The theme for this year’s Lifewalk for Alpha Family Centers was Baby, I’m On Board! And I was so glad that Calvary Assembly of God was on board to help this wonderful pro-life organization in Cedar Springs! This year our worship team provided music prior to the walk, we had several from our congregation participating in Lifewalk, and our church was a sponsor for Lifewalk 2012.
Here are some pictures of the day —
On Sunday we left our church service to go serve our great city of Cedar Springs. It was so wonderful to join with other churches in town as we weeded and planted flowers, sang at the Metron nursing home, delivered cookies to those who were working in businesses on Sundays, and provided full-service to customers at the Wesco gas station
Thanks to Solon Center Weslyan Church and North Kent Community Church for helping serve our city. Here are just a few pictures from Service Sunday (photo credits Delbridge Langdon Jr and Rich Tolar).
Can’t wait to do this again next year (if not sooner!).
Usually when we go to church on Sundays, we think of going to be served (“I’m going to a church service”). But a group of churches in Cedar Springs are flipping that around: We’re going to go away from church to serve our community.
On May 20, Calvary Assembly of God is joining with other churches in Cedar Springs to leave our churches in order to serve our community. Basically we’re showing up at our individual churches just long enough to pray together and get our work assignments for the day. Then we’re heading out to do things like:
Let me give credit where credit is due on this. The Service Sunday concept was already being done by Solon Center Weslyan Church and The Springs Church. But I liked the idea so much, that I asked these guys if they would consider doing this on the same Sunday and allowing other churches in Cedar Springs to join with them.
As of now, there are at least five churches participating in Service Sunday on May 20. If your church is in Cedar Springs, ask your pastor if you can join with us as well. If you live in a different community, perhaps this is an idea you can implement in your city. Let’s show people our good works so they can glorify God!
…well, at least we were cleaning up Cedar Springs!
Here are a few photos from our Saturday involvement in the Earth Day cleanup around Cedar Springs. The theme this year was Love The Creek You’re In, and we do ♥ our town. And I ♥ my church for being such loving, serving folks!
Jesus called His followers to be salt and light. It’s pretty easy to figure out that the salt cannot season the food if it stays in the saltshaker, and the light cannot illuminate the darkness if it stays covered up. In order to season and shine in your community, you have to know your community.
And, pastor, that starts with you.
What you do is a much more effective sermon that what you say. Pastor, you need to know your community, so that you can be involved in your community, so that you and your church can season and shine in your community together.
So let me ask a couple of questions:
I opened with the question, “Do you know your community?” But maybe a better way to ask this is, “Does your community know you?”
Does the community come to you to ask for help? This may be the best barometer of your involvement in your community: how often they seek your help or assistance in addressing issues within your community.
If you’re not as involved as you should be, the good news is that it’s never too late to start! Go get involved—go season and shine!
In Matthew 25, Jesus shows how very practical acts of service are also very spiritual acts of service. Quite simply Jesus says,
What makes these practical acts spiritual is this word from our Heavenly Father: “Whatever you did for those in need, you did for Me.”
So here’s a very practical—and spiritual—thing Calvary Assembly of God is doing this Christmas: A Bottom Blessing. We’re accepting donations of diapers, pull-ups, and wipes to take to the Alpha Family Center. This crisis pregnancy resource center in Cedar Springs helps so many young families, so we want to help them in a very practical way. Anytime between now and Christmas Day, bring your diapers or wipes to the church, and we’ll deliver them to Alpha.
If you don’t live around Cedar Springs, find a practical way to help others in need in your community. As you do, you’ll be doing something very spiritual as well… something to which God says, “Well done!”
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Publicly Holy
Try and develop a holy life in private, and you find it cannot be done. Individuals can only live the true life when they are dependent on one another. …
In the early Middle Ages people had the idea that Christianity meant living a holy life apart from the world and its sociability, apart from its work and citizenship. That type of holiness is foreign to the New Testament; it cannot be reconciled with the records of the life of Jesus. The people of His day called Him “the Friend of publicans and sinners” because He spent so much time with them.
From Biblical Ethics
We cannot influence people from a distance. We must live and work and interact where they are.
Jesus taught us: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Jesus prayed for us: “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. … As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17:15, 18)
I must be around people who need to see The Light.
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.)
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.
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.
Have I mentioned lately that I ♥ Cedar Springs? I do love my city! So I’m thrilled whenever I can be involved in things happening around our town. I hope you can join me in some of these great events.
Night Of Worship / CD Release Party—I’m so happy to introduce Dilip to our community! This anointed musician is truly gifted. We get to share his amazing music with our community on Friday, October 28, in a FREE concert at Calvary Assembly of God.
Light The Night / Spooktacular—This is the fifth year that the businesses on Main Street have provided a great night for families on Halloween. This will be the second year that Calvary has joined in to help light the night. If you would like to help us be salt and light on October 31, we are still in need of smiling volunteers in our carnival, those who will cover us in prayer, and those who can donate some candy for us to pass out to the kids.
Courageous—I am so thankful to Dan at the Kent Theatre who is going to hold Courageous over for an extra day! On Monday, November 7, there will be a special showing of the amazing movie Courageous for our area churches. And tickets are only $3 each!
Veteran’s Day Ceremony—Thanks to the tireless efforts of my neighbor Jack Price, we have a huge twin-rotor Chinook helicopter flying into town at 11am on November 11. Then we will have a Veteran’s Day memorial in our memorial park at 1pm. I am honored to have been asked to close this ceremony in prayer.
Craig T. Owens 