Mid-Summer Highlights (Record Summer)

          It's hard to believe that the summer is half-gone already!  Soon we will be securing school supplies, registering for school and dropping off our children at their college dorm!

           Thankfully it has been a good summer at Calvary so far.  We have had record participation in most of our events and there is excitement in the air about what God is doing in our church.

           We have had a great response at our Wednesday night events.  The purpose of these events has been to foster fellowship across our three worship services.  Our pic-nic with inflatable wet rides, our

movie night and our prayer & worship nights have had great numerical turn outs and representation across our entire congregation.  They have been blessed times in building up the body at Calvary.  We appreciate the pastoral and associate staff that have planned and led these events, and Pastor Rolando for his leadership of this team.  We still have a bowling night, a swimming night, a multi-cultural supper and a back-to-school party coming up.  So don't miss out!

          We also had a very fun VBS with a participation of approximately 245 people every day.  This year we counted on one of the largest and well-organized student staff team.  There was great worship, Bible study, fun, learning and giving to missions.  We are grateful for Pastor Susan, Cheri Huerta and Bitsy Reynolds for their great leadership.

          Another highlight of our summer was Camp Zephyr.  We had a record year in Calvary participants.  A group of around 80 students and adults attended and returned with very encouraging and inspiring testimonies.  We are blessed to have Pastor Marcus and many other adults who invested in the lives of our students during this camp week.  Thank you also to Calvary for the prayer and financial support given.

          The July 4th block party this year also had record participation.  We registered 2,013 (1,234 guests and 779 Calvary members) individuals, in addition to about 200 volunteers.  Many people did not register so we are estimated that at least 3,000 people were on our campus for this outreach event.  What a great opportunity to serve our community as we celebrate the 4th of July!  We hope the witness we have given will continue to bear fruit.  We thank Betty Flores, Elizabeth Zamora, the 4th of July team and the 200 volunteers for an excellent job.

          This week two van loads of students and adults have been participating in our Houston Project.  This event, in partnership with FBC, Houston, is a hands-on missions education experience.  Houston is home to over 300 ethnic groups and 216 languages.  Going to Houston can be a global experience!  Our students have been learning about God's heart for the world, about poverty, human trafficking, and unreached people groups.  They also have been working in a community garden, serving children, painting houses, prayer walking target areas in Houston, and sharing wonderful experiences of how God is speaking to them.  We raising servant global disciples at Calvary!

We praise God for Pastor Marcus and for the adults who are leading and mentoring these servant global Calvary students!

          On Monday one of the largest groups of children ever from Calvary will be traveling to Camp Tejas.  Pastor Susan and her team of fearless volunteers will be taking a group of 89 people to this childrens' camp experience!  Please keep them in your prayers.  We know this week will make an eternal difference in the heart of many of our children.

          Then at the end of this month, July 28-30, our preteens (5th & 6th graders) will be participating in a local missions project.  These Calvary preteens will have the opportunity of working with Buckner's Community Transformation Center (one of our local missions partners) in Peñitas as they serve children of that community.  Children serving other children in the name of Jesus!  (We are blessed that our children's pastor is also a Buckner International board member.  These relational bridges help us be more effective in Kingdom work).

          Our Sunday mornings this summer have been blessed with good attendance, great worship services, the commissioning of families and individuals, baptisms, and several who have joined by transfer from another church.  We are grateful for those who have led our worship services such as Chad Mason, Diann Whisnand, Melinda Rodriguez, Chuck Olson, Jared Solis and Benjamin Aguirre.  I am thankful for those who have shared the pulpit ministry with me including Pastors Rolando, Marcus, Chad, and one of our friends in East Asia (sorry that I cannot be more specific).  This month (July) should constitute the last major preaching rotation cycle.  (I plan to submit the last of my dissertation chapters sometime in August!).  Thanks for the incredible support!

          We have individuals and families from Calvary who this summer are serving in Germany, Spain, Boston, Panama, Dallas, Ethiopia, the Middle East (cannot be more specific), Chiapas, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, etc., etc.  We also launched our 2013 missionary catalog and we are grateful for Pastor's Chad leadership in publishing this helpful tool.

          For a couple of months before the summer our giving was under our expenditures.  As we entered the summer, we have continued to carry out the events I mentioned above but we have found ways to reduce spending in other areas.  In the mean time, our summer giving has been better than other summers.  We had a record-giving month in June and although it was a five-Sunday month, even by the fourth week of June we had received more than in June of the past couple of years.  This allowed us to have a month in the black!  If the first Sunday of July is any indication, the current month will also be a good month in giving.  We are thanking God for his provision and continuing to trust Him for the days ahead.

          All in all, we are having a record summer in terms of event participation, children's ministry, student ministry, missions engagement, volunteerism and financial giving!  Praise God!

          This summer, James McGinnis, our Business Administrator, celebrated his 10th anniversary on staff at Calvary.  I am thankful for all of the administrative functions that James carries out making our ministry possible.  One of the most recent and largest tasks was bringing closure to the hail storm insurance claim.  We are done with that!  Thanks James for all you have done.

          As we wrap up the summer and prepare for the fall semester, we are anticipating exciting things, especially in the area of Bible Fellowships, EQUIP, WIT and missions mobilization.

          I don't know about you, but I sure am glad to be a part of Calvary at this time!  I will continue to pray, to give, and to be a part of what God is doing at Calvary.  I hope you will too.  Praise God for his blessings and for his goodness!