Monday, August 15, 2005
August 15, 2005
5:52 PM A note from a friend reminded that today is my 16th anniversary as senior pastor of Calvary Memorial Church. August 15, 1989, was a Tuesday morning. I remember walking into my office—the largest pastor’s office I had ever seen—and wondering, “What do I do now?” I must have figured something out because 16 years years have come and gone. Actually they have flown by. I was 36 when I came to Calvary; I am 52 today. But it seems like yesterday. Back then Josh was 9, Mark was 7 and Nick was 4. Marlene and the boys stayed in Garland, Texas for several weeks getting things ready for the move. Brian Bill, Terry Strandt, Bill Miller and Bob Boerman served with me on the pastoral staff. David Brackley was the organist. George Ahlenius was Director of Buildings and Grounds and Pete Busack assisted him. Shirley Banta was the Church Secretary and Judy Busic served as the Office Manager. I don’t remember much about those first days. I wish now that I had kept a diary because it’s all a blur in my memory. I do know that I didn’t have a master plan of any sort. I recall that in the first two months I tried to meet with every Sunday School teacher because that was the Sunday School was the backbone of the church. Beyond that I simply jumped in and things started happening and it’s been that way for sixteen years. 4:07 PM Calvary 500 Update As part of “Church in Many Places” 2005 theme, we set a goal of training 500 people at Calvary in evangelism. That is, we want 500 of our attenders to know the gospel and to know how to share it with someone else and lead them to Christ. Here’s an encouraging update from Pastor Darin Weil:
A few classes finished up the evangelism training over the summer. Our current total is 470. Homebuilders is scheduling their training for the Fall. Lifetrainers will be having their training in September, and I am working on a date for Running the Race. So, that puts us on par to well exceed our goal of 500 by the end of the year. This number is counting only 7th graders and above.
3:44 PM Check out Pyromaniac, the new blog by Phil Johnson. This is one of most visually appealing blogs plus Phil seems to know everyone. You can link from his weblog to the far corners of the Christian blogosphere. Highly recommended. 10:07 AM Just discovered this live camera feed from the Western Wall in Jerusalem. 9:29 AM Today’s entry on the Crosswalk weblog is called Stay at Home and Do the Next Thing. 8:44 AM 1509 miles.