Summer Church in Conference

As we enter the fall semester, there will be much activity in the life of our church: EQUIP, WIT, Remedy, The Grove, Christmas Choir, Wednesday night suppers, Perspectives, etc., etc.  One of the many things taking place is our Summer Church in Conference.  This meeting which will take place on Sunday, August 25th at 6:30 PM is an opportunity for Calvary members to receive reports from committees and to elect three members to the Deacon Screening and Nominating Committee.  This short administrative meeting will be preceded by a time of fellowship and refreshments in the parlor and a time of worship in the worship center.

The reports will be available online from the church web site: www.calvarymcallen.org next week.  We encourage you to download them and print them.  This allows you to be informed before the meeting and it also helps us reduce the number of copies we make for the meeting.

Refreshments will be served in the parlor beginning at 6:00 PM.  A brief time of worship will begin in the worship center at 6:30 PM.

Plan to come, fellowship, worship, pray and be informed! Encourage your teams to do so also.

If you would like to submit a name to be considered at the Church in Conference, please contact Alma Escobar at the church office or e-mail her by Friday, August 23rd (alma@calvarymcallen.org).  Committee nominees need to be church members in good standing.

Continue to pray for our church and participate in this summer's Church in Conference.

Is "Missional" the same thing as "Missionary"?

           Recently several members and leaders in our church have asked questions about what we mean by "missional."  Are we a "missional" church?  What are the implications of that?  How is that different from being a "missionary" church or a "missions-minded" church?  How is that different from "purpose-driven" church or from "church-growth" model type churches?  These are valid questions.

          This is not a new conversation at Calvary.  Ever since David Chan (former pastor of mobilization and global impact) joined the staff, the concept has been discussed.  Milfred Minatrea, who wrote the book "Shaped by God's Heart: the Passion and Practices of Missional Churches," preached frequently at Calvary during the interim period between Pastor Ellis and me.  I have preached and taught on the subject multiple times.  Pastor Chad, our current pastor for mobilization and global impact, may not use the word "missional" as much as the rest of us, but he addresses related concepts frequently.  We must ask at this point, Are we having "missional" overload?  Is something out of balance in our emphasis and conversations at Calvary?  Have we been talking a long time about something that we assume leaders and the congregation understand when in reality there has been little clarity?  These too are good questions.

           

          Allow me to begin by saying that one of the problems with the word "missional" is that it has been overused and misused in a lot of different contexts.  (I won't even attempt to list the various definitions here in order to avoid confusion).  This is similar to the word "discipleship" and even to the term "Christian."  These words mean different things to different people.  So we either find new words or we use these and clarify exactly what we mean by them.

           "Missional" is not exactly the same thing as "missionary" although the two words might be related.

Missionary:

             Calvary and Baptists in general have always been missionary.  By missionary we have understood that we care about those without Christ in other countries, that we support missionaries and missions financially through our budget and through special offerings, that we cooperate with other Baptists in the cause of missions, that we pray for missionaries and the people they minister to, that we teach our children and youth about missions and encourage those who are called to missions to respond, that we inform and teach our congregation about the needs in missions so that they can continue to give, pray, and on occasion go.  In very progressive cases, being missionary has meant participating in short-term trips where every day members can see first hand what happens in the mission field and thus be well-rounded disciples.  From this perspective, we have considered "missions" one of the ministries or departments of the church, we have focused on professional missionaries and short-term trips, and we have highlighted the international mission field.

Missional:

            At Calvary, when we talk about being "missional" we include all of the aspects under "missionary" above, but it goes beyond that.  Being "missional" is more than the "missions" we participate in.  It has to do with our perspective, our identity, and our heart.  It is not about a guilt-trip that we are not doing enough.  It is not an elitism that puts those who go internationally on a pedestal above everyone else.  It is about a life-style!

           There are two primary forces that shape the concept of being "missional."  One of them is the understanding of Missio Dei or "the mission of God."  This understanding moves from thinking of missions as a "department" of the church to mission as the purpose of the church.  "Missionary" has often assumed that sharing the gospel was the "mission of the church" or Missio Ecclesia.  But when we look at the Biblical record we discover that "redeeming the world" was not a by-product of the church but the very heart of God from Genesis to Revelation.  God has been on a mission to redeem lost humanity from the beginning of time.  The church is a by-product of the Missio Dei not the other way around.  Thus, the reason the church exists is to join God on His mission to redeem the world.  That should change the focus, outlook and direction of a church.  (The focus of the church is not to grow or to provide services for members but to join God on His mission).  It does not necessarily mean that it should only care about international missions or that every member needs to be a professional missionary.  It does mean that every ministry of the church should seek to either join God in redeeming the lost or equip believers for that very thing.  It does mean that all believers should discover how God is calling them to live that out at home, school, work and community.  It is not about doing more or becoming professional missionaries.  It is about capturing God's heart for our family members, our neighbors, our co-workers and our community.  It is about living redemptively or "apostolically" (there's another word that needs definition!).  It is about caring for the lost here and "over there."  For some it may mean going international but not for all.

          The other force that shapes the concept of missional beside Missio Dei is the post-modern, post-Christendom, pluralistic world in which we live.  When the modern missionary movement was launched by William Carey in the late 1700s the world was divided into "Christian" countries and "heathen" countries.  To be a missionary one needed to leave his homeland and go to a foreign country.  The mission field was across the sea.  To live in a "Christian" country meant that your school mates, your work mates and your neighbors grew up with a Judeo-Christian worldview.  They may not have all been church attendees or born-again believers but they were familiar with the Bible, the story of Jesus, and had general agreement about what was morally right and wrong.  Evangelism in that context could be done using a gospel tract like "The Four Spiritual Laws" or the "Roman Road."  You could walk people through the Plan of Salvation and the Sinner's Prayer in about 15 minutes resulting in a profession of faith because there was a general Judeo-Christian context.  Whether we like it or not, that is not the world we live in anymore.  There are plans to re-evangelize the U.S. and Europe.  The church in the Southern Hemisphere today is larger than the church in the Northern Hemisphere.  Missionaries are literally being sent from everywhere to everywhere.  Former Christian countries are now populated by large populations of Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Secularists, Humanists, Buddhists, etc., etc.  Many of those who are average "Americans" or "British" or "German" are biblically illiterate, morally indifferent, and doctrinally confused.  That means that the mission field, more than ever, is across our street (not just across the sea).  Furthermore, most of us are globally connected.  Through the internet, social media, and email we can have contact with people in other parts of the world without leaving our bedroom.  Many of us are able to travel internationally on vacation or business.  Some even get transferred by their company to other countries.  This means we have the opportunity to become "virtual" missionaries without having to go through seminary or a mission board.  It also means we need more than 4-point gospel outlines to share Christ with others.  We need to be cross-culturally skilled.  We need to learn how to love and serve people, thus earning the right to be heard.  We need to care for the entire person not just the soul.  We need to seek not just to "save" individuals but to redeem our communities also.  We need to live like the first century believers in the book of Acts.  The church advanced the most in a context that was pagan and often anti-Christian.  We can thrive too in the power of the same Holy Spirit.

          There is much more that we could say about this.  But this is not supposed to be a dissertation on the topic. It is simply a blog post to clarify some things.  To be clear, we are not completely married to the word "missional" but we are committed to being a church that joins God on His mission.  Ultimately, a term like that is more about what others consider us than about what we call ourselves.  In Antioch, the disciples were called "Christians" for the first time (Acts 11:26).  The believers did not spend a lot of time coming up with a name to call themselves.  They simply lived Christ-like lives and it was the people around them that gave them the label "Christians."  Our commitment is more to who we are and how we live that out than to what we call ourselves.

          So in summary, this is what this means for us at Calvary:

1. To be "missional" is more than just going on international missions;
2. To be a "missional" disciple or church member does not mean that you have to be a professional missionary but that you find out how God wants you to live out his calling;
3. To be a "missional" church means that everything we do should have God's mission in mind: to redeem a lost world.  
4. To be a "missional" church does not mean that the only thing we care about is going internationally or supporting professional missionaries.
5. As a "missional" church we want to love, minister and equip every member to be all God has called him/her to be.  This concerns every area of life.  Being "missional" is about a life-style not about "missionary" activity.  It is simpler than it sounds.
6. To be missional is not a "new commandment."  It is simply the full implication of discipleship.  The terms and the context have changed but the biblical concept remains the same.
7. Ultimately, being a missional disciple and a missional church is the work of the Holy Spirit through us.  He is the one that gives us the desire to join Him on His mission.  He is the one that teaches us how to live like that.  He is the one that works it in us.  It is not a burden or a guilt-trip.  It is the work of grace as we trust Him and are willing to obey Him.

          Some churches have radicalized this concept.  Some members fear the implications of this.  At Calvary, we simply want to line up our heart with God's heart.  We trust Him to guide us, to empower us and to resource us in accordance to His call.  While we are ready to learn from other churches, please rest assured that we are not trying to copy another church (with the possible exception of the New Testament church).

          Jesus lived missionally.  Yet His life did not seem like a burden.  He enjoyed time with His friends, he was often outdoors, he occasionally joined the fishing expeditions, he shared many a meal with his disciples, he attended weddings and parties with tax-collectors.  He lived in many senses a "normal" life.  He was not locked up at the synagogue or at the Temple 24-7.  He didn't have a religious persona that was different from His everyday life.  He simply lived and taught as he walked and shared life with common ordinary people.  Our call is not much different than that.

         If this is still not completely clear, stick around.  We hope to continue this dialogue.  And, please do not hesitate to comment on this post, to ask questions.  Challenge, push the envelope.  This is a safe place to agree, disagree and grow.

          I have not treated this post as an academic write-up but I must give credit to some books.  Many of the concepts I discuss above are found in the following books.  I have not quoted directly from them but I have read the books and the concepts in them come through in my post:

• Misión Integral: Ensayos Sobre el Reino y la Iglesia [Integral (Holistic) Mission: Essays on the Kingdom and the Church], C. Rene Padilla (1986)
• Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Darrell L. Guder, Ed. (1998);
• The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, Philip Jenkins (2002);
• The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone, Samuel Escobar (2003);
• Shaped by God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, Milfred Minatrea (2004);
• Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, David J. Bosch (1991);
• The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, Thomas L. Friedman (2005)

Interestingly, after I wrote this post last night, I downloaded a new book on my Kindle this morning.  As I quickly read the introduction this morning, I felt like I could have just copied and pasted it to my post!!!!! :)  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.  It is:

• Unfinished: Believing is only the Beginning, Richard Sterns (2013)

EQUIP Courses this Fall

     

  

         This fall we are changing gears in our EQUIP ministry.  Wednesday nights we have offered a variety of Bible studies and classes for adults.  These have been great opportunities for those that have sought personal and spiritual growth.  As we move forward, our pastoral staff has felt that we need to be more strategic and focused with the options we offer on Wednesday night.  Our desire is that our course options for adults be aligned with our overall church purpose, vision and strategy.  

 Calvary's purpose statement is the following:

Calvary Baptist Church exists to glorify God by loving Him with all our being and by loving people in the power of the Holy Spirit that they might become Christ followers. 

That's our reason for existing, our purpose for being.  Our vision is that as we live our purpose, we will:

... be a community of Christ followers who love God with all [our] being and are sent into [our] world by Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to love others and to encourage them to follow Christ in the same way, resulting in the multiplication of missional communities.

We call this our "vision statement."  If we reduce it this vision statement to its smallest expression, we come up with three primary aspects:

1. Love God (personal)
2. Love People (relational)
3. Live His Mission (missional)

These purpose and vision statements are based on primarily two Bible passages: Mark 12:30-31 and Matthew 28:18-20.  We call these texts "The Great Commandment" and "The Great Commission" respectively.

           The bottom line is that our church is about making disciples who make disciples.  Our purpose and vision statement do not use the word "disciples" because it seems to mean different things to different peoples.  So we have opted for the term "Christ followers" but we mean "disciples" by it.  For us, everything we do as a church: worship, group ministry, teaching, community ministry, missions mobilization, etc., etc., should glorify God and contribute to disciple-making (these two are mutually inclusive).  The discussions we need to have are "What do we mean by disciples?"  "What does a disciple look like?"  "How do we make disciples?"

          Thus, when we think about our EQUIP ministry on Wednesday nights, we realize the following:

1. We need to "equip" leaders to understand, share and implement this vision;
2. We want to "equip" families to make disciples at home.  We want families to know that adult, student and children ministries exist to support families in making disciples but these ministries can never replace the role of dads and moms in this task.
3. We want to "equip" those who are desiring to grow as disciples and to make other disciples.  

That is why this fall we have selected the following courses:

We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to be equipped as Christ followers and to join God in His mission.

          On August 28 we will have an orientation in the parlor at 6:30.  This will be an opportunity to meet the course leaders and to hear an introductory word about each of the courses.  We hope that will be helpful to you as you decide which course to take.  The first session of each course will be on September 4 at 6:30 in the indicated venues.

           We are blessed to have Pastor Rolando Aguirre lead our EQUIP ministry.  The Spanish counter part to EQUIP is called Instituto de Capacitación Calvary (Calvary Equip Institute).  The name might be slightly different but the objective is the same: our Wednesday course offerings for adults are meant to equip believers, members and leaders to be disciples and to serve as God has called each of them.

We are thankful for the rest of the pastoral staff and for Pastor Ed Gilpin who have agreed to lead these four courses for our adults in Calvary's English Language Ministry.

           As you know a fifth EQUIP option will be the Perspectives course which will be offered on the Calvary campus.  You may choose between the Monday night (6:30 to 9:30) or the Tuesday morning (9 to 12) option.  If you choose to take Perspectives, we recommend you do so in lieu of a Wednesday night course because of the time commitment they each require.  There is a significant financial cost for the Perspectives course and there are some partial scholarships available.  For more information, please contact Pastor Chad.

           You are a leader!  If you are not already committed to something else on Wednesday night or to taking Perspectives, I hope to see you there!

Giving Patterns 2012--2013

           During the last couple of months several of our leaders and staff members asked questions about the patterns of giving at Calvary.  It is evident that we are experiencing numerical growth in membership and total Sunday morning attendance (especially in our Spanish Language Ministry).  The questions that have been raised include: Is giving increasing, decreasing or staying the same?  Do we have more contributors than before or not?  Are new members giving/tithing?  Have some members stopped giving or decreased their giving?  Is the per-capita (average given per person/family) giving the same or less? Etc., etc.

          These questions are relevant for several reasons.  The answers can point us to areas of growth and areas where growth is needed.  This has implications for our teaching.  They can also tell us something about the health of our church in regard to giving.  Recent research indicated that the number of contributors in North American churches is decreasing and that the percentage those contributors are giving is also decreasing.  Twenty years ago it was said that in general 20% of the people in a church gave 80% of the money.  Today it is said that generally 10% of the people give 90% of the money.  There are many reasons given for those shifts.  One of the big ones is that the "builder" generation (those born before WWII), who have always been committed and generous givers, is decreasing.  Younger generations give less because of their standard of living, level of indebtedness and lack of agreement (or knowledge) about biblical teaching on giving.

           This post is not meant to analyze giving patterns in the North American church.  Neither is the intent to present a biblical teaching on giving (We recently studied "The Treasure Principle").  The objective here is to share how Calvary is doing in this regard.  However, this study and report assumes certain biblical principles including:

1. That the tithe (10%) of our income is a proportional principle for giving to God's work demonstrating that He is the owner of the 100% (Leviticus 27:30).
2. That this principle of the tithe as proportionate giving pre-dates and post-dates the Mosaic law (Genesis 14:20; 28:22; Matthew 23:23; 1 Corinthians 16:2).
3. The tithe as a biblical principle is not to be practiced as a legalistic obligation imposed by others but as a starting principle to respond to God's grace.  Grace always goes beyond the law.  Grace always goes beyond the minimum.  (Matthew 10:8).  It is a voluntary response to God's grace and to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7) but the tenth is the Scriptural guide for proportionate giving.
4. The tithe is meant for the place of worship and service of God's people.  When the prophet Malachi exhorted Israel to seek spiritual renewal, he told them on God's behalf, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house" (Malachi 3:10).  Surely there were poor to help everywhere and there might have been other benevolent causes to support outside of having provision in the Temple.  But the spiritual renewal of Israel called for the investment of their heart in the place they worshipped God and where God's Word was taught them.  To put it in New Testament terms, Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  In other words, spiritual commitment to the place where a believer worships, serves, and experiences discipleship is accompanied by financial commitment and vise-versa.  In turn, the church has a responsibility to support missions and to help the poor, etc., etc.  As individuals, we are free to contribute to causes outside our local church but we have a spiritual commitment to pray and support our congregation as a matter of priority.

          As Lead Pastor I have purposed myself not to have access to the contribution records.  In other words I don't know who gives what at Calvary.  I have never known and I want to keep it that way.  In order to have an idea of giving patters at Calvary I asked the support staff that has access to contribution records (there are only two staff members who do) to prepare a report.  This report was shared with the stewardship committee at their last monthly meeting.  The three-page report is available to Calvary leaders who request it.  This report is not a thorough long-range report but it gives a good idea of the present situation.  I share some of the findings with you below:

1. A significant number of families make some financial contribution to Calvary.  Of the 1,760 families in our database (members, attendees and prospects), 822 families contribute financially (47%).  When only the member families (700) are considered, 68% (474) contribute.
2. English Language Ministry (ELM) and Spanish Language Ministry (SLM) compliment each other in giving.  The percentage of member families who contribute from the ELM is lower (54%) than the percentage of member families who contribute from the SLM (100%).  However, the per capita family giving in the ELM is about three times as much as the per capita family giving in the SLM.
3. There were more individuals (654) contributing in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 (611).  In the first six months of 2012 an extraordinary gift was made by one individual.  Removing this extraordinary gift, more money was given in the first six months of 2013 ($949,157) than in the first six months of 2012 ($888,669).  This represents a 7% growth in number of contributors and in dollar amount from last year to this year.
4. We have gained more new contributors than lost former contributors but the dollar amount given by the new contributors is less than former contributors.  There were 197 individuals who gave in 2012 and have not given in 2013.  That represents a total of $116,488.  However, there were 232 individuals who have given in 2013 and did not give in 2012 representing a total of $85,123.
5. We have more current contributors who have increased their giving than those who have decreased their giving.  There were 182 individuals who gave less in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total decrease of $100,511.  On the other side, there were 210 individuals who gave more in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total increase of $191,365.
6. About 32% of member families might be considered tithers or significant-proportinate contributors providing 92% of the total budget dollars received.  (Compare this with the 10%-of-people-give-90%-of-the-money pattern mentioned above).

          It should be noted that our database includes families and members who are inactive.  Also some of the changes in giving relate to people who have moved away or changed church membership.  The analysis of reasons why these things are so is outside the scope of this report.

          A couple of observations are in order in regard to this information.  The first one is that the state of giving in our church is healthy.  There is room for growth but there is wide participation and many of the numbers are above the "norm" of churches in the nation.  We have grown in the amount of contributors and thus in the amount of money given.  However, the per-capita giving has decreased some.  This is somewhat in keeping with general trends in the nation. It means it will take more people to do some things.  It means we may have to find ways to do more with less.  The future, nevertheless, remains bright.  We have growing to do but we have a congregation that is committed.

          This July was one of the best "Julys" in the last several years.  At the beginning of the summer our staff had projected that July would incur $12,000 in expenses over income.  This is due to the nature of summer events and to the giving trends in summer months.  However, we had a July in the black!  We received more money than was spent!  The financial reports are not complete yet but we are confident that we did much better than we had projected.  Our YTD deficit has been decreased and there is still hope to get in the black for YTD in the next couple of months.  We praise God for that!

        We thank you in your role as a leader of Calvary for your prayers and your support of the Lord's work in our midst.  To God be the glory!

Miller Room for Student Ministry Use

           The Miller Room (or G101), which has been used as a kind of multi-purpose room, will soon be converted into a Student Ministry space.

          As you know since the hailstorm, our students have been without a building of their own.  They are currently in the Family Life Center using classrooms upstairs on Sunday morning and the gym floor on Wednesday nights.

          There are no immediate plans to construct a student building.  (A master plan that was developed about eight years ago included the future construction of a Student Ministry Building but this master plan needs to be revisited).  Even if we were to vote on doing that at the next Church in Conference (which we are not), it would take about two years before we could have a building.  That means that we need to do our best to make sure our students have a place they can call their own, a place that welcomes them, a place that announces from the very entrance that students are important at Calvary, a place that feels like a student building for the next three or four years.  The next step in doing so is to convert the Miller Room (downstairs in the Family Life Center) into a student hang out area.  

          We are not planning on doing any structural changes or major remodeling.  We simply need to paint the room, put some comfy chairs in there, add some ping-pong and/or pool tables, etc.. etc. Pastor Marcus will be working to lead this project and to make sure that it is both student-friendly and low-budget.  This, of course, implies that this room will not be the most adequate for adult usage (except for college students).  We do hope that this room will be shared by college ministry.  We have plenty of rooms that adults can use in the Slayton building, multi-purpose room, Family Life Center and parlor.  We will do our due diligence to facilitate the best rooms availability for adult ministry.  But it is important that Student Ministry has its appropriate, welcoming space.

           Our hope is to start work on this within the next two weeks in order to have it ready by the beginning of the semester.  We appreciate your support, the leadership of Marcus Rodriguez, and the support of many volunteers in the Student Ministry.  We look forward to numerical, spiritual and missional growth in our student ministry.

P.S.:  We need to consider a good time this fall to have a group, team or committee revisit the "master plan" that the church adopted several years ago (immediately before the construction of the Children's building).

Thank you for these three years

          The tree in the photo above is an orange tree that Calvary gave us shortly after we moved to McAllen (about three years ago).  The tree is growing slowly and staying very green in spite of the drought.  Every morning when I drink my coffee I look at the tree with gratitude.  The tree is a reminder to me of God's faithfulness and providence.  It's a reminder to me of the love that the people of Calvary have shown to me and my family since we arrived.  It is a reminder of God's ability to keep things alive and growing.  During these three years that I have had the privilege of serving as lead pastor of Calvary I have grown much.  I also have seen God doing His work in this wonderful congregation.

          I simply want to pause and thank you for the opportunity you have given me to serve Calvary.  I thank each of you for your love and prayerful support.  I thank you for encouraging words.  I also thank you for frank and open communication when there is disagreement.  I thank you for your patience and for your trust.  I am extremely blessed and grateful for these three years and I trust God that he will continue to grow this relationship in the same way he is growing the little orange tree.

          Calvary is a rich church in many ways:

           Calvary is rich in diversity.  Our church possesses ethnic diversity as has been noted before.  We also have a broad range of ages: babies, children, students, college students, young adults, median adults, senior adults.  (We're not a niche church but a cross-generational community).   We also have diversity of faith backgrounds.  Our people come from Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Free, Assemblies of God, Bible, Plymouth Brethren and other backgrounds.  We have a diversity of socio-economic levels, including working class, retirees, students, middle class, professionals, and well-to-do individuals.  The professions of our people vary from educators to business owners, from law-enforcement to real estate, from finance and banking to labor, from sales to public service, from contractors to office personnel, from engineers to medical professionals, from lawyers to house-cleaning personnel, from farmers to stay-at-home wives/moms, etc., etc.  We have folks from different countries and also from various states of the U.S.  We have various styles of worship expressed each Sunday.  We also have diversity in theological positions from ultra-conservative to moderate.  What a richness is ours as all of us meet at the foot of the cross!  What a fitting name for our church: Calvary!  That's what brings us together: the work of Christ on Calvary.  Only He can do that!  Anyone can get a homogeneous group together.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring this kind of diversity into one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

          Calvary is also rich in tradition.  It is not the kind of tradition that stifles spiritual vitality.  It is not the kind of tradition that hinders positive change and progress.  It is the healthy kind of tradition that gives identity and continuity to the work of God.  Calvary has a long tradition of supporting church starts in the Valley.  Our church also has a long tradition of supporting missionary work, whether it is through the Cooperative Program, through seasonal mission offerings, or through direct missions involvement.  Calvary has a long-time tradition of commitment to sound biblical teaching and preaching.  Our congregation has a strong tradition of unapologetically cooperating within the Baptist denomination while being open to working cross-denominationally with para-church organizations, educational institutions and other groupings. Calvary has a tradition of being more committed to reaching people and to obeying Christ than to simply doing what all other Baptist churches do.  Calvary has kept "Baptist" in its name but has always been open to all the people that want to worship here or join the congregation.  Calvary has a strong tradition of operating with high accountability, including financial reporting to the entire congregation, committee decision-making, church in conference more than once a year, etc. (This is a disappearing thing in many of the churches this size and bigger).  Calvary has a tradition of being progressive from its inception.  Our church has had a tradition of relating significantly to the community.  Calvary has had a tradition of caring for the lost: from old-fashioned revivals to the FAITH evangelism program to EE to the supporting of missions and to the praying for the unreached people groups of the world.  In its 56 years of history, Calvary has seen many changes.  Yet certain core-values have remained the same.  The methods and strategies may change but the spirit and the mission of this church have not.

           I am grateful to be part of this congregation.  I am thankful for the rich history and heritage of this church.  I thank God for the changes He has allowed over the last several years.  I am blessed to have been the lead pastor for these last three years.  I am optimistic about the future of this great church.  God will continue to show His faithfulness as we move forward in His name, by His Spirit and for His glory.

P.S.:  I'm extremely grateful to the church, the deacons, the personnel committee and the staff for your support during my doctoral dissertation writing.  I have recently submitted introductory and bibliographical material.  I have been asked to do additional revisions on multiple chapters.  I still need to submit my conclusions chapter, which is briefer than the previous one.  But I have made significant progress and I am very close to having it all in.  I'm still hopeful about getting it all submitted by the end of August.  I'm looking forward to being back in the pulpit this month (with the exception of one vacation Sunday).  I so appreciate the staff pastors who have blessed us with their preaching.  I am indebted to God and to all of you for the great kindness shown to me.

Preaching the Annual Sermon to Texas Baptists

          (I am inserting this comment on 8-7-13.  Since I entered this post on 7-12-13, the Texas Baptists webpage has uploaded the sermon videos.  You can watch the video of my message by clicking on this link: Annual Sermon Video.  If you would like to see videos of the other speakers at this meeting you can go to this webpage: Videos of speakers at the Texas Baptists Gathering.  If you are interested in reading articles that report on the overall sense of The Gathering, here are a couple:

Texas Baptists Family Gathering by ABP news

Baptist Standard Editorial: "Pentecost in San Antonio"

Family Gathering by the Baptist Standard). 

         This year I have the honor of preaching the convention sermon for the annual meeting of Texas Baptists.  I have been asked to speak on the topic of ethnic diversity on Sunday night (July 14).  I share this with you because I need your prayer support and because I want you to know that I consider it a great privilege to do this as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, McAllen.

          This year's meeting is a historic one because it is the first time the BGCT, the Hispanic Baptist Convention, the African-American Fellowship, the Vietnamese Fellowship, the Chinese Fellowship and the Western-Heritage ministry fellowship will have a joint meeting.  On Sunday night the theme will be diversity.  On Monday night it will be unity and on Tuesday night it will be missions.  We will conclude this assembly with the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

          As I did research for the assigned topic, I found out some information that I thought you might like to know.  It has to do with the demographics of Texas and the diversity of our Texas Baptist Churches.

           Currently in our state there is no racial or ethnic majority.  In the chart below you can see that the population of Texas is 45% Anglo, 38% Hispanic, 12% Black, 4% Asian and 1% Native American/Pacific Islander.

According to Texas' demographer by the year 2040, 53% of the Texas population will be Hispanic, 32% will be Anglo, and 10% will be Black.  Here's a chart that shows the projected growth from 1980 to 2040:

There are many implications of this information in regard to evangelism, missions, education, and the way we do church.  If we care about the future of our churches and the future of our state, we need to be aware of these realities.

          Thankfully Texas Baptists have not only been thinking about this for some time but have been proactive in the planting of churches that will reach this diverse state for Christ.  According to the annual report that churches submit to the BGCT, of the 5,434 congregations affiliated with the convention: 

• ·      54% (2,953) are Anglo
• ·      19% (1,039) Hispanic
• ·      15% (822) African-American
• ·      04% (238) Other
• ·      04% (195) Asian
• ·      03% (187) Western-Heritage

In the "other" category, 172 congregations consider themselves multi-ethnic or multi-cultural.  Additionally there are 36 ethnicity and language groups included in the "Asian" and "Other" categories.  They include Arabic, Brazilian, Bhutanese, Cambodian, Chinese, Cameroon, Chin, Congolese, Deaf, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Filipino, Haitian, Hmong, Native American, Iranian, Japanese, Karen, Kachin, Kenyan, Korean, Liberian, Laotian, Messianic, Nigerian, Romanian, Russian, Sudanese, Thai and Vietnamese.  Did I mention these are all congregations in Texas?  The ends of the world have come to our state and Texas Baptists are reaching them for Christ.  We have a long way to go but we are on the right path.

          You may already know that the Rio GrandeValley is 90% Hispanic with the rest of the population being Anglo, Black, Asian and other.

          According to our records at Calvary, currently our congregation is very diverse.  Of the approximately 1,300 members on our church roll 49.5% are Anglo, 45.2% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 1% is Black.  That's in terms of ethnicity and membership.  In terms of worship attendance and language preference, of the 940 people who attend worship on any given Sunday, 54% attend one of our English worship services and 46% attend our Spanish service.  We are truly a diverse and multi-cultural church.  We praise God for that.  We are not in the business of targeting or preferring one ethnic or language group over another.  We are about being inclusive of all people with the love of Christ because that is what reflects best the New Testament church.  Ultimately, we as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "should not judge people by the color of their skin."  Instead we should see the person for whom Christ died and desires to redeem.

          As a multi-cultural church in the Valley, we are learning how to be effective in the midst of changing demographics.  Just because you agree that we should love and accept all people does not mean that we know how best to do that.  We still have much to learn.  However, there are some ways in which we can be of help and encouragement to other churches in Texas.

           This topic may open up a lot of conversations for you and me.  I hope we get to have them.  However, for now, I ask that you pray for me this weekend, pray for Calvary's effectiveness in reaching the McAllen area and for Texas Baptists as we reach a diverse state.

          The plenary sessions of the annual meeting will be streamed live over the internet.  Click on the following link to see the schedule and the the live feed link, in case you are interested in watching any of the sessions:

Texas Baptists Annual Meeting

           (By the way, I report to you that I am making significant progress in my dissertation writing.  I'm still on target to finish this summer!  This month will constitute the last major preaching rotation at Calvary as I hope to submit the final chapter of my dissertation sometime in August).