Without an active and effective witness in the world the church is dead in the water – its doors will close one day. I’m not talking about the church universal; God will always have a group of His people who will risk everything for the sake of the gospel. However, as an individual part of that church, Calvary could cease to exist one day if we shut down our witness to the community. Jesus’ words to His disciples are appropriate and applicable to us…

³⁴…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses him life for my sake and the gospel’ will save it. (Mark 8:34-35 ESV)

Jesus is describing a believer who is willing to give up everything, including life, instead of saving themselves for comfort or fear or convenience or whatever excuse. These are the type of people who keep the church alive and thriving; they are the ones who “keep the doors open.” Think about it – if we don’t reach people who are unsaved then eventually nobody will be left.

Friends, we have a tremendous, God-provided opportunity right in front of us. Building a building doesn’t reach a community; it just puts us providentially and strategically in a good place. If we stand back and think we’ve done a good job and now God can “bring them in” then we are missing the point of being a church. Being a church means, at least in part, being a witness. And that is where the fear comes in. Let me put our fears to rest. By saying four things.

First, the results are not up to us. As Paul pointed out to the Corinthian congregation, he planted, Apollos watered, but God harvests (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9). So breathe easy, the pressure is off. It’s all on God and He’s good at what He does. He saved us didn’t He?!

Second, and I can’t stress this enough, get into the Bible and study God’s promises. Hopeful people look hopeful and hopeless people will notice and ask why we are so hopeful. The best way I can tell you to be an effective witness is to get happy in God, and the only way we are going to get happy in God is to be saturated with His Word.

Third, build meaningful relationships. The normal way God opens a door for witnessing is through people we know. It may be somebody in your family, somebody you work with, somebody you play with (you know, shopping, golf, shooting guns, or skydiving), or somebody who lives across the street. Just figure it out.

Fourth, pray hard and long. Pray like everything depended on God, oh, yeah, everything does. Pray for yourself and others. Pray for wisdom and courage. Pray for an occasion. Let’s pray for one another and share our stories. It’ll be beautiful!

Grace & Peace,

One of the tensions in the church is faithfulness versus fruitfulness. Faithfulness focuses upon the depth of the church spiritually, while fruitfulness focuses upon the width.

Faithful churches are about being true to God’s Word. They teach without compromise. It is discipling people to know the Bible, not just be vaguely familiar with it. They are tenaciously committed to teaching. Their focus is on spiritual depth without seeing a lost world. They don’t change the “furniture” much and what they do is pretty traditional. Their music is straight out of the hymnal with no more than two instruments (piano and organ). Change is hard. Today faithful churches abound with strong believers.

Being a fruitful church is about reaching people. It is looking at a lost world and weeping. It is seeing un-churched, disenfranchised believers and being burdened to get them back into church where they belong. Fruitful churches tend to be culturally relevant and exciting. They have programs that attract people, they have teaching that addresses modern concerns, they have music that is hip, they have coffee shops, and the list goes on. It’s a pretty cool place to go on Sunday morning. Today fruitful churches are bursting at the seams.

Here’s the rub: fruitful “only” churches grow a large crowd of shallow believers while faithful “only” churches grow a small people who really know their Bibles. Here’s my question: why can’t we have both? What is inherently wrong with having a church that is faithful to teach the whole counsel of God’s Word and a church that is culturally engaged in the world? I believe to be tied to the model of either one of these types of church is wrong.

I don’t want Calvary Church to slip into shoddy teaching because we are trying to “reach the crowd.” But I also shudder to think that we will become a church that thinks it is obeying God’s Word while ignoring those who are looking for answers to the struggles they are having in life. Honestly a church that thinks it is being true to the Bible without engaging the world is deceiving itself.

Grace & Peace,

As I sit here on the first day of 2013 I am looking back. It is a good thing to reflect on what God has done over the last year. So many things have happened that I am thankful for as a pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. My heart is filled with joy and gratitude. Here are some of the highlights that came across my mind on this night…

We are in a new building. I am thankful that we made it. I am grateful for God’s faithfulness to His church since its inception in 1923. I will always remember the old buildings on North Church Street that served as a place for God to be glorified and people’s lives to be transformed. I am glad that we aren’t packing and moving, and I’m thankful for the warm water in the bathrooms. Praise the Lord!

God has added 63 new people to His church. These are God’s children from all walks of life and ages. It has been a huge privilege to baptize some of these. Preacher Crocker and I look forward to baptizing a handful more soon. One of the indicators that we are obeying the Great Commission is that people will be getting baptized. It is not our responsibility to get people saved, that’s God’s job, and He is good at it. Our responsibility is to witness and live out the Gospel before the world. Praise the Lord!!

We exceeded the budget, not in spending but in giving. The faithful and sacrificial giving of His children has honored God. This is the first time that I can remember that a church has meet its weekly budget giving needs. We stepped out by faith and God blessed. We needed $5,004.17 each week to meet the 2012 budget; we received $5,572.65 each week. God gets the honor for that – Praise the Lord!!!

We commissioned two mission trips (Tammy Gilbert to Nicaragua and the young people to Blythewood, SC) and commissioned and sent off one to start a church (Ben Linnerud with Awaken Church in Charleston, SC). In 2013 we plan on commissioning Tammy again to Nicaragua, a group to Haiti, and our young people to the West. Praise the Lord!!!!

The student ministry at Calvary Church is off to a good start. VBS was a success, we have an active weekly ministry on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings for them. I thank God for those who serve in the nursery, children’s groups, Kid’s Church, and youth. The kids singing with the choir at Christmas was beautiful. Praise the Lord!!!!!

We need to be a church that is joy filled, Gospel centered, mission minded, God adoring, and servant oriented. We have to begin our missions at home. Spartanburg County must become a place not just where we live, but about whom we are burdened. That will be some of the focus of my preaching this year.

I love being a part of what God is doing here. And we will always be careful to let others know that this is what God has done.

Grace & Peace,