Calvary McAllen

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. I've been sick. Hardly able to get out of bed, actually. My doctor said to rest and the virus that was in me made sure I kept his orders. I'm back today ... kinda.  Anyway ... enough about me ... let's get back to the church.

Why do we have four worship services?  Well ... to answer that we have to understand what we are doing as a church. We are a battleship. That means we are on a very specific and vitally important mission. We are in a fight against Satan for people's souls, and by extension, the soul of our culutre. In view of that, we are attacking at two levels. First, we want to reach as many people as possible (that's called evangelism). Second, we want to incorporate people into life on the battleship (that's called discipleship).

At the heart of winning and discipling people is worship. Worship is the life-blood of the church. So, we must worship. Now, that doesn't mean that we all have to worship together or that we all have to worship the exact same way or that we all have to sing the same tune ... the important thing is that we worship. We all live on the same battleship. We all serve the same captain (Jesus). We all fight the same battle. But we serve on different shifts. We have different tasks. We each fill a different part of the puzzle.

A battleship has to follow a strategic battle PLAN in order to achieve victory. Each member of the battleship community has to find their place and then fulfill their part of the PLAN. An important piece to our strategic PLAN for accomplishing the mission (winning and discipling as many as possible) is to establish worship outposts where worshipping communities can form, grow, and thrive. These communites may be small (30-100). They may be medium sized (100-300). They may be large (300 and up). It doesn't matter. We want to create worshipping communities that will connect with people, introduce them to Christ, incorporate them into the body, and help them grow.

Some say, "I feel disconnected from the rest of the church because I worship at the ____ o'clock service (you fill in the blank) and I don't see the people who worship at the other services." I understand. But fellowship is NOT the primary purpose of worship. If you miss certain people invite them over to your house (or better yet, go to ABF with them). If you miss someone that badly, find out which worship service they go to, and then join them. The worship service is meant to fuel the church for action. It is to help WIN and GROW people. It is the life-blood that energizes you to be all that God wants you to be. It is also a place where non-Christians can be introduced to the basic elements of faith in Christ. Worship, therefore, should have nothing to do with who else is in the room OR how many are in the room OR what people are wearing OR who's preaching OR who's leading the music OR ... well, you get the point.

I know that this is hard. Change is never easy. I don't particulary enjoy it. The greatest temptation for me is to keep doing what I know how to do and never change. It's just easier that way. But God will not let me do that. So ... change is a part of vibrant life in Christ. And we are a battleship. We are being called to battle. We must put our personal preferences aside and do what needs to be done to win the battle.

blessings,

pastor ellis

THE WAY WE WORK

It's time to start addressing some important questions about why we do things the way we do at Calvary. As we address these questions we must keep in mind our definition of the church: The church is a living, breathing thing made up of many people who are mysteriously connected to each other through Christ. In this connection alone they have everything they need to live, grow, and accomplish all that God created them to do.

We worked long and hard to get that definition so we'll keep coming back to it. Along with that we should always keep in mind the overarching metaphor for the church: the battleship cruising at sea ready for battle. 

So ... why do we operate the way we do? Why do we have business meetings where we vote on things? Why do we have five adminstrative committees that make decisions on the different aspects of the church? Why do we allow the pastoral staff to make certain decisions with respect to their individual ministries?

We could take these one at a time but it's better to establish some general understandings that help to answer all these questions. If we are a battleship then there are some things we need. First their are times we need to be able to make decision quickly and effectively without disturbing the work of the rest of the ship. There has to be a de-centralization of many of the decisions with the persons most involved in certain aspects of ministry making the decisions that have to do with that particular area of ministry. These decision need to be made quickly and effectively for the fast paced world we live in. That's the way its done on a battleship. There are some decisions that the captain makes. There are some decisions that other officers make after consulting each other.

Another thing that is essential to the work of the battleship is trust. That's why we have business meetings. So that everyone can be informed on the decisions that are being made by pastors and committees. There are also some major decisions that must be made. These major decisions are not made by the captain of the battleship (like where is the ship going next, when does it enter the battle, and what is its ultimate mission) -- these decisions are made by higher powers than even the captain himself. In the case of the church the really big decisions (purchasing or selling land, hiring or firing pastors, constitutional issues, who will serve on committees, who will serve as deacon, etc.) are made be the entire church body. This policy of coming to a consensus on major intiatives and decisions helps to build trust and makes everyone on the battleship feel that they are a part of the team.

I could go on, but we'll stop here for now and continue the discussion next time ... stay tuned ...

blessings,

pastor ellis

INVINCIBLE

I went to see the movie INVINCIBLE this weekend. I have to start by saying that I am biased on this movie for several reasons.

1. I loved playing football throughout my middle school and high school years. In high school I pretty much lived and breathed football for at least 9 months out of the year. So I am biased toward football movies.

2. I played football in high school during the seventies (the years that the movie is set in). I knew all the players mentioned in the movie. Nothing like good, ole-fashioned nostalgia.

3. I'm a sucker for a good underdog story.

That being said, this is a great, true story of the Philadephia Eagle player, Vince Papole, who made the team as a walk on even though he never played high school or college football. The thing that makes the story even better is that it is set against the backdrop of an economically depressed south Philly neighborhood. Papole and his friends come from a desperate neighborhood where surviving is the best you can hope for. The lives of these folks was grim and difficult and in the midst of that they found a hero in the home-town boy who beat astronomical odds to play in the NFL.

It has some great themes including the importance of father-son relationships, mother-son relationships (Papole's mother died when he was young and she is always spoken of in the most reverent and respected terms), the importance of loyalty and friendship, and the power to overcome no matter your station in life.

The movie is clean too (rated PG). There's a little cussing (hey, it's football). But for the most part very clean. Although the movie drags in a few places it's overall message is worth the trip. I highly recommend it ... especially if you love football!

blessings,

pastor ellis