happen for our church to function. We are making a difference in our community for the glory of God and I believe it is in large part because of your dedicated staff. They each love Jesus fervently and that love for Christ is demonstrated in their work ethic and care they show week in and week out. They don’t just give the Lord their leftovers, they each model discipleship by giving the Lord their very best. I am so proud of Bob, Ken, Wally, Jean, Patti and Alicia and I thank the Lord for them. I am thankful also for all of you who volunteer here at Calvary in the myriad of ministries and tasks you perform each week as well. I am proud of you also and your love for our Savior. I pray that 2010 will be one of the greatest years our church has ever had, not for our sakes, but for the sake of the Kingdom. I know that is the desire of our staff, that all of us as a church would rise to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What if each of us labored for the King of Kings this year as though Jesus were coming back on July 1st or December 31st. What if we knew we only had that period to win as many people to Christ as possible and disciple them? How would you change your priorities? As we celebrate our Savior’s birth and we bring 2009 to a close, ask the Lord what He wants from you in 2010. Will you choose now to obey? Obedience to the Lord’s will and plan for 2010 is the best way to ensure a wonderful new year, it is the best present you can give Jesus on His birthday; it is the perfect gift for the One who truly has everything.
We plan to kick of 2010 in an incredible fashion with our 1st mission’s banquet. One of my best friends in the world, Nathan Lino, will be our guest speaker on Wednesday Jan.6th. Nathan is the founding pastor of Northeast Houston Baptist Church, he has a passion for Jesus and for missions that is contagious. He’s serving as a trustee for our IMB and is on some key committees with the IMB including the search committee to fill Dr. Rankin’s shoes who will be retiring. You will not want to miss this incredible opportunity to hear this great man of God. We’ll have a great dinner, our Bible Study classes will be decorating tables with international themes and it will be a great chance for us to learn of the very heartbeat of God. Please make your reservations today and don’t miss this banquet.
I can tell you your staff loves you and we pray God’s favor upon you and your families and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTmas
Well the year has literally flown by, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving which means that Christmas is right around the corner. On Sunday November 29th, we will have celebrated the first Sunday of Advent beginning the anticipation of the celebration of our Savior’s birth. The Prophet Isaiah promised God’s people over 700 years before hand in 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us”. God becoming man to be with us humans, for the express purpose of redeeming us back and providing a means for us to be in a right relationship with God through faith Jesus Christ. Contrary to our modern way of thinking of a first and last name, Jesus Christ is not the first and last name of our Savior. “Jesus” (Jehovah is Salvation) is the name God the Father named His Son born in the flesh who would be God’s provision for the salvation of mankind. “Christ” is his title from the Old Testament as the promised Messiah who would save His people from their sins. While the marketing agencies on Madison Avenue and retailers jockey for position to capitalize on gift buying dollars during this season of celebration, the politically correct crowd is going to do their best to shove Christ out of Christmas with the mantras of “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”; for Christians, we know that its “CHRISTmas” and that Jesus really is the reason for the season. Regardless of what pop culture or the politically correct talking heads think, do not be ashamed to respond to people “Merry Christmas” when they tell you “Happy Holidays”. Put a big smile on your face and reply “Merry Christmas to you too.” Christ can only be removed from Christmas if we sit by and say nothing when we have opportunity. Just be sweet, show the love of Jesus and honor the Lord as you go.
This is an exciting time of year as we are preparing for a wonderful celebration of our Savior’s birth. I want to remind you it is one of the two times a year people will respond and come to church if you invite them. Many people want to go to church at Christmas and have no idea where to go, but if you invite them, they’ll come. I need your help doing just that, inviting people. Saturday Dec.5th is our Christmas blitz where we’ll walk through a neighborhood near church and place a bag on door handles with our schedule of events, info on Calvary, a bag of popcorn with an invitation to “pop in and see us” and of course the gospel. We’ll have hundreds of these to pass out and we need people who will walk to distribute these. We’ll feed you lunch but plan now to help us on Saturday, Dec. 5th at 11:00 a.m. If it pours the rain, we’ll aim for Sat.12th. December 13 is our choir musical in both services, Ken and the choir have been working hard and I’ve heard pieces of their music and it is awesome. Invite people to come with you to hear this powerful musical. We’ll have Christmas carols in our worship services all through December and each service will be special.
We are also kicking off our Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions. Our church goal is $24,000.00 which is an incredible opportunity for us to invest in God’s kingdom. Our international mission board uses every dime of this money for missionary support on the field and we have missionaries who cannot go overseas because there is not enough money to support them. I made a determination with my family several years ago that we would not spend more on ourselves at Christmas than we would give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering as a birthday present to Jesus. What this meant for the Greens is that instead of giving our 5 kids each four presents, we might give them each 2-3 and we took the difference and gave that money to Lottie Moon as a gift to our kids in their names. Even as youngsters, our children got excited they could be part of the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. Let me challenge you to not spend more on yourselves than what you give to Jesus for the Lottie Moon offering. If we all made that commitment, we’ll not only meet our goal, we’ll exceed that goal. Of course I’m not living in a cave and I know it’s tough economically and there’s much uncertainty financially, but I do know that we can never out give God. He gave us the very best He had in the person of Jesus Christ, what a thrill to give so that others may know Him personally.
On a personal note, Cheryl and I pray that this Christmas will be a wonderful Christmas for you and your family. We thank God for you, we love you and we’re excited to see what the Lord will do through each of us this Christmas. From my little corner of the world to yours, it’s beginning to look a lot like CHRISTmas…
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Bearing much fruit...
This past week, I attended the annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of Maryland-Delaware. I was so encouraged that our state convention has a vision to plant new churches and strengthen existing churches. I was pleased to see pastors of our local Susquehanna Association in key positions of responsibility and taking on leadership roles in our convention. I was humbled to be asked to serve in leadership so quickly and was amazed to be elected as the President of the Pastor’s Conference for 2011. What this means is that I’ll be involved in planning the Pastor’s meeting on Monday of the convention that year. One of the guest preachers, a fellow named Ron Sylvia from Florida challenged our convention with a question that has bugged me almost non-stop since he asked it. He had someone ask this of him related to his church years ago and it bugged him also. The question is this: “If Calvary Baptist Church ceased to exist tomorrow, would the community (in our case Bel Air and Harford County) notice it was gone?”
Of course we’d all miss it, the other churches around would notice, the association and state convention would notice because of our giving; but what he means is, would the pagan lost people in Harford County notice we were gone? What a challenging question that is! For those of us who want to make a difference for the kingdom of God, I hope it will bug you like it has me. I think at this point in our history, the answer would be yes and no. I think things like our care night food ministry would be something people would take notice of. I think the AARP who uses our facility for tax consultation would miss us. There are probably some other areas people would miss us. The thing that bugs me primarily is most of the “missing” would be due to our facility usage. People shouldn’t miss us because of our buildings, they should miss us because of the people, the people who are so in love with Jesus, they are showing God’s love to a lost and dying world which is consumed with pursuing every form of pleasure and entertainment trying to fill a God sized hole in their lives. They should miss us because we were responsible to introduce them to the Savior. Does this mean we’re failing? I do not believe so. I think we have much on the ball and that we are making a difference, but this question challenges me to what else we can do. I wish I could tell you I have it all figured out. I don’t.
Having had this question rolling around in my head now for a couple of days since I heard it Sunday night, I’ve been talking to the Lord about this. This morning in my quiet time, I was reading in John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Jesus goes on to answer the question for us in vs. 7-8 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.”
By abiding in Christ and in His Word, Jesus promised when we ask Him to help us become fruit producers, it will happen, it will bring glory to the Father when we bear much fruit. Isn’t that awesome? That God wants us, the people of Calvary to produce much fruit in the form of lives that He wants to change and transform. In this same passage, Jesus talks of pruning dead wood so the tree will begin to produce fruit again. We need to evaluate what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. What’s not producing fruit, we need to prune and even what is, sometimes needs pruning so it will be more effective. I love my mom’s strawberry jelly she’s made for years. I’ve watched dad mow down her strawberry patch, but boy does it produce strawberries next year!
I’ve said and continue to believe that some of the best and most effective ministries Calvary will ever have haven’t even been started yet. But God wants to do something great and mighty in and through you, the people of Calvary. He wants us to bear much fruit – not just so the community would weep if we weren’t here. The point is that we would bear fruit that lasts for eternity to the glory of God. The next question is, “what about me, am I bearing fruit for Jesus?” If not, ask what do I need to prune to begin producing fruit? Ask yourself if you’re abiding in Christ and asking him to make you fruitful. Something to think about from my little corner of the world to yours…
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Battles, Blessings & Budgets...
Church Family,
It is that time of year heading into November we will meet to adopt a budget for 2010. Your ministerial & support staff, finance committee, and church counsel have a system in place for the stewardship of God’s resources here at Calvary. We have done a thorough job of preparing our budget for 2010. This is a detailed and lengthy process of review and revision that began back in June of 2009 to be ready in time for our November Church in Conference. The product of these hours of labor is included in this edition of “The Way” newsletter. You may be like me and when you see the bottom line, your heart begins to race, palms may begin to sweat, and some panic begins to settle in on your frugal soul. Your first thought after you catch your breath might be something like: “What in the world are they thinking? We’re not meeting our budget now!” If you don’t have that thought, check your pulse or brain to make sure you are still alive, if those check out, then ask the Lord why you are not more concerned about His church. See that’s the thought I had in all honesty and I was involved in the process! Once my heart rate goes back to “normal” (whatever that means) and I got over my little wave of panic that I’m the one who has to stand before the church to ask for approval of this budget, the Lord was quick to remind me of three things…battles, blessings & budgets.
First of all, the Lord wants you and me to remember the battle we’re called to wage each day personally and corporately. It is a cosmic battle against Satan and the forces Hell to win souls and to make disciples of them for the Lord Jesus. That is our mandate, it is our mission and commission directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus gave everything He had to secure the final victory over Satan and his crowd, and we have been given the awesome privilege and responsibility to be about the Master’s business to go and make disciples. When we remember the reason we’re doing what we do, the battle if you will, we have a cause like young shepherd David who went out and slew the giant Goliath. As we think about the stewardship of God’s money in 2010, we must remember the cause, the battle for souls and disciples.
Secondly, we must remember the blessings. You see God’s financial program of the tithe and offering makes no sense whatsoever from a rational point of view. But God has ordained a system that the first 10% of our income, the tithe, is commanded to be brought to God’s storehouse, the church on the Lord’s Day. This tithe (10%) is non-negotiable and was the minimum requirement in the Old Testament. God’s people also regularly gave “offerings” on top of their tithe because of gratitude to God for His blessings. New Testament giving is “grace giving” routinely over and above the tithe out of gratitude for the Savior. What a believer is saying when they give the tithe and the offering is they trust God with their finances and they are dependent upon Him to supply. The good news is God has promised to bless His children when we obey in this spiritual discipline. In Malachi 3:10, God promises “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” I’ve learned in my lifetime, God is faithful to His promises and I cannot out give God. So remember not only the battle, but remember the blessings of God’s promises and provision for His church and your family’s support of God’s work.
Finally, we must remember the reality is that a budget is nothing more than a goal, a target that we’ll aim at in 2010. It in no way means that we’re actually going to spend all of that as we never spend more than we receive and just because we have resources doesn’t mean we spend it. For example, if we plan to have to replace a copy machine that we use to send you this newsletter, but the thing just keeps working, we don’t spend that money. This is evidence of the next verse in Malachi 3:11 “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes…” In other words God is saying if we’re obedient with our tithe, He’s promised to stretch our resources further! The other thing to remember about a budget for church is that it is our vision of what we’d like to be able do to further God’s kingdom. If the money is God’s and it is, then what we’re saying with our budget planning is “Lord, this is what we’d like to do for the kingdom this next year, will you provide this for us?” It is a faith budget for sure, but through our many different processes to arrive at this budget, we believe we’re being realistic with it.
I pray these thoughts on battles, blessings and budgets will be helpful, from my little corner of the world to yours…
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Everybody doing what they can do...
Somewhere along the line, you all may have heard me say “All it takes to grow a great church is everybody doing what they can do.” Am I just making this up? Is there any Biblical evidence for this saying? You bet. You see I’ve been reading through the Scriptures and my goal is to go from Genesis to Revelation in a year. I was reading through Matthew and I see Jesus calling His disciples, four fishermen named Andy, Pete, Jimmy and Johnny; later on, He calls a hated tax collector named Matt, and then Phil, Bart, Tom, Little Jim, Tad, Simon, and a traitor named Judas. They were a hodge-podge group of guys from different backgrounds and life experiences but all called by Jesus to follow Him. Each had different skills and talents, faults and flaws. God has given us the benefit of seeing their lives, warts and all in the New Testament. Pete was always going off half-cocked, his motto: “Ready, fire, aim.” Jimmy and Johnny – Jesus nicknamed them “the sons of thunder” – I take that to mean they were a bit hot-headed and had been their share of fights. Yet Jesus did something amazing in each of their lives and gave them the responsibility of telling the world about Him and what He did for us on that old rugged cross. Here over 2000 years later, we’re still tasked with that same responsibility. Truly the disciples were successful because of the power of God the Holy Spirit that rested upon them – each of them different, each unique, and each “did what they could do” for the kingdom.
When I look at our family here at Calvary, I see a lot people “doing what they can do.” Working in the kitchen, teaching a Bible Study class, playing an instrument or singing, working in preschool, children or youth ministry on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. I am so proud of you all for allowing the Savior to take you and use you to further His kingdom. Your love for Jesus and service of Him inspires and encourages me. But I also see a lot of people sitting on the sidelines, not engaged, not committed and certainly not serving in some capacity. Fact is, we need helping reaching this community with the Gospel.
As I write this note, today we buried Laverne Hoffman, one of our long time members who joined Calvary in 1953 with her husband Al. I can tell you as I thought and prayed preparing for her funeral, looking at her membership file and her ministry here, I was broken hearted. I thought “Lord, we’re losing a generation of church members like Laverne. Who’s going to take up her place on the wall? Why don’t people commit to joining Your church now and serve like the Hoffman’s?” Last year and this year, we’ve buried about 10-12 faithful saints of God who finished their race, key people who were involved and faithful as members of Calvary. Many of these folks are of the “World War II” generation. They knew the meaning of commitment, sacrifice and service. Having a “whatever it takes attitude” to win a war. I can tell you from my discussions with many of these folks they are burdened for our future as a church. They wonder who will pick up the torch and continue the war for the souls of men, women, boys and girls.
The good news folks is that Jesus, in that same Gospel of Matthew promised us and His disciples in 16:18 “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” The fact Jesus took those ordinary men to change the world excites me even though one generation is rapidly passing the baton to the next because God is always faithful. To our older folks, let me encourage you not to lose heart, keep running, keep ministering and working, knowing a generation of people are watching you carefully. Find one of those younger men or women to mentor and teach them how to be servants, people who will sacrifice and fight the good fight of faith to win souls. To our younger folks, let me encourage you to learn from those going before you, go up to one of those saints you see ministering in an area that interests you and ask to work with them, glean from the wisdom God’s given them in serving. The disciples learned from Jesus by hanging out with Him. He invested in them and they invested in being teachable, being mentored by the Master. I had a man ask me if I would mentor him the other day. I’m so excited to be able to invest in this man something for the kingdom’s sake. While I can’t mentor everyone, I can work with him for a while and we’ll see where it leads. There is much to learn and work on together as we are in a relay and the baton is being passed forward to the next generation of warriors for the Lord Jesus Christ, our Commander and Chief. “All it takes to grow a great church is everybody doing what they can do.” What are you doing for Jesus? Something to think about, from my little corner to yours….
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Taking advantage of opportunities...
Calvary Family,
As I write this, my heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord for you as we asked you to help us take advantage of an opportunity for outreach with the Bel Air Festival of the Arts. We as a staff had to make a tough decision as to where we were going to devote our energies by choosing not to do the farm fair and focusing on a major event that would bring nearly 20,000 people into our back yard. By being flexible and working together, opening our parking lot for people going to the festival, we were able to give out about 445 gift bags, each with a flier about Calvary and our ministries, a gift, a gospel tract and a gospel presentation on CD. No matter what responsibility you had that day or leading up to it, you had a major impact on our community and more importantly for the Kingdom of God. I am so proud of you, I nearly have buttons popping of my shirt. We’ve already gotten some great feedback from the community and even some of our neighbors who were impressed we’d open our facility this way. We’ll see how the Lord uses that outreach to draw people to Himself.
We’ve got another opportunity to take advantage of with Dr. Cky Carrigan who will be sharing with us Oct. 10-11. I know I’m asking a lot of you to give up a Saturday morning to come to this conference, but let me share with you why you need to come to this entire event. You see this morning, I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for a lab tech to prick me to draw blood for my annual checkup. I struck up a conversation with her about how long she’d been sticking people (26 years). She’s trying to slow down as she put it because life is too short. I shared with her about preaching Mrs. Ruby Rose’s funeral on Tuesday and what a blessing to share Jesus with the people who came. Instantly she responded about what a blessing her faith is, how it sustains her and so forth. She sounded like she believed just like me. I spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and how my faith in Him is the most important thing for me also. I asked her where she goes to church and she said she’s a Jehovah’s Witness. Instantly, my brain was racing trying to remember my seminary training and trying to recall the deal with the JW’s. Sadly, I was caught off guard and wasn’t ready, didn’t have ammo in my rusty brain to dialogue with her about the reality that the JW’s don’t worship the same Jesus. While she was using the right terms and phrases, what she and I were talking about was not the same. The sobering reality is, unless this woman comes to love the Jesus of the Bible and not some man-made “Jesus”, even though she is sincere, she will go to Hell. I was so sad walking out of that office that I wasn’t prepared to share the genuine Jesus with her. I knew enough from my training to recognize a counterfeit but to listen to this woman, right terminology, sweet lady, Satan whispering in my ear that she’s okay, Holy Spirit convicting me she’s lost; I thought boy I can’t wait for Dr. Carrigan to teach us in October. No doubt you’ve had a similar experience somewhere along the way. See Paul warned the Corinthian Church about counterfeits in 2nd Cor. 11:14-15 “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it so no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.” My job as your shepherd is to protect you from counterfeits so you are not drawn away in your faith, and to equip you with tools to reach people like this lady. I know if I need this, you do also. My friend Dr. Carrigan is an expert in cults and world religions and he as an amazing ability to help us understand in simple terms how to spot a counterfeit and to equip us to share the Jesus of the Bible. Make your reservations today as this conference is upon us quickly.
On a personal note, when you get this issue of The Way, our family will be moving from our townhouse to a home in Bel Air. We are so excited at the Lord’s provision for this need for our family. Once we get settled, we look forward to hosting an open house for you our church family. We’re thrilled to have permanent housing and sink roots deeper into our field of service. I’d appreciate your continued prayers that we sell our home in Houston as it is still on the market there. I want to take advantage of every opportunity, from my little corner of the world to yours…
Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
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