Giving Glory to God...

One of my favorite hymns is “To God be the Glory” because it’s a reminder to celebrate the work of God in bringing us to redemption. It challenges us to praise the Lord, to let the earth hear His voice and let the people rejoice. The final phrase of the chorus is “Oh come to the Father, thro’ Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He has done.” Well this past Sunday, we saw the Lord move in tremendous ways in both services. First of all, I challenged us to be faithful to catch up on our tithes and offerings because we had to cancel the previous week  and only had one service the week before. God’s people responded and our offering was $36,596.53 which is huge considering we still had a number of people who could not attend because of the conditions. Our weekly budget need is $18,002.00 so we exceeded our budget need for the last two Sundays by a little over $296.00. In a tough economy, with lots of added expenses for groceries, snow removal and all the expenses that goes into dealing with a blizzard of the magnitude we’ve experienced in the last two weeks, I believe a holy hallelujah is in order to praise God for providing for His Bride this way. Many churches are struggling financially at this time and cancelling a service nearly means disaster for them because typically people don’t catch up on their tithes and offerings. I’m so proud of our church family for being obedient to bring the Lord’s tithe and an offering to Him on the Lord’s Day but this is not our doing, it is the Lord working in our lives and for that we must give Him praise!

Secondly, we must praise and give God the glory for the movement of the Holy Spirit in our services. Because it was Valentine’s Day, I preached on God’s Amazing Love from John 3:16 and at the end, I challenged the church to take two sets of two cards we had made, one a “My Influence Card” and the other was a simple “Invite Card.” With the influence card, we were to list the names of 3 people we believe to be lost without Christ. When we finished that card, we were to keep one as a reminder for us, and come forward and place the other card in a basket as an offering to God that we were making a commitment to pray for an opportunity to invite those lost people to come to Calvary and that they would come to know the Lord this year. The “Invite Cards” are simple business cards that we will use to invite people to be our guest at Calvary. It has our worship times, church info and a map of how to get here.  I had no idea what to expect but shortly, one by one, people began to leave their seats and walk forward with cards in hand, then groups of people began to come forward, whole families, young people, older people, children. In both services, I saw people with tears in their eyes as they were burdened for lost friends, family, co-workers, or even mere acquaintances, they were going to pray for to come to know Jesus.  At the end of the services, I held up that basket of names and we prayed right then for these people to come to know Jesus. This is the very heartbeat of God but sadly it is not the heartbeat of many Christians. Winning people to Christ is not a natural thing for us to do. I asked people to pray that God would help us see people the way He does, they are either saved or lost and all of the ways we segregate people do not matter. I was so amazed to see the way the Holy Spirit moved in people’s hearts.  We had 223 cards turned in with at least one name on the card and 210 cards with  3 or more names printed on the card.

Most of our invite cards were taken but we’ll have more for you to pick up here at church each week. This means we’ll continue to see guests come through the doors at Calvary. Remember church family, each one of these people is someone Jesus died to save. We only get one chance to make a first impression so be sensitive to guests, people you don’t know and don’t recognize. It matters not how they’re dressed, what they have tattooed or pierced, whether they are wearing a suit or their Sunday best and look like they stepped out of a magazine, if you don’t know them, please greet them warmly and welcome them to Calvary. Then pray that they’ll respond to the Gospel message I’ll be bringing that day.

I want to praise God for working in our hearts and lives, for challenging us and stretching us and I’m so thrilled to see the Holy Spirit’s movement here. Glory to God, 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

The Theology of Snow...

Working the dumb end of a snow shovel gives you time to think, and think and think some more because of the amazing and record amount of snow we got here in Maryland. It snowed for roughly 29 hours straight and the results are incredible. The news people were urging people to be careful saying this is a heartattack making snow storm - meaning the weight of it and the exertion of shoveling it could send you into cardiac arrest. I have to admit, I was extremely frustrated because I used to have the equipment to deal with such a storm when I was a pastor in New England - a ginormous snowblower that would cut through the worst New England blizzards had to offer like a hot knife through butter. I gave it to my lost neighbor and witnessed to him once again when we were moving to Houston. The more I shoveled by hand, the more frustrated I became because I felt like I was using a soup spoon to empty the ocean of snow blanketing my driveway.

  I was also frustrated in that this is the second weekend in a row our weekend church activities had to be postponed, rescheduled or cancelled completely because of the snow. I talked to the Lord alot about it wondering why the business world doesn't get interrupted during the week day but church does with snow on the weekend. After all, the Lord can control when this happens and I know He's not oblivous to the fact His people assemble on Sunday. Well a couple of thoughts came to mind that I thought I'd share today since we're not going anywhere soon and we aren't in church.

  First, I thought the Lord is serious about the 10 commandments, even in the 21st century. The 4th commandment is "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy" (Ex.20:8). The thought occured to me that the vast majority of people in our community and nation for that matter have no regard for the Lord's Day whatsoever. The Lord helped me see how He could orchestrate it to where people had no choice but to stay home on the Lord's Day by sending enough snow to where they couldn't go anywhere - no mall, no shopping, nothing. Stay home and watch my power. Whether humans remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy or not, God still does.

  Secondly, I researched what the Bible has to say about snow and found some interesting things. Only twice in Scripture is actual snowfall recorded and these both refer to the same incident. 2nd Samuel 23:20 says "Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day." (See also 1st Chron. 11:22). This warrior was one of David's mighty men of valor. This made me thankful for our men and women of valor who work in emergency services and serve the public even in the middle of a storm. I saw police officers on patrol in my neighborhood, a fire truck drove in on a call also, not to mention the city workers plowing, and nurses & doctors caring for people at the hospital. I heard a news account of a national guard soldier who had to rescue a stranded motorist in a humvee and said it was scary driving even in a humvee. I'm sure David was thankful for Benaiah and I hope you're thankful for these modern "Benaiah's". I prayed for those firemen and policemen I saw while I was holding the dumb end of my shovel.
 
When the Lord was helping old Job see the reality of His might and power by asking Job if he knew of the inner workings of the universe, He said in Job 38:22-23 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?" In other words, the Lord is reminding me "there's more where this came from and I have my purposes in it." As I was shoveling with my little shovel, working for hours and barely making a dent, I bowed in my heart and mind and told the Lord I was in awe of His might, His power and His majesty. I told Him I fear Him and acknowledged how small I am and how great He is and continues to be. I thanked him for His grace and mercy in the middle of the storm and His provision for us. I guess you could say I was worshipping the Lord on the end of that shovel.
 
Thirdly, as I write this, the brightness of the sun and snow is overwhelming to my already squinty eyes. It's hard for me to gaze very long at it as my eyes cannot handle the brightness. It simply a reminder that our God is pure and Holy, the Scriptures describe Him this way:
Daniel 7:9 "I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;"
Mark 9:3 "His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them." This is referring to when Jesus was transfigured in the presence of His disciples to show them a glimpes of His glory.
Revelation 1:14 "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;" This is how Jesus appeared to John the Revelator who saw Jesus in all His glory in eternity future. All of these demonstrate the purity and holiness of God.
 
Finally, the Scriptures share with us God's desire that we too be holy, clean and pure, like God Himself. In Psalm 51:7, after David's great sin with Bathsheeba and his murder of Uriah, He said "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Isn't that an awesome description of the cleansing power of God and the forgiveness He offers? In Isaiah 1:18 the Prophet said "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." There is no sin you've ever committed or will commit that God cannot forgive and cleanse. (Yes - I know of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - that's a different discussion for a different day.) 
 
The story is told years ago of a woman in Wales who was walking with her infant baby she had wrapped in a blanket. Sadly, an awful blizzard swept in before she could get home safely. The next day, searchers found her frozen body partially buried in the snow. They did not understand why she had no clothes on when they found her but as they lifted her frozen body, they found a blanket and to their shock, they found that infant child, wrapped snuggly in his mother's clothes and blanket alive and well. She used her own clothing and body warmth to shield and protect that child so that he might live. In the midst of the tragedy of a white out blizzard, life was found because of the sacrifice and amazing love of a dedicated mother. That's how our sins can be made white as snow, because Jesus laid down His life, shed His blood and covered us so that we might be saved. There's great theology to be found in snow. Theology is simply the study of God, so while we're snowed think about the lessons you can learn in studying God via the teaching tool of snow. Something to think about, from my snowed in corner of the world to yours....

  Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

 www.calvarybelair.com

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

The Manifest Presence & Power of God...

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Pastor’s Conference hosted by the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Florida. It was wonderful time of refreshing for me spiritually to hear some of the greatest preachers of our day and a time of intense learning and understanding of the current trends and issues in the world today. It was encouraging also to dialogue with other pastors and ministries about what the Lord is doing in and through these churches and pastors. At one of the sessions I attended, Henry Blackaby, the author of “Experiencing God” spoke to us about “God’s Conditions for Revival.” Many of you would be familiar with this study but many of you may not know that the Lord has profoundly used this “Experiencing God” study in so many incredible ways literally around the world. Dr. Blackaby shared how the prison warden at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana went through the study and in turn made the workbook available to all the inmates at his prison who wanted one, particularly focused on those inmates awaiting execution on death row. What has been happening in that prison is an absolute miracle as many of these inmates have come to know the Lord Jesus as Savior and revival is happening there. Dr. Blackaby shared from Matt.16:18-19 of Jesus’ promise to build His Church in such a way that the gates of Hell will not be victorious against the church. He made the point that the manifest presence and power of God will cause the doorposts of Hell to fall down around where His church is engaged in Kingdom business. However, he warned that revival does not happen unless the church repents first and becomes engaged in significant prayer efforts to learn of God’s will and work in their community.

Later in the conference we heard from Jim Cymbala, Pastor of the famous Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. Pastor Cymbala’s church regularly has about 2000 people who come to their Tuesday night prayer meeting where the people gather to pray for God’s manifest presence and power to be made known there. Pastor Cymbala preached from Acts 12 regarding Peter’s imprisonment while “constant prayer was being offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5). As I listened to these men speak about the need for prayer in the life of God’s people, I was reminded of a paper I wrote in seminary tracing the influence of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in London.  It is well documented that Spurgeon had hundreds of people praying for him in the basement of the Metropolitan Tabernacle nearly constantly. Spurgeon called it the “boiler room” and affirmed that the ministry of those prayer warriors pleading with God to work in mighty ways to bring people to faith in Christ in London and literally around the world the key to what God was doing there at that time.

As I meditated and thought about prayer in the life of our church and the desire to see the manifest presence and power of God taking place in this community, I wondered why we don’t see the gates of Hell crumbling around us. I wondered why we don’t see people being saved and baptized on a regular basis. Sadly, I also wondered how much of what we do around Calvary can be done and is being done without the manifest presence and power of God? In other words, how much of our ministry could and would take place if God didn’t show up? These thoughts convict me in my own life and I’m reminded of Jesus’ admonition to His disciples in John 15:5 that He is the vine, we are the branches and those who abide in Him bear much fruit. Jesus also said “without Me, you can do nothing.” Oh sure, we have much activity, we have a full calendar, but how much of it depends on the manifest presence and power of God? Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying all of what we’re doing isn’t bathed in prayer because I know we have people praying, but I am trying to make us think in an honest fashion about prayer or the lack of it.

I believe we will see and experience the manifest presence and power of God if we will be willing to humble ourselves and pray. I will be intensifying my prayer efforts and I am asking you to join with me. I will be asking God to allow us see the gates of Hell crumble around us and that lives will be transformed by His grace and mercy. I will be praying that God will allow us at Calvary to see His mighty work, that His power and glory will be made known in this place and that His kingdom will be expanded, and that the Lord will do a fresh work in all of our lives. I long for the manifest presence and power of God, 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

Visioning...

January 1, 2010 began a new decade of service and ministry. As I had a little time off over the Christmas and New Year Holiday, I began to reflect on the previous year and the whirlwind of activity I had personally in our family with two moves, two weddings and trying to learn a new system of church life and ministry, getting to know a new church family and settling in to the rigors of preaching at least twice a week. I found myself scrambling to get up to speed in so many areas, sometimes it was quite overwhelming quite honestly and I think there were times I felt like I was peddling a big wheel on Interstate 95! But the Lord is so good and He’s brought us through an amazingly wonderful year. As I’ve been reflecting, praying and talking to the Lord, I’ve been reminded of Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The warning of the sage is God’s people need to seek the prophetic revelation of the Lord – if they do not, there is a tendency to just do anything and everything we want to for our own selfish agenda. He follows this warning with a promise of God’s favor and blessing to those who keep the law of God; which is a constant expectation for God’s people, even while they are waiting for further instructions from God.

The Lord is inviting us to seek His face for the vision of our future, I know very well there is a tremendous need and I have a burden to hear to the Word of the Lord as to the heading and course we are to undertake; what His vision is for what He intends for Calvary to be over the next decade and beyond. On April 26^th, 2009, on the occasion of our church’s 60^th anniversary, I shared with you a message called “A recipe for our future” from Mark 2:1-17. I shared with you 10 ingredients from that text that need to be present in our church life for a successful future. Recently I pulled up the podcast off the website and listened to that message again, I’ve studied my sermon manuscript and have been refreshed by the Lord for the big picture related to our future. I’ve been burdened with the need to flesh out the vision God has and incorporate ways in my communication with you to “vision cast” what God wants us to be, what God wants us to do in our mission of making disciples. This comes through much prayer both from me and our church family. Our staff has begun to pray and develop some strategic plans related to our future and we’re going to be working on this more throughout the course of this year. We’re going to have to make some hard choices related to some of what we’re currently doing, how we’re doing it, how does it fit into the scope of what the Lord has for us in the future and so on. We’ve got to evaluate what is working well and what is not; we’ve got to revitalize what is not working or drop it all together. I want to help us work smarter, not necessarily harder because I don’t want us to burn out as I know many of you are involved in multiple ministries.

The main thing I need you to be doing right now is to pray. Pray specifically that God would clearly reveal to me and to our ministry team as a whole what His vision is. Pray that God will help me communicate this vision with you and how to strategically implement it and keep us on track. Pray that we’ll not be sidetracked by things that may be good but not necessarily God’s best for Calvary. You’re going to be hearing more about visioning in the future and it’s exciting. It’s exciting to learn where God is at work in our community, in our region our country and our world. There’s a God-sized task out there and He wants us to be a part of it. The urgency of the task really has been made evident with the Haitian earthquake and the thousands of people who stepped into a Christ-less eternity. Part of the vision includes international missions opportunities. I have a date to go on a visioning trip to Moscow in April to work with two Russian churches to explore how we can help them reach their communities. I was on the phone with a missionary in France this morning discussing a project to reach difficult people and the possibility of us taking a group to France later this fall. We’ve begun to help strengthen a local church plant to help them reach Abingdon for Christ;  I’ve committed to develop some exciting material related to church membership here at Calvary and what church membership is all about for a discipleship training class we’ll offer. I don’t know about you, but just dreaming about what God has in store for us charges me up and I can’t wait to experience it with you my beloved Church family. The Lord is authoring the vision and excitement is building, 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/  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Keeping it real...

I really enjoy football. I like the competition, the strategy, the hard hitting, watching amazing athletes who are ginormous but can move like cats. I have a couple of teams I follow in the NFL and I enjoy watching college kids play if there is a big rivalry.  I tend to be disappointed when I see grown men who make a big play taunting opposing fans, prancing around like children and generally operating with so much arrogant pride that if it were concrete ready to be poured, it would fill the Grand Canyon. The arrogance some of these guys have is sickening and we pay them gazillions of dollars to act that way because they are our idols. One of the most popular shows on TV is starting again tonight with “American Idol”. With the amount of egos filling the air waves of that show, I’m shocked the heads will actually fit on my TV screen.  

What a contrast I see in my morning devos from Luke 7:1-10 with the Roman Commander, a centurion who by title is in charge of 100 elite soldiers of the Roman army, the rulers of the known world. These soldiers enforced the will of Caesar; they were like all the elite branches of our military rolled into one. To be the commander of the best of the best, you had to have your act together. Most of the time, the Jews absolutely hated the Romans because of their oppressive policies and they particularly hated the soldiers who enforced those policies. But in Luke 7, we see a Centurion who was well-liked by the Jews, you could almost say he was their idol. I glean from reading between the lines he had amazing people skills in order to be in his position having to enforce Roman policy on the Jews but yet the Jews thought he was awesome. Luke tells us why in vs. 5 “because he loves our nation and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” If anyone had a cause to be full of pride and arrogant, it was this guy. He was at the top of his game and everyone spoke highly of him.

But he’s not arrogant. The deal is this Roman Centurion had a servant who was highly valued. Maybe the servant was the Centurion’s “right hand man”, the one who does all the behind the scenes work and so forth. Anyway, this servant is very sick and about to die. Word gets out to Jesus about this Centurion and his servant and the Jews want Jesus to heal the servant. In vs. 4, they pleaded with Jesus saying “He is worthy to have you do this for him because…” In other words because of the Centurion’s performance in loving the Jewish nation and building the synagogue  he deserved special treatment from Jesus.  The Jews believed this Centurion; their hero had “earned it.” Jesus starts to head to the Centurion’s home indicating it was indeed an oddity that a man in his position would be so kind to the Jews.  Notice the humility of this powerful man, he doesn’t come to the Lord in person, he sends some friends to Jesus and says, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to enter under my roof…” Wow! This guy recognizes that as powerful and influential as he was and with as many resources that he had; he was not God because only God could save his servant. The Jews said, “He is worthy…” the Centurion says, “I am not worthy…” He said to Jesus all he had to do was command it, and his servant would be healed. The Centurion’s message to Jesus continued: “I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes…;” What this Centurion said in effect was this: “Lord, you are the ultimate authority, in terms of chain of command, I know the buck stops with you, no one has more power than you. If you issue the order, my servant will be healed because only God can help him.” Jesus was stunned – so much so he told all the Jews following this that he hadn’t seen such amazing faith in all of Israel. Jesus healed the man – and didn’t even issue the command in response to the man’s faith!

I was struck by a couple of principles this morning: 1) Salvation is not for the worthy, but for the unworthy and who have the courage to admit it. 2) Salvation is not based on performance; it is totally a gift of God’s grace. 3) Salvation does not depend on how good other people think you are, but the faith you place in Jesus, the ultimate authority. I could go on and on about this amazing passage but I worry about this: I wonder how many people are members and attenders of churches like Calvary who think they are bound for Heaven because they are worthy? They’ve been declared worthy by others, they’ve performed, they have great people skills, they’re at the top of the game, they give generously to church causes and so forth. But they will go to Hell because they’ve never humbled themselves in front of Jesus, they’ve never said to Jesus, “I’m not worthy…”

My wife observed after a particularly frustrating time in our ministry in New Hampshire one of the best things about Heaven will be that everyone there “will get it.” In other words, they’ll understand who Jesus really is and they’ll be submissive to His authority in their lives because they are not worthy. I’m just keeping it real and giving you something to think about from my little corner of the world to yours…

Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
 http://www.calvarybelair.com/

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

The Heartbeat of God...

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

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

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 1^st or December 31^st. 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 1^st mission’s banquet. One of my best friends in the world, Nathan Lino, will be our guest speaker on Wednesday Jan.6^th. 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

www.calvarybelair.com

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph