Calvary Blog Page

After Sunday’s gathering at Custer State Park I asked myself the same questions I had recently read concerning church family. “What does it take to have a genuine connection with God and with his family? How do you get to the point where you know and are known, love and are loved, receive help and give help? How is this possible when you and everyone around you are so busy and so scarred by sin?”

In John 15:12 we find that God wants us to love one another. We read this verse and think we understand, but what does loving one another mean to God? Perhaps some other verses of scripture will help us understand. Galatians 6:2 says we are to “Carry each others burdens.” So loving others involves becoming close enough to them to know what burdens they carry. I think we can safely say that to love one another is to help with the load of life.

Well what else does love one another mean to God. In Ephesians 4:32 we find some more components to what it means to be involved with others. It says we are to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other.” So if I am understanding things right, in order to be kind I must be near to a person. To show compassion I must be involved enough with them to know how to show that compassion. Finally I see here that we are to forgive each other. Well obviously I must be involved enough in others lives that there are going to be differences of opinion about things and that those differences will lead to conflict. That conflict must result in my forgiving others or their forgiving me. That is if I am to love one another.

I think I can conclude that to love others is not just a touchy feely type of a relationship. It must move from a simple hand shake on Sunday morning to some real work at being in community with those around me in the body of Christ. It must mean that I cannot stand at a distance and be a spectator. I am required by Jesus to love one another and that means work. Relationships are work. If you think that they are not you are going to find out quick that they are. You have to work at relationships at work, in marriage, at school, and yes at church. So we must invest our lives in people who like us are flawed and sometimes downright annoying. The reason is that in order to understand our Heavenly Father and have a deep relationship with Him, we must be genuinely connected to the body. Only then can we see who God really is. Only by becoming involved with others can we know and be known. Only by working at relationships in the church will we become truly alive in Christ. If we are to ever have a great body of believers then everyone who is a part of this body must work at learning who their brothers and sisters are.

When we plan church gatherings they are designed with this in mind; “Help the people connect to each other.” Only by spending time with different people who are at different levels in their Christian walk, will we be able to help them move forward in their walk with Christ and be helped ourselves in the same way. We can then put into practice all the other ‘one another’ verses in scripture and flesh out God’s great commend to love one another.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us to “..encourage one another and build each other up,”” That is what this is intended to do. I encourage you to get involved with each other in small groups, Sunday School, corporate worship, and by attending the church gatherings we have from time to time. This is where we will learn and grow together.

Well I had to write something on the blog about the wedding shower given for my son Ethan and his bride to be Sarah.
A huge thank you to Heidi Ayers who put it all together and to Sam who helped and Mary Jane who got the ball rolling.
When you live 1200 miles from your son and he lives 7 hours away from his bride to be, it makes it hard to have a shower for them. However thanks to technology, we were able to have them both present on the big screen yesterday. Our church family got the needed machinery together and we were able to skype both of them in the gym. We asked them questions and even played games this way. We opened presents for them and just had a great time. There were so many people there and it humbled us and at the same time made us proud to be loved so much by our church family. Thank you for your love and the generous gifts you gave to my son whom many of you only know through his father. We thank you.

When I spoke to executive director Jim Hamilton of the Dakota Baptist Convention, and told him we had between 60 and 70 folks show up to hand out over 3000 invitations to our Easter service he was dumfounded. His statement to me was, “That is more people than most of our (Dakota) churches have on a Sunday morning”.
I want you all to know that I have been humbled by the turn out in every area of this endeavor to reach souls for the Kingdom of God. We had over 30 come on Monday and gave up a half a day to stuff the bags to hang on the doors. In addition to all the hands on work, was the behind the scenes planning that the mission team did. The countless meetings, hours of phone calls, emails and reminders were all worth the effort when on Sunday morning a sobbing young woman left a message that God had spoke to her through the invitation we left hanging on her door. She had been on a journey back to God and He used our small effort in His divine plan to draw her back to Him. That is all we needed to be able to say of this outreach effort , it was a success. God had used us to reach one lost soul.
I truly believe that she will not be the only person we end up reaching. The body of believers here at Calvary are anxiously looking forward to Easter Sunday morning to see just how many people respond to the invitations. We are looking for a great harvest to occur. There is new energy flowing in the hearts of God’s people for evangelism. Sunday School teachers are watching for new students to appear on Sunday morning. The greeters are anticipating welcoming many new faces through the doors. The WEM team are baking 100 loves of bread to give each new family who comes to worship with us for the first time. The ushers are ready to meet the seating and parking needs which arise due to the crowd. Nursery workers are in the nursery as I write this, cleaning every toy and counter top. Something they do on a regular bases, but with anticipation of many new babies and totterers in the nursery.
Someone once said to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God. I believe we have attempted something great for God and we are now in anticipation to see what He will do. I am reminded that all things come to those who wait. We may not see hundreds show up for church this Sunday. However I know that He who is faithful will give an increase. His word does not return void. He said to sow abundantly and you will reap abundantly. We have sown seeds of invitation bathed in prayer. I am looking forward to see how God will use our efforts for His purposes.

I want to praise God for all our members who helped in any way and say thank you
Pastor Steve

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