Amazing! Simply Amazing!

There's no better way to put it; amazing, simply amazing! God continues to surpass our greatest expectations. For the third week in a row we have set and broken attendance records. In spite of poor weather the presence of God was rich. And once again God showed up and two more decisions were made for Christ.

On Saturday we had another "Newcomer's Breakfast" with 25 in attendance we enjoyed good food and good fellowship. I took the opportunity to share briefly the Calvary story and our newcomers responded with their own Calvary stories. I was thrilled to here a mom share a story about her son. He was sick and when his mom suggested missing church he told her, "no way, I want to go!" Another lady shared how after being out of church for a time she is now more excited about Calvary than she's been about a church in a long time.

I was watching as some last-minute arrivers walked in to an already full sanctuary and I actual grew a little concerned that we would run out of seating. That's a wonderful problem to have! I want to worry like that more often!

Keep us growing Lord... we want to worry about setting up some chairs!

Pastor Glen

He's ALIVE and Working!

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday (Easter) and God showed up once again. Two Sundays in a row we have progessively smashed our previous attendence records. But even more importantly we crushed our "decisions for Christ" record (which was set last Sunday when we saw 6 people make decisions for Christ) this Sunday we had 8 people give their hearts to Jesus! With the 6 teens that came to Christ on Wednesday during Oneightyouth (youth group), that makes a total of 20 people coming to Christ in one week! I must bow out on this one and simply say, "totally God", to Him alone be the glory!

We annouced that we are planning a baptismal service and a "New Believers" class (Faith 101) and "if anyone is interested see me after service." Well, I have 4 people, so far signed up for the baptism and 3 signed up for Faith 101. It's awesome to see people responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

We have some really exciting things that we are planning; outdoor movie-night, teen "free car-wash", baptismal, Faith 101 class, Luau fellowship diner, coffee-house, Kings-Fest (youth outing), and much more! It's gonna be a busy next few months!

Stay tuned to see what is going on at Calvary... I promise to update this blog more often. BTW - check out our podcasts at www.glenkeefer.org and enjoy!

Making a Difference!
Pastor Glen

It's Happening

What? What's happening? After almost four years of praying and dreaming and envisioning and working and pushing and getting discouraged and believing, we are seeing a healthy, growing, excited church being born. Growing a church is much like having a baby. Ok, so all the women out there are like, "you have no idea!" Ok, so I'm not a woman, but I do understand the pains of giving birth to something. I've often wondered why God has allowed us to grow at what seems like a slower pace than other churches I've read about. I've learned three reasons. First, we weren't ready for it yet. If we started growing by 20-30 people in a few weeks we would have imploded into ourselves. We didn't have the workers or structure put into place for that kind of growth; now we do. Second, slower growth is often healthier growth. Relationships take time to develop and grow and church is about relationships not how many we can pack in on a given Sunday morning. I use the example of someone who does body building (good term); those who workout and slowly grow muscle mass naturally will end up being more healthy than those who use steroids and drugs to accomplish their goals more quickly. And third, an instant-church out of the box will never learn to appreciate the struggle and pains of growing a church. We don't appreciate those things that cost us nothing. But a healthy, growing, loving church takes blood, sweat and tears to build... and it's worth every bit!

Yesterday we had an anniversary celebration. 20x4x4x1 What does that all mean? 20 years for Solid Rock (the name of the older church before our merger) 4 years for Calvary Faith Center. 4 years for me (Pastor Glen) preaching. And 1 year together as a merged church! That's a whole lot of reasons to celebrate! And we did! With a new record attendance we celebrated like never before! And the guest of honor - the Holy Spirit - showed up and everyone felt His presence. I took just a moment to pause in the middle of a packed out fellowship hall and look around at the children laughing and families eating and people just enjoying the moment and I whispered a prayer that went like this, "Thank you. Thanks for letting me be a part of what You're doing. Thank you."

Making a Difference!
Pastor Glen

How to Build a Church

God has taught me an invaluable lesson about church growth and I would like to share this wisdom with you; don't try! So often as pastors we so want to see our church grow and prosper that we try everything we can to make it grow. We buy all the books on church growth and follow the strategies and models that are taught. We watch other churches to see how they are doing it. We make plans and goals and toil over them. But what many pastors miss - until recently, I included - is the fact that none of these things ultimately grow a church. God does! And in His best selling book God put it like this, "I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Danger fellow pastors and ministers! When we get up in the corporate mentality of growing "our" church and building "our" personal kingdom we are actually working against the very kingdom we should be helping to build.

I prayed a while back and ask God a question, "How do little churches grow and get big?" His answer to me was simply and incredibly profound, "Use what you have." Danger once again to fellow pastors and ministers! Stop trying new tricks, but instead simply and effectively use what God has given you. Again, in God's best selling book he tells us in Luke chapter 19 that we should invest and be good stewards of what He has given us. And when we do we will see incredible returns.

After merging two churches together we stand amazed at how God has grown our small family of faith. Yes we are still small, but in the last six months of 2007 we saw a growth of over 25% - which is almost five times the average growth rate of 5.7% most "mega-churches" - and growth, spiritually in our people. Today we stand at the threshold of a whole new adventure for Calvary Faith Center. On March 5th we will begin seven new ministries; Additional Life Training classes for kids (Sunday school), Men of Faith, Women of Faith, Royal Rangers, Missionettes, Children's Church and Oneightyouth (our Youth Group).

Sunday, Feb. 10th we had our first "Ministry Fair" And man was I impressed! I've been a part of a few churches in my 23 years as a Christian, and every church I've ever been a part of I saw the same thing; 5-10% of the people doing 100% of the work. Well at our ministry fair we had an incredible thing happen; about 90% of the church come out and sign up to lead and help in these new ministries. That's right, 90%! I had some people apologizing because they "only" signed up to help in two ministries! What's gotten in the water at Calvary!?! Wait! I know what it is. It's the product of natural growth and maturity. Shortly after we merged the church together we put into place a process for spiritual growth and maturity. The steps are real simple: Connect to God, Grow in Faith, Serve others. This three step process was actually put into place by Jesus - The Author and Finisher of our faith - and I also discovered He weaved this process into the name of our church too. Calvary - the place we connect to God, Faith - the target of our growth, and Center - like a customer service center; a place to serve. Since putting this process into place I have personally witnessed incredibly growth and maturity in our people.

So how do you build a church? It's pretty simple really. Be faithful to do what you know to do; preach the Word and minister to your people. Use effectively what God has entrusted you with; your people and resources. Be about your Father's business; build HIS kingdom, not yours. Let God build His church and... He will.

Making a Difference!
Pastor Glen

It Get's Better and Better

Well it's been a while since I last posted and I must say God has been faithful to us and our church. We finished out the year strong with more new families added to our ranks and people being saved and recommitting themselves to God. Now we are embarking on a new year with a renewed passion and expectancy. What will God do in 2008? And how can we get onboard?

As God leads us and grows us we are responding by creating new ministries that will help us to better reach and meet the needs of the many families in our community. Some of these ministries are: Men of Faith, Women of Faith, Missionettes, and Oneightyouth.

2008 has many fellowship opportunities planned plus many outreach and service opportunities as well. M.A.D.E. (our serving the needs ministry) will be kicking into gear this year as we use our many talents to meet the tangible needs of our community. We will also be partnering more with our missions partners; Ship of Zion Ministries as we together reach and make a difference in downtown Raleigh.

I'm expecting great things in '08, what about you? This could be your best year yet!

Making a Difference!
Pastor Glen