NEWS
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It was great having James Everett, Associate Pastor candidate, with us this past Sunday. Hopefully you were able to meet him and learn a little bit more about his passion for music, the richness of God's Word, and the importance of living a life that brings glory and honor to God. Please pray for our church family, as we ask God for clarity in hiring James, and for he and his wife Ali, as they pray about joining us here at Calvary Parkside. If you have any questions about James or the Associate Pastor position, feel free to reach out to myself or Larry Annes.
Throughout the Bible, the imagery of light is used to describe the purity, power, and the perfection of God. With the words "Let there be light," God's six-day work of creation began. Since that time, the light of God has been a source of hope and encouragement. He is our light and our salvation (Psalm 27:1). He is everlasting light...our glory (Isaiah 60:19). Jesus is the true light and the light of the world (John 1:9, 8:12). This message of God being the source of true light and salvation, had radically transformed the pagan, perverse city of Ephesus, but now, 15 years later, the Apostle Paul is concerned that the Ephesian believers are being lulled into sleep by its continued wickedness. Join us this Sunday at 9:30am, as we look at Ephesians 5:8-14, where Paul reminds us that we are children of light and that we have been transformed into LIVING LIGHT. Adult Discipleship Class Study: Stick around after our service as we continue our study through Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is a heartfelt prayer from the Psalmist, that can be used as a tool to transform your affection to love God's Word more. Calvary Parkside Membership Class: Next Sunday, October 15th @ 11:00am. Sign-up using the Connect Card or stop by the Next Step table. Trunk o' Treat: Mark your calendars for our annual Trunk O' Treat neighborhood outreach event, which will take place on Saturday, October 28th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm and will include food, candy, carnival games, a bounce house, hay ride, pumpkins and more. Please spread the word to your neighbors, friends and relatives. More details coming soon! Thank you for being a church that values prayer. See you Sunday! Doug This Sunday, we begin a short mini-series unpacking the second shortest book in the Old Testament, the book of Haggai. Years after Solomon's temple and the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed, the Persians conquered the Babylonians, allowing the Jews to return home from captivity. They began rebuilding God's temple, as He commanded them to, but life got hard and they slowly abandoned the work, turning instead to their own houses. Enter Haggai, sent by God to help the people refocus. Haggai preached about the priority and importance of Kingdom Perspective.
With this first week, we will look at Haggai 1, as we learn about the danger of kingdom (mission) drift. What do we do when we experience kingdom drift in our own lives? Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Jesus came to remind us that he has rescued us, not for our own comfort and pleasure as we pursue self; but rather for doing the work of building God's kingdom. Take time to read Haggai 1, and then join us on Sunday at 9:30am as we worship God passionately. After our service, there will be two opportunities to take a next step with Jesus. See below for more details: 1. Adult Discipleship Class. 11:00am Current Study: The Final Days of Jesus. Learn more about Jesus, his love for you, and his call on our lives to follow him.. 2. Calvary Parkside Membership Class: 11:00am. At Calvary Parkside, we believe that church membership should be meaningful. Therefore, we believe in partnering together for growth, prayer and accountability. Join us and learn more about what it means to be a member of Calvary Parkside. Attached is this week's prayer list. See you Sunday. Doug STOP READING! Find your Bible, turn to Luke 5, and read verses 1-11. Now you can continue reading. Think for a moment about this scene. Ask yourself, "What is Jesus really doing?" Is there more to this story than Jesus teaching the crowd, providing Peter, James and John, with a dinner-table worthy fishing story, and asking them to be his first disciples? In the word(s) of Pastor Avery from Common Ground..."Pondering"... As we conclude our series, Encounters with Jesus, I would like us to consider our own experiences with Jesus. Just like with the story from Luke 5, it's important for us to recognize that Jesus has this great habit of not just meeting us when we are in a "happy place" or, feeling especially "holy" or spiritual. Jesus equally meets us in moments of weakness, confusion, doubt, pain and loss. He encounters us where we are, he uses what we have, and through us, he communicates something of himself and his kingdom to the people around us. My hope is that through this series you have been reminded that wherever you are, however you may feel, that Christ is still using you for His purpose. Join us on Sunday, at 9:30am, as we are given the opportunity, through one final encounter, to see and experience the heart of God. A heart that cares. A heart that provides relief from pain and fear. A heart that heals. A heart that forgives. "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Last minute invite: Tomorrow (Saturday) at 7:30pm, the Rose City Flute Choir, (of which our very own Kathy Collins is a member), will be performing here at Calvary Parkside. They performed for us during Christmas, and even played for one of our Sunday services. I'm excited to hear what they have in-store for us this time! Connecting with one another authentically is one of the core values of Calvary Parkside, and one of the best ways to connect with others is through our Sunday Adult Discipleship class. This class meets every Sunday at 11:00am. Consider joining others at Calvary Parkside as they study the last days of Jesus, as recorded in the book of John. Calvary Parkside Membership Class: Sunday May 7th @ 11:00am. Sign-up using the Connect Card or stop by the Next Step Table. Attached is this week's prayer list. See you Sunday. Doug The New Testament is full of stories of people who had dramatic encounters with Jesus. Now, an encounter with Jesus was different from a meeting with him. Encountering Jesus was not the kind of event where you would go home and tell your spouse, and/or family, "Hey, I ran into this interesting guy today named Jesus...what's for dinner?" An encounter with Jesus involved being brought face-to-face with the choice between eternal life with God, or eternal separation apart from God. Once they realized who this Jesus was, all of their hopes and fears, all the possibilities of Heaven and Hell, were bound up in their response to this life-altering encounter.
Over the next two months, we will spend time each Sunday, exploring the New Testament for individuals who didn't just meet Jesus, but encountered Jesus. An encounter that provided unconditional love and acceptance, physical healing, hope, peace, purpose, joy, and most important...salvation! Join us this Sunday at 9:30am and experience you own Encounter with Jesus! This week our encounter with Jesus takes us to Mark 2:1-12, where a paraplegic comes face-to-face with his healer. As we will discover from this encounter with Jesus, the deepest needs of our lives are not physical; they are spiritual and invisible. This is true of everyone, which explains why Jesus gave priority to the man's heart before He addressed the hopeless condition of his body. While we tend to invert these priorities, placing physical needs above the spiritual, God continually calls us to reorient our thinking to see things as He does. Join us after the service at 11:00am for part 2 of the Calvary Parkside Membership Class. This class is designed for both current members and those new to our church. During this class, we will unpack our vision and mission, what we believe, how we function, and what it means to be a member of Calvary Parkside. Praying for each other is a great way to begin "Connecting with one another authentically". See you Sunday. Doug There was a time when the question of church membership was not much of a question at all. Jump back a generation or two, and nearly every church in the U.S. had a roster of members. Now, the question, however, is much more persistent. "Why should I join a local church?" "Why should I bother with church membership?" "So explain to me what membership is all about." Many churches today have a membership process but don't place much emphasis on it. Others don't have membership at all, encouraging their people to get involved and engaged without a more formal process.
For many Christians, church membership sounds dated. It's something you have at your bank, gym or the country club, but not your church. Even if we agree that Christianity is not meant to be a lone ranger religion, that we need one another for prayer, support and fellowship, we still bristle at the thought of officially joining a church. Mark Dever, in his book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church writes this about church membership... "Church membership is our opportunity to grasp hold of each other in responsibility and love. By identifying ourselves with a particular church, we let the pastors and other members of that local church know that we intend to be committed in attendance, giving, prayer, and service. We assure the church of our commitment to Christ in serving with them, and we call for their commitment to serve and encourage as well." Join us this Sunday at 9:30am, as we conclude our three week series called, Blueprints for the church. In this series, we are pulling back the curtain and looking at how the New Testament church handled church polity (structure). This week, we will focus on church membership. Believers today want to go to church. They want to attend church. But they don't necessarily want to belong to a church. The church was never meant to be a consumer relationship. The local church is a body made up of many members. This was how Paul described the early church in I Corinthians 12. Take time this weekend to read I Corinthians 12:12-20, and join us this Sunday at 9:30am as we gather to Worship God Passionately, through singing, prayer, giving of our offering and the study of God's Word. I hope you will make time to join us! Speaking of church membership, this Sunday at 11:00am, all Parkside Fellowship church members are invited to our Annual Membership Meeting. During this meeting, our church council will present the 2023 budget for your approval. We will also provide an update on the transition to Calvary Parkside. The 2023 proposed budget is attached to this email. Upcoming Events: Calvary Parkside Membership Class Part 2. Sunday, March 5th at 11:00am. This class is designed for both current members and those new to our church. During this class, we will unpack our vision and mission, what we believe, how we function, and what it means to be a member of Calvary Parkside. Praying for each other is a great way to begin "Connecting with one another authentically". See you Sunday. Doug Richard Foster, in his book, Celebration of Discipline writes:
"More than any other single way the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the Discipline of service...Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honor and recognition." In Matthew 20, Jesus addresses the benefits of being a servant when he says to his disciples: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28 In making this statement, Jesus was revealing who God is. "Jesus did not come as a servant in spite of the fact that he is God; he came precisely because of the fact that he is God." (John Ortberg) Today's culture doesn't resent people who serve others and seek nothing in return, but neither does it reward selfless servanthood. The way to climb the corporate ladder is to get noticed, take high-profile risks, and downplay one's failures. God's kingdom, however, works differently. Jesus turned corporate ladder upside down to declare, in effect, "The way up in My kingdom is to descend to the lowest rung and become the servant of all." This Sunday at 9:30am, we will continue our three week series called, Blueprints for the church. In this series, we are pulling back the curtain and looking at how the New Testament church handled church polity (structure). This week, we will focus on the office of deacon. As we will see in Acts 6, the deacons are to be the lead servants of the church. They are to model for the church what it looks like to serve Jesus and others. They should be faithful, available, and teachable, ready to jump in and serve where needed. Of the three biblical roles in the early church, it is really the most Christlike. Join us this Sunday at 9:30am as we gather to Worship God Passionately, through singing, prayer, giving of our offering, the Lord's Supper, and the study of God's Word. I hope you will make time to join us! Calvary Parkside Membership Class begins this Sunday, February 19th at 11:00am. This class is designed for both current members and those new to our church. During this class, we will unpack our vision and mission, what we believe, how we function, and what it means to be a member of Calvary Parkside. Upcoming Events: 1. Calvary Parkside Membership Class Part 2. Sunday, March 5th at 11:00am. This class is designed for both current members and those new to our church. During this class, we will unpack our vision and mission, what we believe, how we function, and what it means to be a member of Calvary Parkside. 2. Annual Membership Meeting. Sunday, February 26th at 11:00am. During this meeting, our church council will present the 2023 budget for your approval. We will also provide an update on the transition to Calvary Parkside. The 2023 budget will be available beginning Sunday, February 19th. Praying through this list is a great way to begin "Connecting with one another authentically". See you Sunday. Doug |
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