Great Reviews

April 9, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve continued to hear really positive comments about our Easter breakfast drama—Conspiracy!—from those who attended. I thought I’d share a few with you:

  • A fresh way to get the message across.
  • It was great! I hope we do more of it.
  • Everyone did a great job!
  • Very nice approach to a very special day.
  • Great presentation!
  • I really enjoyed this! Thanks for everything!
  • LOVED IT!
  • It was freaking sweet!!
  • Awesome 🙂
  • Very creative and innovative!
  • Great way to illustrate the Easter story.
  • It was great. Enjoyed everything and felt so welcome!

And in case you didn’t hear: 18 people invited Christ into their lives after this drama! That’s the highest compliment of all! I can’t wait to do this again!

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

Building Blocks

April 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Whether you have been a follower of Jesus for years, or you’ve just invited Him into your life, there are important building blocks that can help this relationship grow stronger. Join us as we discuss the basic building blocks of a relationship with God over the next four Sundays…

April 11—Relationships. A satisfying relationship with God shows up in satisfying relationships with others. How do we make all our relationships better?

April 18—Bible Reading. Just what is this big book and how can we use it to help us every day?

April 25—Prayer. Does talking to God sound scary? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be the best conversation ever!

May 2—The Holy Spirit. His role is probably the least understood, but the most vital, for our day-to-day lives.

We’d love to see you on Sundays at 10:30am.

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

Worth It

April 4, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

We went big for our Resurrection Sunday celebration. Instead of our usual format, we had two services, we provided breakfast for everyone, and we wrote and presented an original Easter drama. It was a stretch for us. Going big means:

  • More nights and weekends spent writing and rehearsing.
  • Recruiting more nursery workers.
  • Asking those nursery workers to give up being in the service to minister to our kids.
  • Spending Saturday setting up tables and chairs.
  • Spending money on food that we wouldn’t normally spend.
  • Asking our music team to come earlier and stay later.
  • Speaking twice.

But it was so worth it! At the end of the morning, 18 people invited Jesus into their life!

Since Jesus gave His life for these folks, I think it is a small sacrifice for us to give the money and time and effort that we gave.

I’m so proud of my cast and crew, and kitchen workers, and worship team members, and nursery workers. Not to mention all of our church members who invited family and friends to come to our Easter breakfast drama this morning.

Ah, yes, it is so worth it!!

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

Good Friday

March 30, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

My favorite weekend of the year is here! I love remembering what Christ did on Calvary, and then celebrating His resurrection. Please make plans to join us for two special services this weekend—

Good Friday Service at noon on Friday, April 2. We’ll reflect on the meaning of the Cross, especially focusing on exactly what was nailed to that old rugged Cross.

Conspiracy! An Easter Breakfast Drama at 9am and 11am on Sunday, April 4. Join us for breakfast, an original Easter drama, uplifting music, and a look at what really makes our hearts feel alive.

Looking forward to celebrating with you this weekend.

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

Weekend Recap

March 20, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

We had a great time Rockin’ For Haiti on Friday night! This was our fundraiser for Convoy of Hope, to assist them in their work in both Haiti and Chile. Based on the amount of money we raised, we’re helping COH provide nearly 500 meals!

We’ve already got our next benefit show planned. Save Friday, April 30, for Rockin’ For Smiles. More details coming later, but Edge From Falling will be our headline guest.

A couple other things to keep on your radar screen (and your calendars):

  • Tomorrow we’re wrapping up our two-part series on the life of Andrew. This is an amazing disciple of Jesus. Although he’s only mentioned by name 13 times in the Bible, and only has 27 words recorded, we see something desirable about his life: all he did was bring people to Jesus. I could talk a lot more about this man (and we will do so later on), but we’re wrapping up Be An Andrew on Sunday.
  • Passion week is coming up quickly. We’ll have a noon Good Friday service on April 2. And don’t forget about Conspiracy! An Easter Breakfast Drama on Sunday, April 4. Breakfast, music, a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, and an original Easter play. It’s going to be fantastic.
  • One final thing. I’m really excited for our special guest speaker next Sunday, April 28. Our Assembly of God Michigan District Superintendent will be with us. I love Bill Leach, and you won’t want to miss the powerful word he is going to bring.

So many great opportunities to invite your friends to meet Jesus—just like Andrew did. I hope to see you at Calvary Assembly of God soon.

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

Out Of The Tomb (Box)

March 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m getting more and more excited about Easter Sunday. Jesus is out of the tomb, so we’re going to do something out of the box.

We’ve written an original play called Conspiracy! We’re going to present it on April 4 as a part of our Resurrection celebration at our Easter breakfast drama. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but let me just say, this play is going to take a lot of people by surprise.

There’s no cost for the breakfast, and we’ll be presenting the breakfast drama twice: at 9am and 11am.

Make your plans now to join us… it’s going to be an incredible celebration!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . 2 Comments »

Wind Or Anchor

March 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I so appreciate my church Board!

They are by no means a bunch of “yes men” (especially since one of our Board members is a woman!), but they are definitely great teammates. When I want to dream, they dream along with me. When I’m looking for a new way to do something, they help me explore our options. When I propose that we experiment, they give me the latitude to make the attempt.

They are the wind in my sails.

Unfortunately I’ve been around too many board members who feel it is their job to play devil’s advocate, or to hold the pastor to the time-honored traditions (without any regard to their effectiveness), or to always play everything safe.

They are an anchor around a pastor’s ankle.

French novelist Andre Gide noted,

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

Thanks, Calvary A/G Board, for allowing us to lose sight of the shore every once in awhile so that we can see what new lands God will help us discover. You are definitely the wind in my sails.

What about you, dear reader? You may not be on an official board, but your comments and attitudes can either be wind or an anchor to someone close to you. Which are you?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone

March 12, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m preparing for our upcoming series called Be An Andrew.

Andrew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, but we know so little about him. Only a few of his spoken words are recorded for us, and he is only mentioned by name 13 times in the New Testament. But one thing is so clear in those few mentions: All he did was invite people to meet Jesus…

  • His brother Peter, who went on to become one of the leaders of the first Christian church.
  • A young boy, whose small lunch fed thousands.
  • Non-Jewish Greeks who wanted to meet the Messiah.

Wouldn’t you love to have that written on your tombstone? If my entire life was captured in just one sentence, I’d love for it to be:

He just brought people to Jesus.

What do you want on your tombstone?

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

Amazing Book!

March 8, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I was reviewing some of my notes for our Spiritual Self-Defense class, and I’m always amazed at the unity and accuracy of the Bible. The Bible tells one unified story from beginning to end. For any other book, this is no big deal; in fact, we expect our books to tell the same story all the way through.

But what’s so mind-boggling for me is the fact that the Bible tells its unified story considering:

  • It was written by 45 different authors
  • Writing over a span of 1500 years
  • In three different languages
  • On three different continents

Not only does the Bible tell the same story, but it does so without error or contradiction! What an amazing book!

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

BOGOF

March 7, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes to get a point across, the only thing you can do is create a new word. Does anyone remember Rich Hall’s list of sniglets on Saturday Night Live? A list of 20 sniglets is here.

This morning we talked about the Parable of the Talents, where the servants were expected to do something with the talents God had given them. Then Jesus talks about the end of time judgment where we are divided into those who did something for God by addressing human needs, and those who ignored the human needs around them.

How do we remember this? How do we apply it to everyday life?

Then it hit me: we all eat; in fact, most of us eat every day. In order to eat, many of us go to the grocery store. And to help stretch the food budget, we often use coupons. When we get one of those buy-one-get-one-free coupons (a BOGOF), what do we do with the free one? Do we consume it ourselves, or could we give it away? Wouldn’t giving away the free one honor God by helping feed the hungry?

So we created a word—BOGOF—and turned it into a refrigerator magnet. We’re going to do our best to build into our daily lives the habit of loving others by addressing their practical needs.

Why don’t you try it yourself? Maybe you can create your own word too! If you do, please be sure to share it in the comments below.

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