Rev. Lori Cornell Pastor	Matt Byrd Interim Director Youth & Family Ministries
Liz Caley Office Coordinator	Dawn Clinton Publications Coordinator
Dr. James Brown Calvary Choir/Bell Choir Director	Tony Willing Church Musician
Deborah Bonikowski Nursery Attendant	Karin Johnson Equipping Ministries
Lisa Lee Nursery Attendant

Interested in finding out more about membership at Calvary?

Those interested in finding out membership at Calvary are currently meeting and will be received into membership on Sunday, February 19th.

Meeting Dates & Locations
Friday, January 27, 7:00 P.M. Karin Johnson’s home
Monday, January 30, 6:30 P.M. Marlise Ross’ home
Sunday, February 12, 12:15 P.M. Social Hall
If you are interested in membership and haven’t connected with this group, please contact Karin Johnson.

Take a look at Calvary's Long-Range Plan

Look at the Long-Range Plan presentation from the January 29 Annual Meeting.

Calvary Church Council Begins New Year
At the Annual Meeting on January 29, the congregation will vote to elect six new Council members. Members may also write in a name for their vote. Upcoming dates for our new Council:

February 5 Council members installed at the 9:00 A.M. service

February 7 Council member social and nomination of officers, 7:00 P.M.

February 14 New Council member orientation, 6:00 p.m.

                  Election of officers at Council meeting, 7:00 P.M.

Church Office Closed for Presidents’ Day
February 20
 

Mission Start Videos These are links to YouTube videos about new ELCA mission starts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK9fdsUpN4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3qE6fFJvWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8fOLGk_b8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm5OYZbqSdg
 

Member Pictorial Directory

A Note from Pastor Cornell

CALVARY’S FUTURE, 2012

There is hope for your future, says the LORD:
your children shall come back to their own country. (Jeremiah 31:17)

Welcome to 2012. It may seem to be a year like any other, but this is a year that we at Calvary have an opportunity: to be shaped by God’s plans for our future.

The words spoken by the prophet (above), capture a time when Jeremiah had witnessed first the destruction of Judah, and then Jerusalem. It is a period in Israel’s history when there was no turning back: the northern kingdom was long gone, and the southern kingdom had become a victim of circumstance (the Babylonians) and their own devices (they had sold out the northern kingdom to Assyria to save themselves.) Things were not looking promising for God’s people.

I spent time at a retreat recently where I heard some pretty staggering statistics: The vast majority of Lutheran congregations are not growing, and many are not maintaining their current membership numbers. This decline isn’t just in the Lutheran church, but in other mainline traditions, and in the evangelical churches too. The truth of the matter is that churches are aging, and younger members are not showing up at the door to replace those who have died.

Hope  But the question is not, Is there any hope for the church? The answer to that question belongs to God, who says, “There is hope for your future.” God has shown us his mercy in Jesus Christ. Christ is the reason that we confidently asserted in Advent and Christmas that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” That means that only one question remains for us to answer: What kind of future will we have?

In 2012 we have the opportunity to begin to shape our answer to that question—to show our trust in God’s assertion that “there is hope for our future.”

Last year Calvary’s Long-Range Planning Team rolled out a 10-year plan for our future together. 2011 was a year of planning, with the beginning of some action: Suzanne Higgins was identified as the Nurture Team leader for Equipping Ministry, to bolster our support to members in need of support beyond the walls of the church. The Council also consulted with the congregation about staffing in the area of Youth and Family and Young Adult ministries.

But 2012 is a time for us to begin in earnest to give traction to our plans: The Council is currently considering proposals for updating our website, improving Sanctuary lighting, possibly updating the Narthex. There are many physical plant and technological improvements that will make our space more inviting. These efforts will improve our space to help us accommodate and welcome newcomers. But while these changes may enhance the quality of community life for those who are already here, by themselves they will not be enough to attract new believers to join us. To truly welcome others requires our hearts.

My prayer for Calvary in 2012, and my personal commitment to you, is to dedicate my heart in prayer and action to welcoming newcomers more intentionally into our community. To do that I will be praying for those who visit, and I will ask our “first contact” folks (who call visitors that have worshipped with us) to pray for these newcomers also. I will ask our Prayer Chain to pray weekly, asking God to open our hearts to make room at Calvary for others to feel welcomed. Our prayer will be that these newcomers grow in their faith and love of Christ, and that we may have a hand in nurturing that. My more impassioned prayer will be that our prayers will shape the culture of Calvary, so that we make room in our hearts, minds, and ministry for new faces.

The truth is that we need God to make us more eager to have others experience the love of Christ at Calvary. So while we are praying for God to bless our church with new friends in Christ, the underlying truth is that we are asking God to change us to be more welcoming followers of Christ. As C. S. Lewis said, “I don’t pray because it changes God, I pray because it changes me.”

May God so fill us with hope for our future, that our prayers may change us into a community that actively welcomes and loves others.

In Christ’s love,

Lori
Pastor Lori Cornell

Ministry Directory

Take a look at this directory of the ministries at Calvary and the contact people. The directory is in PDF format.  If you would like further information from any of the contact people, send us an email and we will respond to you promptly.

We are an Equipping Church. Find out more.

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