Calvary Blog Page

Wow!! I just finished this minute a men’s meeting where we had over 30 men. We ate a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy, biscuits, pancakes and of course coffee. Then we ate the really good stuff. Dr. Gene Getz study ‘The Measure of a Man’.

What a tremendous impact the word of God has on men. We sang the song ‘ The Battle Belongs to the Lord” Then as the study went along I noticed that two of the men, whom I know to be unsaved, had tears in their eyes. As God’s word impacted their lostness their hearts were revealed. It is only the first meeting and neither man has attended the church long. I have great expectations that both will come to know the Lord in the weeks which follow. God is moving in our fellowship. He has connected many of the men here this morning to our church in the last several months. My hearts prayer is that we can develop an accountability system which will help us all come to the full measure of a man in Christ Jesus our Lord. Pastor Steve

I wanted to write a quick note to let you know what is happening the next few weeks here at Calvary.

Starting Sunday we will be gathering cans of soup in the adult Sunday School classes. This will be competition between the classes to see which class can gather the most cans of soup from now till ‘Soup or Bowl’ Sunday, February 7th. The soup will go to the local food pantry to help feed the needy. The class which wins will be awarded a football grill. The grill will be displayed this Sunday in the hall.

We will be holding a special time of prayer for our church, state convention and national convention on the 31st of this month. Our Sunday School hour will be spent in prayer as we join together in the gym to pray around prayer stations.

We will be emphasizing stewardship through out the month of February, so Sunday the 7th will begin that.

On Sunday the 14th I have a special service planned geared towards marriage. We are also going to collect a special love offering for Jim and Ruth Dotson as they will be leaving at the end of the month for Uruguay to serve as volunteer missionaries with the DBC. There will be a special send off after church with a pot luck dinner in the gym.

On Sunday the 21st I will be emphasizing the role of a deacon as a servant in the church in order to prepare the church to elect more deacons.

March will be dedicated to the GPS emphasis, (God’s Plan for Sharing). The national convention is calling this emphasis ‘Across North America’ The state convention (DBC) is calling it ‘Across the Dakotas.’ March will look like this.
* March 1-19 we will pray, prepare, and promote this.
*March 20th is the weekend we will do prayer walking.
*March 27th is when we will go out in mass according to Sunday School Classes and distribute evangelistic material as well as an invitation to Easter Sunday service. We have 3000 invitations.
*April 4th is Easter and we will need to be organized in our efforts so that all the visitors that day will be able to park close, have a seat on the main floor, plenty of ushers, plenty of greeters at the doors, plenty of child care workers, etc.
We must prepare for the harvest which God is sure to send.

My prayer for our church is that we can meet the challenge before us. The GPS emphasis is huge and will take a lot of help and hours to accomplish all we have had a vision for. If we put forth the effort in God’s name to reach out to 3000 homes with prayer, the evangelism material, and the invitations to come and worship with us, I know that God will bless and honor His name. I can see many salvations occurring due to our faithfulness. I hope you set aside these weekends in March. Oh by the way please pray for good weather. You all know how South Dakota can be in the spring. Last year we had three snow storms during this time. God bless us as we work towards the harvest. Pastor Steve

Church family and others who may read this blog. I would like to share with you a burden I have had for over a year now. It is the need for myself and for Calvary Baptist Church to go deeper in our prayer lives.

When I was approached by the Greg Lourie crusade team and asked to head the prayer effort which prepared the way for that event to happen last May, I began a journey that led to this moment. After the crusade was over we joined the crusade team with the National Day of Prayer team and begun to plan city wide prayer times. Our first city wide effort was in cooperation with a group who had been praying for school teachers and students. We held this prayer time in August just before school began.

As we met to seek God’s direction for the next city wide prayer gathering, our hearts were moved to hold a prayer time on January 19th and to label it ‘A Call to Prayer: A Solemn Assembly’.  This is  based on Joel 2:15-19 and 2 Chronicles 7:14.  The call is to every church in Rapid City and the surrounding area. Not just the Southern Baptist churches.

Just a week or two ago I was contacted by the Dakota Baptist Convention and told that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had called all our churches to a solemn assembly prayer time. I have taken the liberty to copy parts of the Baptist Press news article which Johnny Hunt our current president of the SBC wrote concerning this. I would ask you as your pastor to attend the prayer time on the 19th and then to join me in a special time of prayer here at the church on January 31st.

Johnny Hunt is pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. He writes:
“God requires humility, confession and complete dependence on Him before granting healing to a land (2 Chron. 7:14), it is time to ramp it up a notch by inviting all SBC churches to set aside Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010, to pray specifically for our denomination.

At their annual “PrayerLink” meeting held in Vancouver, Canada, in October, our prayer leadership spent much time in prayer and felt led to ask all Southern Baptists to pray for the Southern Baptist Convention without delay.

“In light of the moral decline across North America, the meetings of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, God’s Plan for Sharing and the 2010 campaign ‘Across North America’ and search committees for three of the entities — the Executive Committee, the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board,” the group said, “if not now, when?”
Some of the suggested things to pray for include:

–A spirit of repentance to fall on our churches corporately and personally for individuals, and for genuine revival of first love for Jesus. (See Matt. 4:17; Rev. 2:4.)

–A great spiritual awakening across our land so that the lost will be drawn to a personal relationship with Jesus. (See John 6:44; Rom. 1:19; 2 Cor. 2:14.)

– A sweet spirit of reconciliation among any Southern Baptists who are at odds with each other, or other works of God. Love for one another in the body of Christ to grow and blossom. (See Prov. 28:13; 1 Cor. 13:25-27; John 13:34-35.)

– Wisdom for the members of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force as they prepare their report in February. (See Jer. 33:3; James 1:5.)

– Guidance for the search committees for presidents of the Executive Committee, the International Mission Board, and the North American Mission Board. (See Prov. 3:5-6, 13, 15:22, 27:17; Acts 1:21-26.)”

God will honor you if you honor Him. As your pastor I know no better way to do that than to bow your head in humble reverence and cry out for forgiveness of any personal sin, over our national sin, and the sin of the world.  Ask God to bless your family, our church, our nation, and our world.  Pray for our denomination and the search committees as we need the right men to lead our North American Mission Board and our International Mission Board and the Executive Committee. These are the top positions in our convention and it is no small thing that all three of them are vacant at the same time. We need God, and we need him right now. This is urgent prayer time. This is desperate prayer. I guess I am asking you this, will you join me on the 19th and again on the 31st ?     I want to know Him more.    Pastor Steve

I read this statement recently. “It is hard to be upright without being uptight.” I have found that over the years there are people who do not think the same way as I think about how to live a Christian life. They seem uptight about everything. Oh they say they are not uptight, but everything–is a thing. They have issues with the way I preach or the way I handle a situation, and even the way I wear my hair. On my face that is. The top part took care of itself. I often wonder, if I could see into their secret life, would they be as holy as they think they are, or are they just as flawed as the rest of us.
It is like the person who approached me recently and told me that their child was reamed out by another well meaning person over how the child conducted themselves. Then that person turned around and stated a position that offended the first child. It seems that all of us have various levels of tolerance for how others conduct their affairs. I have experienced this over the years and the result is the same. Division. We divide over the songs we sing. We divide over the translation we use. We divide over the clothes we choose to wear. We divide over the length of service time. We divide over the programs we run or the lack thereof.
All the while our Lord and Savior tells us in John 17:23 that He wants us to be in complete unity so the world will believe that Jesus was sent by God because He so loved them. My prayer for the new year is that we find a way to keep our opinions to ourselves and that we suffer our differences in silence. I pray that we tell God on them and let Him take care of them. (Whoever them is). I know one thing for sure and that is at any given moment I might be them. I would hope that as Christians we would give to each other the same grace that we expect from one another. I believe I read that somewhere in the Bible. It goes like this. Whatever you would have men do unto you do unto them. There the them is. I hope and pray that in 2010 we can all be a little less uptight and more upright. pastor Steve

It is always good to end the year in the black. As of Wednesday evening’s budget team meeting Calvary Baptist Church is in the black. What a blessing in these trying economic times. I think there are a few reasons why we are prospering so well when the country as a whole is heading the other way.
First, God honors those who honor Him. He is not a respecter of persons, but He does reward those who diligently seek him. God tells us that if we sow we will reap according to the measure we give. I believe that a body who is spiritually healthy, never wants for funds. I am a believer in the old adage which says that ‘the proof is in the pudding’. The fact that we as a church are placing God first is showing forth in the fruit of our actions. And you know what James says, Faith and actions go together. People who are right with God give to God in an act of worship.
Second, anything that is alive is growing and we have been growing steadily. There was a period of time this year where we had additions by baptism, letter and statement of Faith for eight weeks straight. Many of those Sundays there were more than one family joining. One Sunday morning we did not have enough help to take care of all the families at one time. That shows a great move of the Spirit of God. Due to the increase in members we are experiencing the natural results of that. More funds being given. Praise God!
Thirdly, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is unity. Oh, we may not all see eye to eye on every little thing all the time, but there is a love in this church among the brothers. They even love their pastor and his wife here. Imagine that, a congregation who prays for their pastor and refuses to nit pick him apart. Believe me you, I give them enough material to do just that if they were a mind to.
I speak the truth to you who read this. I think 2010 will be a record year for Calvary Baptist Church. Not because we are perfect, or because our programs are superior, or because the pastor is someone special. No it is because there is love in the hearts of the congregation. Pure love for God and a willingness to overlook one another’s faults so they can join in worship to the king. After the first budget meeting was over I made the comment that “this is my favorite team to be on ” The reason I stated that was due to the fact we laughed the whole time and had a great time. One of the brothers who has been on the team for some years stated things use to be different. “We would almost be shouting at each other by the time it was over” he said. Well the difference is that God’s love was shining through. A new person on the team and who is relatively new to the church told me that she felt God’s presence through the whole process. It blessed my heart to hear that statement.
My prayer as pastor is that we can remain focused on whatsoever things are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable in each other’s lives. That we forget the past and press onto the higher call in Christ. If we do, then truly “the God of peace will be with you” (us). Pastor Steve

Well I have not written a blog in some time so let me jot down a few thoughts of how thankful I am for how God has blessed me here at Calvary.
First of all I would have everyone know that that I am thankful we have completed the remodel work on the sanctuary. We not only completed it, paid for it, but also had enough funds left to begin purchasing the needed sound/video system. The media team has purchased a new projector and computer for the new sound booth. I am excited that we may finally be able to buy some new speakers.
Let me tell you about my wish list for the church and school concerning the sound system. With all the school plays, concerts, and the church activities, it would be extremely helpful to have cordless microphones. They keep telling me that good ones are expensive but my God is able to provide above what we can expect.
I am also thankful this year for the growth we have seen both spiritually and numerically. With the huge increase in attendance and so many joining the church we have been in a revival type mode. I cannot remember a time when I have felt such a warm spirit in a church body. I sat and spoke to a new couple last night at the annual Thanksgiving banquet. They told me they had been all over town looking at churches. They said that here at Calvary they had found a loving, warm, welcoming, Christ centered group of people, or something like that. Anyhow it was very positive and uplifting to hear. Along those lines I could not help but be moved as one of our college age men stood and testified that at his ‘Bible College’ where he attends, that most of his class mates say they can not stand their home church. The reason broke my heart. He told that his peers were disillusioned by the lack of genuine Christianity in their home churches. That they came to Bible college only to find that their church had not prepared them. I was so proud of the testimony he gave concerning Calvary. That the folks here lived their faith and that they had prepared him by giving him a solid foundation built on the Word. I hope anyone who reads this and is looking for a church home such as ours will come and worship with us. We are not perfect but I am thankful that we strive to be like Christ in all we do.
I am thankful for the opportunity to lead the body into small groups starting at the first of the new year. I was very pleased with the small group training this past Saturday. We will be having sign-ups during the month of December.
I am thankful for my family. And especially for my wife, Priscilla. She is a constant help and prayer warrior. She gives of herself until she collapses as she did last night after we returned home from the Thanksgiving dinner. We had rose early on Saturday for the small group training and returned home late. Rose early on Sunday morning in order for her to prepare things for the children’s department to sort the Thanksgiving baskets we were to give out this week. She worked in our kitchen yesterday and last night at church. She helped cleaned up after the meal was over. Went home to a mess we had left after cooking and carving two of the turkeys for the dinner.  I truly love my wife and am truly thankful for how she loves God first then how she loves me, and how she loves the members here at Calvary.
I am thankful for all the things in my life at this time. I have three children and two son-in-laws who are Christians,a fine grandson, good health, a place to call home, a car that goes down the road, good friends, many people who love me and support me with acts of kindness, and a wonderful church family. My prayer for all who read this blog is that God will become the center of your life in a way that will enrich you throughout this next year. Pastor Steve

Have you ever heard the old hymn “Peace Be Still”? Verse one goes like this.
“Master, the tempest is raging.
The billows are tossing high.
The sky is o’er shadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh.
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threatening,
A grave in the angry deep?
Chorus
The winds and the waves
Shall obey my will, peace be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons, or men, or whatever it be.
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies;
They shall sweetly obey my will,
Peace be still, peace be still.
They all shall sweetly obey my will;
Peace, peace be still.
This song came to my mind last night at the first ever Set Free biker worship service as we had a bit of a tempest. The 70 X 40 foot tent along with the 20 X 10 foot tent came tumbling down. The national weather service reported in the Rapid City Journal that there were 70 plus mile-an-hour winds. The Journal reported that it blew motor cycles off the road and knocked out power lines.
Well here at Calvary we literally hung on to the tent until there was no hope of saving it. Men and women from several Set Free biker churches tried to keep the big tent from going air born. As the tent came down some of the musical instruments belonging to the band got damaged. The 20 X10 foot tent was a total loss as the frame is bent beyond repair. I ran out of the big tent as it came crashing down behind me and over to what was left of the small one. I turned to see a very moving sight….no pun intended. There were at least 20 men holding onto ropes as several other men were under the now clasped tent salvaging instruments and speakers. The wind was howling and the soaking rain pelted everyone. The men, from several different bike groups were now welded into a single force. The objective, to save the expensive equipment. There was no thought of self at that moment. No attention was paid to the lighting and driving rain. The thought was to hold the tent and remove the valuable stuff.
That scene is a representation of what this event is all about. Christian people who love the Lord and happen to love riding bikes have come together with the single objective. That objective is to see souls won to Jesus.
The conditions we seek to minister in are the same as the storm last night. Life has collapsed around so many of the bikers who come to Sturgis. In God’s eyes these men and women are valuable. The tent of life has fallen down around them and the storm is raging. The people who are working this worship event are from several different churches. Some are Set Free churches. Some are from our church. Some are from other churches, but we work together as a single team focused for Christ. I am truly blessed to be a part of this wonderful ministry. All day today men have been working to repair the huge tent and to clean up the mess made by the storm. Tonight we will regroup and begin again. Our hope is to used by the Master as he repairs the lives of the lost. Our hope is to see men and women come to Him and find peace. We must remember Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons, or men, or whatever it be.
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey his will, peace be still, peace be still. Pastor Steve

Once Wednesday evening service is over I am out of here. That is not a statement against the church or anyone, it is a sign of relief. The past three summers we have had time away from the routine, but not in the form of a true vacation. The kids were graduating and so we used vacation days to attend those events. Nephews and nieces were getting married and more days were used for that. It was time away but you know how those things go. Your always around family and so you have to be on as a minister. Especially when some of the family are not Christian. You run in and out of homes and venues with little or no down time except to sleep a bit. It takes us two days to travel to any of the family’s homes, so there goes four days of your vacation time in the car. If we could just have gotten them to schedule graduation and weddings back to back and when we had open space on the church calendar, then I am sure we would have been able to have worked in some r&r.
Well this year we are going to head to the Southern Baptist pastor’s convention and then to the girl’s homes. We will be able to see our oldest, Rachel and Ben, and next Naarah and Kyle and of course our grandson. That is down time folks! We will also take in a day for mom and dad while in Southern Illinois. I have high hopes of doing some fishing with one of my good friends and if that does not work out, I will go by myself and rediscover what quiet is again.
I use to always think I could not leave the church for more than a week or ten days at a time. Well I am leaving town for over two weeks and if the Lord moves me I may stay away three weeks. I actually will be gone from the pulpit for three weeks in a row. That is a first for me since entering the ministry. My dear wife is at Children’s camp through Wednesday night and will come home and pack for the trip. Pray for her as she will be very worn out before we get started. If she gets to feeling to bad I will just mention that grandbaby and she will perk up. I look forward to the excellent preaching at the pastor’s convention when we are able to go. It has been several years since we have attended this event and I hope to see many friends there. Thank you church for allowing us to be away for this time of spiritual refreshing and relaxation. See you when we get back. Pastor Steve

Well I was able to play in my first game last night. In fact I played in both games last night. As many of you know I usually pitch one of the two games we have each week during the softball season. Well last night, due to the lack of players, I pitched both games. I can type today but if I had to run or even walk far today I would be in trouble. I had not touched a ball since our last game a year ago. I had not picked up a bat since that time. However, God is good to out of shape pastors and he really blessed me in both games. I was able to reach base all but one time while at bat. I caught a line drive, self defense reaction, and made a few other plays. All in all we had a great time and we ended up winning both games.
Team work was the key to our winning. It is the same way when we work together at church. No one was down on anyone else for missing a ball, and we all missed plenty. No one got mad when someone was thrown out, that would be me many times. No one seemed to care if we were a head or behind, we all just enjoyed the time together. Church league is fun when it happens like that. Likewise, working together in serving God is fulfilling when it works like that. Everyone does what God called them to do and God receives the glory. Perhaps this year, when we play our golf scramble this weekend, I can make it through nine holes with the same ball. That is my goal each year. So far it has not happened, but this could be the year. Pray for me I need all the help I can get. Loving being your pastor. Steve

Jesus was the one who said it first. “Open your eyes and look at the fields” Jn. 4:35 (NIV). We tend to move towards the next part of that verse to quickly sometimes. “They are ripe for harvest.” Lets look at the field for a moment before moving to the harvest. Jesus never says anything that has little or no meaning. In fact every word that our Lord spoke is living and has power in it. Jesus told the disciples to open their eyes. Now why did he say that? They were awake and had their eyes open. Well we know that it is a spiritual implication. Open your spiritual eyes and see the people as I see them, waiting, needing and ready to receive their God. The fields are full of lost folks all asking the same questions about spiritual matters. Is there a God who really cares for me? Can He, will He do something about my personal problems? You and I know the answer is yes He does care, He can help anyone, anywhere, anytime.
When I read these verses and process them in light of the up coming Harvest Crusade, I see the field. I see the months of prayer and preparation that has went into making things ready for the harvest. The 93 churches that have laid their theological differences aside to unite together in winning souls for the Kingdom. As discerning Christians we should be able to see a field that has been well plowed seeded and growing. “Open your eyes and look at the fields” the field has been prepared brothers and sisters. The Harvest is upon us. What are you prepared to do? Have you blocked out time to intentionally invite the lost to Christ? Are you going to intentionally, physically, make the effort to bring at least one family to the crusade one night? Every night?
Jesus finishes that verse by saying “they are ripe for harvest”. I was listening to a speaker recently tell of his experience while over in Israel. He stated that he was at the very spot where Jesus had spoke those words recorded in John’s gospel. While setting at Jacob’s well he looked up and to his surprise he saw a large group of Bedouins coming down the hill towards the well. He focused in on the group all wearing their white turbines and white regalia and these words came to him, “They are white already to harvest”.(KJV) Jesus looking up that day could see the people of Samaria coming towards him. Why were they coming to him? Because the woman had went back to town and sowed the seed and the seed never returns void. The field was ripe already for the harvest.
I am so proud of you as a church body. I have had to return to the harvest office two times in order to pick up extra invitations because we ran out. I was so blessed when the WEM team decided to make bees wax candles to hand out with the invitations. It could have been limited to a night of fun for the ladies and connecting with the children. As it turned out, the ladies had fun they connected with their children and the added blessings were they taught their children to do for others. They achieved a goal of helping sow towards the harvest. They built unity in the body as they saw the field in a new light.  I am truly humbled by the members of Calvary Baptist church, and the leadership of our teams because you have caught the vision for harvesting souls for God. I believe with all my heart that we are going to have a great part in the harvest. Why you ask? Because we opened our eyes, looked at the field, saw the opportunities for sowing and reaping the harvest. I am excited for what God is doing and for how honored His name will be. I am praying for you. Pastor Steve