A Sign of the Times

August, 2008

by: Brad Kelley

These are exciting days to be a part of the fellowship at Calvary Bible Church. Almost anywhere one looks are the signs of an enthusiastic congregation engaged in learning, growing and serving. In fact “enthusiasm” or, “full of God” is an apt description. Calvary is becoming a group of people eager for godliness and good works.

From a visible standpoint at least, the biggest sign we have that things are happening is the new Children’s Building Project. By “big” I mean 41,000 square feet! When completed, this building will provide us a much-needed increase in seismically-engineered children’s educational and activity space, a greatly updated kitchen and meeting area, with increased parking as a side benefit.

Our tech team has been busy making plans to have the building optimized and wired for the various media gizmos that are essential to ministry these days. In short, this structure will help usher dear old Calvary into the 21st Century. But when we say “building” we need to think of more than concrete and steel, bricks, mortar and wires. We need to think of 21st Century children being taught and built up in the faith on Sundays and during the week. Adult Bible studies, discipleship meetings and fellowship all go toward building the true church, which will just be getting warmed up long after the new structure has returned to the dust. Once open, we do anticipate a spike in attendance and want to prepare for that now. This means having a congregation ready to assume the responsibilities that come with blessing. Anyone can run a restaurant at 3:30pm when there are few patrons. But we want to be ready to feed the crowd at lunch time and for that we need everyone in the body serving in the area of their spiritual gift. Are you presently serving in a ministry? Now is the time to get involved. Service is a sign of your love for the Lord!

From my perch on the platform the signs of growth in Sunday morning attendance are unmistakable. We have never been able to figure out a way to actually count the number of people on campus on any given Sunday, but my unofficial sources in the ushers estimate a 15% growth over the past couple of years. I suppose if the elders really cared about numbers we could figure out a way to take a head count. But King David did that and you saw what happened to him.

I recently asked Steve Lockie who shepherds the Wednesday night Prayer Meeting how things were going in there. He burst into a big smile and said that the previous week they had barely had enough chairs! (We’ll get as many as he needs.) Last year our people gave $2.3 million in total offerings to Calvary Bible Church. This is a very good sign and represents about a 70% increase in total giving over the past 10 years. Our method as regards meeting the financial needs of the church is simple. We teach what the Bible has to say on the subject and then give our people the opportunity to respond. It has been interesting to see the offerings to the building fund grow as the building itself has risen. Our goal is to pay for the building and incur no debt. We need about another $6 million to make that happen. I know the resources are there so let’s take care of this now so we can turn our attention to more important matters.

Calvary has a strong commitment to missions and we presently support 23 missionaries and missions organizations around the world. Our missionaries are as near as the Hollywood sign and as far as Papua New Guinea. It is an open question which area needs the Gospel more. The Hollywood Church plant is going well and we invite you to take a walk on the wild side and drop in some week to see the action. Pray for Chris Barksdale as he leads the ministry there in Tinsel-town. I’m sure you could visit the Earl’s in Papua New Guinea when you are in the area.

The Calvary Website is a worldwide ministry of Calvary Bible Church. There you can find a cornucopia of audio sermon downloads, study aids and lots of general information. The church calendar and pictures of our good-looking staff are posted there as well. We have provided sermon and other downloads to virtually every civilized country on earth, and France. Worldwide includes Burbank so please take advantage of the resources provided there.

The elders are committed to encouraging and aiding young men who are called to enter the ministry. We provide places for them to receive practical training and opportunities to learn in a real-life ministry situation. The goal is for ministerial students to serve alongside our staff and experienced laymen and learn the kind of diligence, training and practical wisdom required of those who would labor in the Lord’s field. Several of our elders also teach, mentor and guest speak at places like The Master’s College.

As regarding our plans for the future, we are presently looking for a pastoral elder to oversee our Junior High, High School and College ministries. His mission will be to provide spiritual oversight, ministry planning and staff training so our gifted lay people can support the parents of our youth and young adults in evangelizing, raising, and training them in the faith. Tim Adams is serving admirably as our interim Director of Music and Worship and will continue in that role for the foreseeable future.

All is proceeding according to schedule on the new building and we look forward to being able to take occupancy next Spring. For up to the minute progress point your web browser to www.calvarybiblechurch.org and then select “view our construction camera.” Signs of progress are everywhere. When completed I look forward to being able to reinstitute the beloved Wednesday Night Family Suppers which have lamentably ceased during the construction period. You tell me which is better; a) driving through a fast-food restaurant with your kids and eating it in your car and having your car smell like stale French fries or, b) enjoying a delicious sit-down meal and fellowship with other believers at church? I vote for “b!” In the meantime, if anyone has a vision as to how to do these dinners under our present constrained circumstances please contact me.

The elders have informally discussed having CBC as the site for future conferences on some yet-to-be-determined aspect of church life. Stay tuned for that.

So that is a brief update of life at Calvary. Please continue to be faithful to pray, serve and give to CBC.