Calendar Update

November 11, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Great things happening around Cedar Springs again this weekend:

Veterans Day Celebration → A huge Chinook helicopter will be landing on Skinner Field at 11am, a memorial service at Veterans Memorial Park at 1pm, and a special American Legion flag raising ceremony at Metron at 3pm. Come honor our veterans.

Overflowing With Thanks → We’re kicking off a brand new series at Calvary Assembly of God, as we lead up to Thanksgiving Day. There is such a power when we live our lives focused on all of the blessings we have received. When thanksgiving is a lifestyle — not just a day — we’re living the way God intends. Join us at 10:30am on Sunday morning.

Courageous → The Cedar Springs Ministerial Association has partnered with the Kent Theatre to offer a special showing of Courageous on Monday, November 14, at 7pm. If you cannot make this one, this incredible movie will be shown throughout the weekend (check the website or Facebook page for exact times). Tickets are just $3.

I hope you have a great weekend relaxing and recharging for another productive week!

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Overflowing

November 8, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

As we approaching Thanksgiving Day later this month, it is important for us to pause to consider a couple of important issues: (1) to whom/what am I thankful, and (2) why am I thankful.

In his letter to the church at Colossae, the Apostle Paul had a lot to say about thank-fullness. It is very instructive for us to see how being full of thanks builds our faith, gives us peace, and keeps us alert against joy-stealers.

I hope you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God over the next three Sundays as we explore all the benefits of living lives Overflowing With Thanks.

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Smile Power

November 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I noticed something last night at our Light The Night event: lots of people were smiling, and laughing, and enjoying themselves.

And I thought to myself, “Why don’t we do this more often?”

To think that just a blow-up inflatable, some fun carnival games, and candy could make people light up. Well, it was more than that. It was our amazing Calvary Assembly of God folks. They were the ones smiling first, and that brought out the smiles in everyone who came by.

This is why I say it all the time: I ♥ My Church!

Thanks Lindsay, Scott, Harrison, and Jeff for keeping everyone safe on the slide. And for your kind words and smiles that made everyone feel so welcome.

Thanks Jeff, Damian, Brandon, Sarah, and Crystal for making such simple carnival games so much fun. And thanks for your words of encouragement and smiles to everyone who came by to play.

Thanks Mindi, Kayla, and Betsy for passing out the candy, answering questions, and smiling at all our guests. You made them feel so welcomed.

Do you want to influence people? Here’s a simple suggestion: Smile more often!

And I have to pass along some other thanks as well:

  • Del — you take amazing pictures!
  • Inflatable Frenzy — you are so easy to work with.
  • Esigns.com — you made us look good for a great price.

(I highly endorse these businesses. They are people of integrity and are very flexible and reasonably priced.)

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Light The Night

October 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Today is Halloween, and Calvary Assembly of God is going to be fully engaged with our city.

In Cedar Springs, the downtown businesses encourage families to come walk up and down Main Street, collect candy, and have fun. I know there are some who think Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween, or they come up with alternative activities for that evening.

I want us to be salt and light in our community. And we cannot do that from a distance.

So we’ll be right in the middle of it lighting the night with the love of Jesus for our neighbors. For the second year, we will have a huge inflatable slide, some carnival games, and lots and lots of candy. We want Cedar Springs to know that we love them.

I read an interesting article “What Christians Should Know About Halloween” (you can read the article by clicking here). I love the closing paragraph:

“For those who are still bothered by Halloween’s historical association with evil spirits, Martin Luther has some advice on how to respond to the devil: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.” Perhaps instead of fleeing the darkness in fear, we should view Halloween as an opportunity to mock the enemy whose power over us has been broken.”

The light of Jesus within us is so much greater than the darkness the devil may try to produce around us. Please pray for us as we let that light shine tonight.

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Night Of Worship

October 10, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I am so excited to invite you to a special night of worship. Dilip is a great friend of mine, and an incredibly gifted musician and song writer. His debut CD The Great Reversal will be released soon, and you are going to have a chance to hear these songs live!

Dilip will be presenting music from his album, and other worship songs, as we join together for a night of worship.

Friday, October 28 at 7pm

You will love his music, but you will especially appreciate his heart for worship. This is going to be an incredible night! Friday, October 28, at 7pm at Calvary Assembly of God.

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Do You Have Weekend Plans?

October 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Do you have plans for this weekend? If you’re around Cedar Springs this weekend, let me suggest a few great things you might be able to do:

1.  Take a bag (or two) of groceries to North Kent Community Services. This is the last week of the county-wide food drive. Your food donation will help two food pantries right here in Cedar Springs.

2.  Go see Courageous. The movie had a great opening weekend because it is a great movie!

3.  Come to Calvary Assembly of God on Sunday morning. We’re starting a new series called Total Freedom, exploring the incredible freedom that comes through forgiveness. I cannot wait to experience this freedom with you on Sunday.

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(Un)Forgiveness

October 5, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Charles II had a slight problem with unforgiveness

A couple of weeks ago I asked our church a simple question. So let me ask you the same thing: Anyone ever not been burned by someone, taken advantage of, or hurt by somebody else? Anyone? I didn’t think so. We’ve all been hurt, but the real issue is what we do with those hurts.

In January 1647, Oliver Cromwell captured King Charles I during the British Revolution. But a few months later, Charles escaped and managed to raise another army. In August 1648 Cromwell’s army defeated Charles’ army and once again Charles was taken prisoner. Cromwell had Charles tried for his crimes, and after the guilty verdict was issued, Charles I was executed. A total of 59 people signed his death warrant.

Eleven years later Cromwell’s son Richard had taken his place as Lord Protector of England, and there was great discontent with his leadership. As a result, the Loyalists were able to sweep Charles II into power. Charles II wanted the 59 death warrant signors put on trial, but 15 of them had already died. Charles II ordered their bodies exhumed, placed on trial, convicted, and then hung.

I’m no psychologist, but I think it’s safe to say that Charles II might have had a problem with unforgiveness!

It’s highly unlikely that you have dug up any dead bodies and put them on trial lately.

        Or maybe you have…

When someone has hurt us, we tend to keep the pain alive. Sometimes even after that person is long-gone from our life, we still exhume the corpse of their injury, put them on trial, convict them, and punish them all over again. But this process is actually punishing YOU. As long as you keep the hurt alive, you are trapped in the past.

The key to freedom is easy and yet hard: forgiveness.

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What Is/Isn’t “Christian” Music?

September 27, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

On Sunday I was answering questions that our congregation submitted, but we ran out of time. So I’m attempting to answer all of the questions. I thought this one might be worthy of some further conversation. 

Another question that we didn’t get to in Sunday’s Q Series: Does it matter the genre of Christian music to be considered glorifying God?

I think music has been one of the most dividing factors in our churches. I think this is so because satan knows the power of music. (I believe that lucifer may have been the “worship leader” in Heaven before he rebelled and was cast out, but that’s a topic to cover another time.)

We don’t really know what the music in the Bible sounded like. We don’t have any of David’s musical scores, but we do have his lyrics preserved for us in the Psalms. And what heart-moving, God-focusing lyrics they are!

The bottom line is that musical notes or musical instruments are not “Christian” or “non-Christian.” They are tools. And those tools can be used to either glorify God or detract from God. The lyrics, on the other hand, are easy to hold up to a biblical standard. So although a style/genre of music may not be my favorite, I need to look through that to two things: (1) the lyrics—do they glorify God? and (2) the attitude of the singers/musicians—are they merely performing or are they exalting God?

I can speak personally for the worship team at Calvary Assembly of God. These talented musicians and singers truly have a heart for God. They only want Jesus to be seen every single time they are on the platform. So we carefully pick our music with the goal of only exalting our King. Sometimes they are modern choruses, sometimes they are traditional hymns, sometimes they are hymns slightly rearranged with a more modern feel. Whatever the genre, we only want God to be seen and heard and exalted in our musical selections.

Blessings,

Craig

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The Q Series

September 15, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I love questions! Jesus seemed to love them too. Take a quick scan through the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and you will see ?s all throughout the biblical text.

Over the next two Sundays, I am turning over the decision of what topics to cover on Sunday mornings to my Calvary Assembly of God family. In The Q Series, they get to submit the questions. I hope you can join us.

If not, feel free to submit your question(s) on Twitter, via email, or in the comment section below. I will be sure to answer it here, and—who knows—I may even use it in The Q Series too!

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Love Serving

August 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Whenever you are able, do good to people who need help. (Proverbs 3:27)

I’ve found that it is a lot easier to do good to people when I love them. And the more I love them, the more I enjoy helping them. It’s not an imposition or a task. It’s a joy to serve.

Around Calvary Assembly of God, we have a simple statement: We ♥ Cedar Springs!

Because we love our city, we are happy to do good whenever and however we can.

Yesterday we pulled on our waders, took a generous supply of trash bags, and even secured a couple of trash grabbers so we could participate in the Cedar Creek Cleanup. We sloshed through the creek, and up and down the banks on each side, and found all sorts of interesting things. When we were done, we were wet and muddy (and probably didn’t smell too great, since creek water is not usually a favorite cologne/perfume scent!), but we were also happy. No one was complaining, because we were excited to serve.

Not only do we ♥ Cedar Springs, but—as I may have mentioned a few times before—I ♥ My Church! And I ♥ that they ♥ to serve our community. We are always on the look out for more opportunities to show the love of Jesus as we do good to others.

If you’d like to see some more pictures from our fun day of service, click here to go to Flickr.

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