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Links & Quotes

June 19, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading from today…

“We were made not primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest ‘well pleased.’ To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled, by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labour to make us lovable.” —C.S. Lewis

“Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.” —Watchman Nee

Chick-Fil-A closed for a very honorable reason.

A bit scary: Muslims’ attitude toward non-Muslims.

“It’s easy, and perhaps comforting, to think of all the things the church is doing to try to change the world. But the real question is, what are you doing? Sure, you go to church and try to live a good life. But how intentional are you when it comes to actually impacting the lives of the lost people you rub shoulders with every day?” —Mark Atteberry

“Whatever the currents of public opinion and governmental action, God’s message is constant and glorious. Whether it is a crime to defy Scripture or to defend it, the Church must preach it—both in season and out of season. This is her calling.” —Kairos Journal

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: biblical truth, C.S. Lewis, character, Chick-Fil-A, Christian, church, community involvement, Cross, discipline, God's love, Islam, Kairos Journal, Mark Atteberry, Muslim, preaching, quotes, respect, resurrection, Scripture, Watchman Nee. Leave a Comment »

Serving On Sunday

May 7, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

A couple of years ago a fellow Cedar Springs pastor told me about his plan for Service Sunday. His idea was to shorten his church service, so that his church could go serve in the community. I loved the idea so much that I said, “We want in on that too!”

So this past Sunday was our second year being involved with a couple of other churches in serving our community. I led a group that sang some old hymns at the Metron nursing home, others provided full service gas station attention for local motorists, others washed the windows of businesses along Main Street, others planted flowers, and on and on.

I wrote an article in last week’s Cedar Springs Post encouraging everyone to find ways to serve in our community every day (my article “Make Everyday Special” can be read by clicking here). I pray that our churches in Cedar Springs are known for their involvement in our community year-round.

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These pictures courtesy of Josh Schram, Rich Tolar, and Lori Oxford Photography.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Cedar Springs, Cedar Springs Ministerial Association, Christianity, community involvement, faith in action, public service. Leave a Comment »

Service Sunday

May 2, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

I love this! Several Cedar Springs churches will be wrapping up their Sunday services earlier than usual to head out into the community to continue worshipping God. We worship Him by loving others as He loves us!

Our church members will be spreading out throughout the city to perform all sorts of acts of service: From providing full-service gasoline services to area motorists, to washing the windows of businesses along Main Street, to singing for the residents at Metron nursing home, to sprucing up Elmwood Cemetery, to many other activities, there is something for everyone.

I hope you and your church can join us this Sunday, May 4.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Cedar Springs, Cedar Springs Ministerial Association, church, community involvement. Leave a Comment »

The Cleaning Crew

April 30, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

We had a great time helping spiff up Cedar Springs this weekend. For the third year in a row, I believe the group from Calvary Assembly of God was one of the largest (if not the largest) group which came out for the Earth Day cleanup. So we donned our bright yellow shirts, our trash grabbers, and lots and lots of garbage bags and went to work.

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Huge thanks to Betsy, Harrison, Samantha, Brandon, Stanley, Valerie, Judy, Stephanie, Selena, and Sophie for all your hard work!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, community involvement, Earth Day. Leave a Comment »

Living Nativity 2012

December 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

We were so honored to be able to present the story of the birth of Jesus in downtown Cedar Springs again this year. We had a nice introduction from Mayor Bob Truesdale, and a great crowd was on had to see this story come alive. I have way too many people to thank, so I hope I don’t leave anyone out…

Joe built the manger
Josh, Judy, Samantha, Crystal, Cherie, Jeff, Harrison & Rich were the actors
Cindy and her 4H kids were our little shepherds
Nancy brought out her horses
Claudia and Betsy conceived and designed all our costumes
The Cedar Springs Chamber of Commerce gave us room on their agenda to present this story
Brandon shot the video
God gave us absolutely beautiful weather so a big crowd could hear the story of our Savior being born as a baby because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, community involvement, Living Nativity. Leave a Comment »

God & Government

November 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. (Titus 3:1 NLT)

According to this verse I don’t see a conflict between the Church and the State.

God calls us as Christians to arrange ourselves properly under the government hierarchy. Submission is not blind followership; submission is obeying all moral laws.

God also calls us to show proper respect to the governing officials, and to be ready to lend a hand to them when we can.

The Church is not in competition with the government. Both the governments of men and the Church are instituted by God. There is a proper role for both. There are some things that should be left to the government, and other things that should be left to the Church, and still other things that both should attend to together.

We need wisdom to know which institution should handle which item. In the meantime, may we Christians always be submissive, obedient, respect, and ready to help.

Check out some other thoughts about a biblical view of government here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Christianity, community involvement, government, submission, Titus. 5 Comments »

Bright Lights

November 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

One of the things Jesus said about Christians was that we are to be the light of the world. That means we need to be involved in our communities, visible to our neighbors, so the light of Jesus can shine out from us.

That’s just what we did last night for our third annual Light The Night event.

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I am so grateful to all of the folks at Calvary Assembly of God who donated candy and prizes, those who filled hundreds of bags with all that candy, and those who came out to greet our neighbors and run the games. Because of the rainy weather, we moved our event indoors, and so I am extremely thankful to Pastor Mary Ivanov who opened the United Methodist Church’s gym for us to use!

Whether it’s a public event like this or not, I pray you will always let your light shine for Jesus!

(Thank you Delbridge Langdon Jr. for supplying some of our pictures from last night.)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Christianity, community involvement, Halloween, Light The Night. Leave a Comment »

Light The Night

October 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

There are so many encouragements that Scripture gives us to make a difference in our world:

Jesus tells us to be salt that seasons and light that brightens (Matthew 5:13-14).
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life (Philippians 2:15-16).
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

We should look for opportunities to do shine every day. But sometimes there are even more appropriate times to do so. One such time is Halloween … Hallow’s Eve … Reformation Day. October 31 used to be a day that glorified God. Now, sadly, it has become a day to glorify anything but God.

So Calvary Assembly of God will be lighting the night again this Halloween. We will put on the best, brightest, friendliest carnival of the evening right on Main Street in Cedar Springs! We have a prayer team going out 24 hours before this event to pray for protection and favor, and to pray for open doors through which the light of Jesus will shine on October 31.

Here’s how you can help:

Pray. Start now and pray through October 31.
Bring some candy to the church through October 28.
Come pray with us at 5pm on October 30.
Signup as a volunteer to shine with us from 4-8pm on October 31.

We’re believing the light of Jesus will be seen as we Light The Night!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Corinthians, Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, community involvement, Gospel of Matthew, Halloween, light, Light The Night, Philippians, salt. Leave a Comment »

Prayer Focus: Outreaches

September 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

As this week marks the beginning of a “new year,” (as students are heading back to school and we’re all settling in to our fall routines), we are taking time to focus our prayers.

Today’s pray focus is for our fall outreaches.

“Sometimes I’m asked to list the most important steps in preparing for an evangelistic mission, and my reply is always the same: prayer . . . prayer . . . prayer.” —Billy Graham

How true this is! If we try to take on any kind of project in our own ingenuity or our own strength, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. The greatest example of prayer … prayer … prayer is Jesus. Throughout His public ministry, you will see prayer preceding all of the major ministry activities.

Not only that, but we see Jesus praying for us just prior to His crucifixion (see John 17) that we would spread the news about Him in God’s strength. And then just before His ascension, Jesus told His followers,

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. …But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:4, 5, 8)

We have several local ministries in which we are involved throughout the year, and we have some special ministry opportunities we will be undertaking this fall. In addition, there are many, many missionaries which have counting on our prayer support.

Please pray for our involvement with:

Please pray for the missionaries that we know and love so much:

Kirk & Jayne Flanagan
David & Kristen Speer
Craig & Sharon Metzner
Ray & Deborah Miller
Bob & Rhonda Thomas
Dianne Eklund
Bob & Bette Sue MacIsaac
Joshua & Amber Payne
Matt & Carrie Love
Scott & Rachel Shank
Jon Fredrickson

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Alpha Family Center, Billy Graham, Cedar Springs, community involvement, missions, outreach, prayer, women-at-risk. Leave a Comment »

Three Amazing Years

July 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This week marks my three-year anniversary of pastoring one of the most amazing churches I have had the privilege of being a part of!

I grew up in some powerful churches, served in others, and have experienced many other churches. And I wouldn’t trade any of them for Calvary Assembly of God. I’m grateful for what I learned and what I experienced at the churches that I have attended in my lifetime. Those prepared me. But Calvary is showing me what a real church looks like.

To my Calvary family:

I so appreciate the love and acceptance everyone in our congregation has for all. Whether it’s a first-time visitor or a lifelong member, all are loved (and hugged) the same.

I love your willingness to reach out to our community. You are always looking for tangible ways to show the love of Jesus to those in and around Cedar Springs.

But most of all I love the hunger for more of God’s presence. Each and every time we gather together, God does amazing things in people’s lives, and yet no one is content to “bottle it up.” Instead you are always seeking an increasingly intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and you allow the Holy Spirit to move freely in our midst.

More and more I say…