Last week’s annual tax free weekend reminded me that it’s about time for school to start. I talked to kids who went school shopping and they told me about their school bags and new clothes. For some that is the only reason they look forward to this time of year! What has been cool about the last 12 months at Calvary Church is that as God has expanded His church we now have new kids from all over. It is so exciting to have homeschoolers, public schoolers and Christian schoolers. This adds variety and diversity to our church, and it gives us the privilege of having different views and opinions. It also gives us the chance to expand our outlook on parenting and it challenges our thinking. Finally I believe it stretches us to strive for unity in the midst of diversity.

Soon we will post the names, schools and grades of our students. We are taking a different approach to our students this year. I honestly think we missed the boat in the past because we turned the focus of praying for our students into buying gifts for them. I don’t want us to get into a competition of who gets the best gifts and in turn teach our children the greed of consumerism – I think the culture has that one handled. The focus of listing our students is so that we can more effectively pray for them. Consistent prayer is the best gift we can give the children at Calvary.

On that note I want to encourage everyone to come for our annual Back-to-School Pizza Bash. The evening will start with a pizza party at 5:30 and then at 6 pm we will have a worship service of music, special prayer for our students and preaching by Ben Linnerud. This is one of those nights you won’t want to miss.

Grace & Peace,