Foundations for Our Future

For six weeks, church will look a little different as we have important conversations foundational to where Calvary is headed as a church.

Foundations for our Future | Jul 25, 2021

Today we kicked off our new series with Dan Yoder, Danny, and our guest Mark Thrash. For the next six weeks, church will look a little different as we have important conversations foundational to where we're headed as a church. Today we looked back at where we've been over the last 4 months and heard Mark and Dan share where they've seen God moving in our nation and around the world. They also shared what they've been hearing both from God in prayer and with other church leaders in Silicon Valley, that God wants to move, is ready to move in our region, and is looking to awaken the church in Silicon Valley. Action steps were given to us as a church, for each of us to sit in prayer with our Father and pray: - Pray for revival & awakening. Write down 2 names of people you have a relationship with who don't know Jesus and begin to pray for them. - Ask God to reveal what in culture around you he wants transformed for the Kingdom of God. What does that look like and what role does he want you to play? - Pray for the church to come together, to move from a sitting church to a standing army, equipped & ready to battle for the Kingdom of God. - Pray God's truth would be known and Silicon Valley is free from the lie there is no truth.

Foundations for our Future | Aug 8, 2021

This week, we had a conversation focused on who Silicon Valley is with our elders Dan Yoder, Promod Haque, and Pastor Rob. There was quite a bit of information in today's conversation. We've unpacked a bit of it below. Dan began our conversation with an important truth that in the western church, in our valley and nation, we are fed 2 lies from the enemy: Lie 1: God is not active in our world today. Lie 2: Neither is Satan. When we believe that lie, we look at the trouble in the world as though it's just broken humans trying to get along with incredibly low expectations of what God can do. God has something different in mind, particularly for His church, as he shows us in Matthew 16:18-19. "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” When we look at the word Jesus used to describe his church in Greek, it's Ekklesia. It is a Greek government word and as we continue our conversations over the next several weeks, we'll come back to why Jesus chose to use this word and what he intended for us as his disciples and Ekklesia. We also discussed our post-truth culture today. What is meant by post-truth is that in our culture today, we have moved away from a moral and foundational agreed-upon truth. The response to truth has become, "That may be true for you, but here’s what’s true for me.". Layered to our post-truth culture, are the demographics of our valley. Of note the Silicon valley represents: - 4million people from 144 countries - Significant range in financial resources from wealth to poverty - Multilingual w/ nearly 60% speaking a different language than English at home - Less than 3% of Silicon Valley goes to Church regularly With all of the above, our vision of introducing Silicon Valley to Jesus seems impossible. And it is for us. But for God, it's not only possible, it's what he's asked His Ekklesia to do. A church on its own will not be able to deliver on this vision. God must lead it and it will take His Ekklesia, Calvary coming alongside other organizations, churches, para-church organizations, and others to make this vision a reality. In the meantime, what can we do? We can pray. You've heard us mention over the last few weeks, preceding every revival is fervent prayer. We'd love for you to join us this week in praying through the following: - Grieve/lament for the people of Silicon Valley - Seek forgiveness that churches have not worked together - Decree that Calvary is God's church – not ours - Pray that Holy Spirit breathes new unity into His Ekklesia - Pray a blessing over your neighborhood

Foundations for our Future | Aug 15, 2021

Today's conversation focused on Calvary's role in introducing Silicon Valley to Jesus with our elders Dan Yoder, Frank Bergandi, Brian Toombs, and our CFO Kristi. Please find a summary of key points below. God has a role for you in how he plans to use Calvary as his vessel. It's why we are taking these six weeks to lay the foundations for our future. God is in the process of transforming Calvary from a cruise ship to a battleship. In a cruise ship, passengers are king. They don't have a role on the ship other than to relax in the sun and be served. God has chosen Calvary to serve Him with all we have. To go into battle for His Kingdom. On a battleship, every person on the ship is part of the mission. All are needed, each with unique gifting and individual assignments that when joined together with the other parts of the church body, enable us to be the battleship God has called us to be. Our conversation this morning began with describing the process the Elders and Leadership team have gone through to get where we are today. The short answer? Prayer. Every step of this process has been bathed in prayer, seeking God for His will. Questions asked in prayer: - God, is "In our generation, introducing Silicon Valley to Jesus" simply a catchphrase or is this an assignment you're giving Calvary? - God, what does that look like? You've confirmed that's our assignment, what is the strategy to deliver on that vision? - God, the church you've given us today is a mid-size church. What is the role you want Calvary to play to bring this vision to fruition? Over numerous months and time spent in prayer, direction was sought from God and he answered, consistently. Key themes appeared again and again, confirming the direction God was leading Calvary in and the role Calvary was to play. It came down to three key pillars: - Prayer: Movements of God happen with fervent prayer. It is foundational. - Partnerships: Introducing Silicon Valley to Jesus will be done with His Ekklesia. It is a God-sized dream and no single organization can accomplish it. It will only be done with God's leading, in God's timing, with His Holy Spirit power, and His Ekklesia coming together, as one body, to leverage the unique gifting he's given this region to build His Kingdom. - Pathways: 2 pathways 1. Pathway to Jesus: For those who don't know Jesus. 2. Discipleship Pathway: For those who know Jesus to draw into deeper intimacy with Him and the calling He has for each person. The prayer assignment given for this week is to spend time with Jesus and ask: "How can I be more on mission for you?" We encourage you to write down what you hear. Spend time with Jesus asking him to continue revealing to you what assignment he's giving you. What does it look like? What next step does he want you to take?

Foundations for our Future | Aug 22, 2021

This week, we talked about developing partnerships. Calvary has a heritage of partnering. How do we continue and foster the partnerships we have & the new partnership God's calling us to make? Also, God has given unique gifts to other organizations, churches, parachurch organizations. As a church, Calvary will look at how we partner & come together as the Ekklesia to leverage those gifts for the Kingdom of God. Our prayer for this week: Seek the Lord and ask "God, what have you put on my heart? Where are you calling me to step out and serve?". Is God calling you to serve at Calvary? In your city? Neighborhood? School? As you seek Him, we'd love to support you on your journey. For opportunities at Calvary, visit calvarylg.com/volunteer. If you'd like to meet with someone to discuss or would like us to partner with you as you seek God in prayer, simply email info@calvarylg.com and we'd love to come alongside you!

Foundations for our Future | Aug 29, 2021

This morning, we looked at both Luke 10 and Acts 19 to see how the early church evangelized. While there was a lot of information in today's message, a key takeaway is a new term that was used and its meaning: "person of peace." A person of peace is someone who God has prepared to respond positively to the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom of God. Biblical examples of such individuals include the woman at the well in John 4, Cornelius in Acts 10, or Lydia in Acts 16. Persons of peace are people in culture who are key in introducing the good news and the bearers of the good news into their own cultural contexts. They unlock pockets of people into which the good news can spread. The woman at the well is an excellent example. After she encountered Jesus and heard the good news, she spread the news throughout her city. John 4:28-29 "Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him." John 4: 39 "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” The woman was a person of peace. God had prepared her heart and upon hearing the Good News, she went and shared it throughout the town. Introducing Silicon Valley to Jesus, requires us to be like the 72, and "go and tell" others about Jesus. To find the persons of peace whom God has placed in our spheres of influence, our oikos, and introduce them to Jesus. In turn, those people will introduce others to Jesus. You also heard today that this begins by you being the person of peace. It starts with each of us and the way we live. We begin by praying, loving others, serving others, and as we do that, we will meet someone who is open to hearing the Good News and is also someone who happens to be connected to many others. God will bring this person to you. He will arrange the divine appointment at the perfect time. Until then, the assignment is to pray, love and serve others, and to be alert, open, and prayerful, seeking God to reveal the person to you. This week, we encourage you to read through Luke 10 and Acts 19. Once you've read through those chapters, read through them again and then sit with God in prayer. Questions you can ask: -God, who is my oikos, my sphere of influence you'd like me to be praying over? -God, is there a person of peace you've already placed in my life? Will you reveal who that is? -God, what is the next step you would like me to take? How can I show your love and step into serving to build your kingdom?

Foundations for our Future | Sept 5, 2021

This week, we concluded our series of discussions with what we are looking for in our new lead pastor. We had the chance to hear from members of our Pastoral Search Committee, Frank Bergandi, Dan Kennedy, Kathryn Pesyna, on both the details of the job profile as well as timing. Based on a prayerful understanding of the strategy God wants to use to accomplish His vision for Calvary, three characteristics have been highlighted for the role of Lead Pastor: Christ-centered, Visionary, and Leader of Leaders. We encourage you to review the full description of these characteristics available by emailing info@calvarylg.com. As has been our priority from the beginning, our job is to pray. Pray for our hearts to be aligned with God, pray for our new lead Pastor, pray for the Pastoral Search Committee, pray for leaders and staff. Two specific prayer prompts Frank provided for this week: 1) Pray God would begin freeing the Lead Pastor he's chosen for Calvary to be here as soon as possible 2) Pray for those Pastors that will not be selected as Lead Pastor. Pray God would continue to speak to them and build His Kingdom through them.