Purposefully Living In The Zone

February 11, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

“It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.” —Hugo Black

I believe God has a unique purpose for your life.

I believe God has uniquely gifted you to fulfill that purpose.

I believe God wants you to know His gifts and His purpose for you.

When you and I know what God-given gifts are implanted in us, and we know how God wants us to use them, we are living in a place of fulfillment, passion, and joy. We are Living In The Zone.

So excited to see how the Holy Spirit is going to help people move to their unique “sweet spot” as I start a new sermon series this Sunday. Hope you can join me.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 4 Comments »

Are You A Missionary?

January 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My cousin is a missionary in a country that is over 98% Muslim. Every day he engages Muslims using their language, their culture, their beliefs, their traditions. He’s in their homes, their businesses, their marketplaces.

He shows them how much Jesus loves them by showing them how much he loves them.

The other day I was reading one of his recent e-newsletters where he described what a missionary is:

Missionaries engage culture respectfully, learning local languages, celebrating what is good, speaking against injustice, speaking for those too weak or abused to speak for themselves. Missionaries often love their adopted countries as much as natural citizens do. Missionaries exalt Christ and point to Him as the only answer for our common sin problem, and the only hope for lasting peace. They are a blessing to their families and society. They are loyal to their families, faithful to their authorities, and servants to their communities.

When I read this description I thought, “I’m a missionary. I do all of these things right here in Cedar Springs.” Like learning the local culture and traditions; celebrating the good in our community; speaking out for those who can’t; supporting our schools, police, fire, and elected officials.

I ♥ My Church and I ♥ Cedar Springs!

Two questions:

1.  Do you agree with my cousin’s definition of missionary?

2.  Are you a missionary in your community?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Rescue The Innocent

January 20, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

As we approach Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on January 23, I want to encourage you again to stand up for life. All life is sacred because all life is created in the image of God. From the moment of conception until the last breath, life is God’s masterpiece.

Especially at this time of year when we reflect on the devastation that abortion has left in its wake, it’s time to pray and to speak up for the innocent who cannot speak up for themselves.

“On this 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I urge you in the strongest terms possible: pray. Pray and fast. And then roll up your sleeves and get involved in the effort to rescue these innocent children.”

Join us this Sunday as we celebrate life, and as we let our light shine for life.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Light For Life

January 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This week is Sanctity Of Human Life week. I’m passionate about this issue; in fact, it’s one of the main issues in politics in which I really get involved.

We’ll be celebrating Sanctity Of Human Life this Sunday, January 23, at Calvary Assembly of God. We’ll have an update on 38 years of pain since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, and a presentation from Alpha Family Center, an organization in Cedar Springs that I wholeheartedly support.

This Sunday evening, I’m encouraging everyone to shine a light in support of life. We’ll have some special candle bags to hand out on Sunday, and we’re encouraging everyone to line their driveway or carport or sidewalk with these “I Support Life” bags. Even if you can’t come to Calvary on Sunday, you can put a small candle in a paper lunch bag. Let’s light up the darkness and speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves:

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Signing A Blank Check

January 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In our current series on prayer, we’re using the prayer that Jesus taught as our pattern. Yesterday we looked at this part of the pattern:

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is all about trust. It’s about acknowledging to God that He is in control and He knows what’s best. It’s not about me coming into His presence and telling Him how things should work. I love the quote from C.S. Lewis:

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God “Thy will be done” and those to whom God says, “All right then, have it your way.”

When we come into God’s presence in prayer, we say, “Before I ask You for what I need, I want You to know that I trust You. No matter what.” In essence, we sign a blank check and trust God to fill in the amount.

And, by the way, the verb for “Your kingdom come” in this model prayer is an imperfect verb. That means that we have to keep on signing those blank checks, as we keep on submitting to His will and His kingdom.

Are you willing to sign a blank check to God?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

So, It’s That Easy, Huh?

January 10, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve been in full-blown praying/planning/dreaming mode for the last couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to what God has in store for our church in 2011!

Somehow I thought all of this vision “stuff” was going to be a lot of work. But I just discovered a 13-page book that is going to revolutionize my church in just a matter of minutes! I just ordered my copy, and you should too.

(Don’t you wish it really was this easy?)

(Um, for those of you who haven’t figured it out yet: this is a joke. At least the “easy” part is; the “hard-work-and-lots-of-praying” part is for real.)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Perfect Praying

January 8, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

We just wrapped up a great week of prayer, and tomorrow we dive into part two of our 2011 inaugural series of the new year: The Perfect Prayer.

I can’t think of a better way to set the pace for the year than to pray!

Hope to see you tomorrow for some great worship and a helpful study on The Perfect Prayer (location, service times, and other details are here).

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . 1 Comment »

The Dangers Of Camels

December 13, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

So glad this didn’t happen in our Living Nativity…

But on a bright note, the Cedar Springs Post had a couple of nice things to say about us (you can read the article here). And if you missed it earlier, the pictures from our Living Nativity are all uploaded here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Living Nativity

December 6, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m so proud of our team for putting on an incredible Living Nativity in Cedar Springs this past weekend!

It was a rush job to begin with (see a previous post where I talked about God moments by clicking here), but then so many people stepped up big time!

You can see all of the pictures Delbridge Langdon Jr took by clicking here.

I want to give some shout-outs to our cast:

  • The Three Wise Men (or “The Three Wise Jeffs,” as we called them): Jeff Tolar Sr, Jeff Armstrong and Jeff Tolar Jr.
  • Mary and Joseph: Judy Anderson and Josh Schram.
  • Our angels: Harrison Owens, Samantha Owens and Brandon Owens (yes, they are angelic children!).
  • And our shepherdesses: Cindy Karafa and her 4H girls.

I also want to recognize Joe Palmer for his incredible set design, and Claudia Owens (my favorite Mom) for making all of our costumes.

And finally, thanks to the Calvary A/G family for praying for us and talking it up, and thanks to Chris Burns, the Cedar Springs City Manager, for inviting us to present the Living Nativity.

It was a great night, and I hope we can do this again and again for many more years.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . 1 Comment »

Thankful For Difficult People

November 29, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday we wrapped up our Season Of Thanks series by looking at how God sometimes sends difficult people in our lives to make us better. It’s when difficult people rattle us that we find out what’s really inside of us, so we should be thankful for their involvement in our lives.

With that thought still in my mind, I stumbled across a couple of tweets this morning which are good reminders of this thought—

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . 1 Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »