Approved Recommendations at the Business Session

Our church had a business session last Sunday night where several important items were approved.  (If you would like to get a hard copy of these reports, please request it from our church office).

Our finance reports year to date (as of October) show us ($216,940.74) income under budget.  This is a significant budget shortfall.  This has been a difficult year in the economy and a transition year for our church.  It is remarkable that our spending has been only ($12,512.63), representing about 6% of our budget shortfall.  Considering that we have had to exceed the budget in the area of maintenance because of air condition problems and related issues, this primarily means that we are not able to service all our mission endeavors at the projected level, that some ministries do not get done, and that we are not able to fill the staff positions that have been left vacant this year.  However, we are confident that the Lord will provide for Calvary's ministries this year.  We hope that our Thanksgiving offering this Sunday will be an opportunity to give generously so that the church's ministries for 2010 can be carried out.

I am grateful for the official addition of 73 members who have joined during the last four months (47 by transfer and 26 by baptism).  We hope that in the months ahead God continues to add those who feel called to be disciples and make disciples through the fellowship at Calvary.

The church also approved the nominating committee and coordinating council recommendation in regard to committee nominations.

The deacon screening and nominating committee recommended six candidates for active service as deacons: Joe Averill, Danny Drefke, Brad Price, Darin Burrell, Tony Worley, and Bob Canterbury.  We are grateful for the availability of these men to serve our church as deacons for the next three years beginning in 2011.

Finally, our church approved the proposed 2011 church budget.  This budget reflects the addition of the Spanish Language Ministry since this was previously in the missions budget.  It also reflects salary and insurance increases for personnel.  There is a slight decrease in the missions portion and in other areas.  In terms of revenues, the budget will now count on the offerings from the Spanish Language Ministry worship service which were previously going to a designated account.  After these changes, the stewardship committee presented the budget as requiring virtually the same weekly revenues from the three English worship services as the 2010 budget.

As a church, there is always a delicate balance between a faith-driven budget and wise stewardship.  On the one side, the danger is that we would be irresponsible with the resources God has given us.  On the other side, the danger is that we would revert to only do what is humanly possible without relying on the Lord.  We believe that God is giving direction to our church and that there are ministries and mission endeavors that he has called us to do.  We are grateful to the stewardship committee for recommending and to the church for approving a budget that will challenge us to do our best and to rely on the Lord's provision while being responsible stewards of the Lord's resources.

Let us continue to seek the Lord's direction and blessing as we move forward to 2011!

"I Am Calvary" Commitment Cards

On Sunday, October 24, we closed our "I Am Calvary" emphasis with an opportunity for individuals in the congregation to make personal commitments to be missional disciples.  We did this by providing commitment cards where those making commitments could indicate their desire to take responsibility for their primary mission field.


We received a total of 380 commitment cards (272 from the English services and 108 from the Spanish service):

•   20 in business field
•   37 in education field
•      5 in legal (justice/law enforcement)
•    15 in medical field
• 170 identified neighborhood as their primary mission field
•    88 identified school as their primary mission field
•    22 identified family and/or friends as their primary mission field

This is very encouraging.  There are at least 380 individuals in our congregation who are taking responsibility for their primary mission field.  Whether it is at work, school or neighborhood, the mobilization of this significant group will yield a high impact in our city and region as the Holy Spirit empowers our witness.

One of the follow-up actions we are taking to equip those who are living missionally is the sermon series "Just Walk across the Room" which began last Sunday and will continue through Sunday, November 21.  We are also having a discussion group about this Bill Hybels book on Wednesday nights.  This sermon series and the study group are meant to offer a simple and relational model for pointing people to faith in Christ.

We would also like to encourage, and on occasion, resource the networking of people who share domains.  For example, we would like for those who are in the business domain to be able to network with each other on how to be effective in sharing faith in that context.  The same applies to the educational, legal, medical, student and neighborhood domains.  We want to know from these individuals and networks how, as a church, we can support, equip and resource their particular mission.

We trust that God has guided us thus far and we pray that he continue to lead us in supernatural ways for the accomplishment of his mission.