Pursuing Life

Welcome our new Pastor of Global Ministries, David Harrop! David joined our staff in December 2021, and he and his wife, Mary, come to us with years of missions and ministry experience both overseas and stateside. Today we have the opportunity to get to know David and hear a snippet of how prayer has impacted his life! Tune in on Sunday morning, February 13, at 9:30 or 11 am at calvarychurch.org to hear David preach on the topic of prayer as a part of our current sermon series, Come to Me.

In our first episode of 2022, Phil Morrison joins us to talk about his journey with Lament. Phil and his wife, Jan, are Global Partners with Calvary Church, and after serving overseas for several years, they have moved back stateside where Phil now works in the area of child safety. When he started working in this position, the weight of all he was learning in the area of child safety was a lot for Phil to bear. This led him to a process of learning about the biblical practice of lament. Today, Phil is here to share with us what it really means to lament and how this practice can deepen our spiritual lives as we seek to pursue life in Jesus!

Today we are wrapping up our Advent series with the theme of peace. When we think of peace, we often think about the absence of conflict. But the peace we are going to talk about has less to do with conflict and more to do with completeness. When Jesus came to earth, he came to restore us, to make our relationship with God complete. That’s the reason why we call Him our Prince of Peace!

Sandy Robinson (Director of Disability Ministry at Calvary Church) joins us today to talk about the unexpected roadblocks she and her husband experienced in starting her family, how the Lord led them to the journey of foster care - and ultimately adoption, and how their heart for individuals living with disability has been woven throughout their story. All throughout Sandy’s journey, God has taught her that pursuing a life of peace isn’t always easy, but that his peace is always available to us when we make the choice to trust his perfect plan for our lives.

The Bible Project: Peace - https://bibleproject.com/church-at-home/shalom/

Today, we are shifting our focus to the theme of joy, and as we continue our series on the four themes of Advent, we are going to start to see some connections being made. Biblical joy is based on hope - the same hope we looked at during the first week of Advent! Joy comes when we find our hope in the living, eternal hope of Jesus.

Before joining the staff at Calvary, Alex Vocature (High School Director) was involved in an accident that nearly left him paralyzed. As he laid in a hospital bed, he suddenly found himself re-evaluating his life, his priorities and where he was finding joy. Today he’s joining us to talk about how this experience has changed his life, why he believes he’s living on “bonus time,” and what he has learned is the true, lasting source of joy.

The Bible Project: Joy - https://bibleproject.com/church-at-home/joy/

This week we shift our focus to the second theme of Advent: love. When most of us think of love, we think of a feeling. But the kind of love that we set our eyes on as followers of Jesus is one of action and sacrifice. We know that Jesus demonstrated his love for us by laying down his life (1 John 3:16). In turn, the way that we love others should reflect this same kind of selflessness and sacrifice.

Today, Kiki Moyer (Director of Small Groups at Calvary Church) is here to tell us about how her encounter with the sacrificial, unconditional love of Jesus changed her life. Growing up, Kiki believed that doing good work and being a good person would be enough to save her. But when she went to college and started experiencing the love and kindness of her peers, she began to know, understand and accept that true salvation comes only through the good work of Christ. Kiki’s testimony is a reminder that having a personal relationship with Jesus truly changes our perspective on what it means to pursue a life of love.

The Bible Project: Love - https://bibleproject.com/church-at-home/love/

What is hope? Where does it come from, and how do we find it? During the first week of Advent, we focus in on hope to remind ourselves that is a person and His name is Jesus. When we find our hope in the person of Christ, who came as Emmanuel - God with us - we find something to cling to that will never disappear, and will never fail.

Yes I Will: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrTv39-lG4M

Stand in Your Love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHLEZzyAZrI

Be Still My Soul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq59iE3MhXM

The Timing of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uCrDoJf9_0

The Bible Project, Hope: https://bibleproject.com/church-at-home/hope/

All throughout the month of December, I’m sitting down with some of our staff to hear stories surrounding the four themes of Advent – Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. Advent literally means, “the coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note.” At Christmastime, we remember the “advent” or “arrival” of Christ, the Son of God, born human, who came to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. We also look forward to the second “advent” of Christ – His promise to return once again to make all things new and reign as the one true King.