These are the pastors of the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association praying together before our UNITED service. We truly are united. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of colleagues who will put aside any denominational differences, to simply focus on winning people for Christ!
I hope other pastors can learn from this group and experience the blessing of being united.
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.
What a fantastic day we had yesterday! All of the churches in Cedar Springs joined together in a united worship service—which was very appropriately named UNITED.
In the book of Acts there is a great word that characterizes the first Church: together.
They all joined together constantly in prayer (1:14)
They were all together in one place (2:1)
All the believers were together and had everything in common (2:44)
Every day they continued to meet together (2:46)
They raised their voices together in prayer to God (4:24)
They gathered the church together and reported all that God had done (14:27)
We came together to break bread (20:7)
I love the fact that the other pastors in the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association want to work together. We realize that it will take our combined efforts to make a significant impact in our community for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Our annual UNITED service is a visible reminder of what’s going on year-round in Cedar Springs. We are together to bring glory to Christ.
God told Adam and Eve that they needed to take care of the environment in which He placed them. And that directive is still in place for us today: We are to be caretakers of this amazing planet.
And as Christians, we should be excellent caretakers.
The City of Cedar Springs recently received a grant to help with some waterway cleanup. So I am very excited that a group from Calvary Assembly of God is going to be involved in the Cedar Creek Cleanup project on August 30.
This is another way for us to show our love for our community, and to live out our biblical values. I’m always so appreciative of the way this group wants to jump into any of these community projects. If I haven’t said it lately, let me repeat it loud and clear—
I think one of the most hurtful things in the Christian world is the squabbles between denominations. So much energy — that could be used to win people to Christ — is lost in these stupid (yes, I said stupid!) territorial battles about insignificant theological or preference issues.
In Cedar Springs we are so blessed with an amazing ministerial association! I love working with all of my fellow pastors to impact our community with the good news about Jesus. These men and women are more than colleagues; they’re my friends.
On the last Sunday of August we all cancel our regular service schedules at our churches and join together in Morley Park for a combined community-wide service. Quite appropriately, this service is called UNITED.
This is going to be a fantastic morning of worship, teaching, hanging out in the park with others, and a great lunch and worship concert following the service.
If you are anywhere close to Cedar Springs, I encourage you to attend. All of the details are at unitedcedarsprings.com.
Really proud of the cleanup crew that joined me in Cedar Springs today. As a part of Earth Day 2011, we were assigned a busy stretch of road past all the fast food restaurants. We declared, “This is our street!” and made sure every scrap of trash was bagged up.
We ♥ Cedar Springs!
We’ve got a super group of churches that form the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association. I love collaborating with these fellow pastors, that have become great friends along the way.
On Good Friday we are combining together to present a Good Friday service. Please join us at 7pm at the Cedar Springs High School auditorium. We’ll enjoy some worship from a worship team combined from all of our churches, and a time of Communion too. A nursery will be provided for children 4-years-old and younger.
And I am very honored to have been asked to deliver the message in this service. I’ll be sharing a powerful illustrated message entitled Paid In Full.
Please don’t miss out on this service!
Winning 2011 Earth Day Artwork, Hunter George, 8th Grade, CTA
I believe that our church should be a pacesetting organization for our community. When we are actively involved in our community, it gives us more opportunities to season and illuminate Cedar Springs (hey, we’re talking about this on Sunday too!).
So we are planning to have a whole lot of our folks out to help with some spring cleaning for Earth Day 2011.
When we show how much We ♥ Cedar Springs, more people will get to experience firsthand what others already know about Calvary Assembly of God: We ♥ Our Church!
If you are close by, please consider joining us.
If you live in another community, what are you doing to season and illuminate your city?
I am a proud member of the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association, so I faithfully attend all of the monthly meetings and stay up-to-date on our Facebook group page. So imagine my surprise when I found out about the Annual C.S.M.A. Awards.
I didn’t know we had any awards … I didn’t know I was nominated … and I certainly didn’t know I had won!
Here’s how the announcement read:
Nominees: Kristi Rhodes, Ryan Black, Craig Owens
Winner: Craig Owens
Recap: Despite the joy and hope that both Ryan and Kristi have brought to the community and how their churches are now moving with excitement, it was Craig Owens who ultimately walked home with the hardware. Craig dazzled the C.S.M.A. with his witty humor, provided us all with sermon material through his daring and insightful blog, and regularly posted hip Facebook statuses such as “Off to church… about to get my Praise On!” and “Donuts for breakfast!”
Then I noticed something else at the bottom of the announcement that I also didn’t know: apparently I was also a member of the awards committee.
Hmmm, it appears that all of the award winners were also members of the awards committee…
…it appears this is all a big joke!
Oh, well. Now, do you see why I so enjoy being a part of the C.S.M.A.?
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?
Craig T. Owens 