The Power of Prayer

Prayer has always been an important part of our ministry. From my first days here we had an ongoing weekly prayer meeting that focused on the needs of the community. In the late 1990's we transformed that group into a mid week prayer service. For the first time in twenty one years we ended that long line of weekly meetings in the summer of 2006. Since then we have had regular Bible Studies but their focus has been on other things. Prayer is always a part of the meeting, but for example, now we have a small group studying C.S. Lewis' "Meer Christianity." It is bathed in prayer but it is not the same.

The good news is that prayer has become a more integral part of our worship experience each week. In the last ten years we have had a dedicated time of prayer in the middle of our worship service. People often lift up friends, neighbors, situations in the community and world during this time. Our time of prayer is no longer just pastor led, but community driven.

I am hoping that we will once soon have another regular mid-week opportunity to gather for prayer. Look for an announcement sometime after Easter.

For today I want to lift up a few people for you to keep in your personal prayers; God knows the particulars so I won't go into them here. But please lift up their names before God when you pray in the coming days. Thank You.

Christian Fitchett and his family

Jennifer Marcy and her husband and daughters

Jean and Steve Roscoe

Michelle Lord

Donald Schoepfer

Judy Dupont

Bill Rossoll

The Lucien family, especially Noah and Benjamin

Bethany Stone

Melinda Brick

Robyn J. Choate, Jean and Tom Smith's daughter

Marge Booth

Doris Adams

Bob Duntz

Jim Volpe's dad

Luis Pabon

Michelle Jette

Gary Coborn

Thanks, Cal

P.S. I recently read the book "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Donald Piper and it is a wonderful testimony to the power of prayer. I am ordering a copy for our Church Library and I highly recommend it.

A three day recap

It is snowing tonight and so our activities at church were cut short. A couple of our teams had a practice scheduled and they were canceled. Choir met but we quickly went through our songs for the next two weeks and then went home early. Not before we got to enjoy the birthday cake Gwyn Green made though.

Last night three of our basketball teams played. The FBC Heat team had a great game and they won their third game of the season. The Wildcats stretched their unbeaten streak to eight games even though they were short handed. I want to say that the Young Bucks won, but I don't want to say something to jinx them. I haven't heard how they made out so I will let you know when I get word.

I was in Hartford last night in my final meeting as Past President of ABCCONN. The Executive Committee met and discussed the upcoming World Mission Conference that we are hosting here in Connecticut in September. It is going to be a great event an I hope a lot of our folks will be able to attend some or all of the sessions. I am even going to try and get one of the missionaries to come and preach in Norwich.



On Sunday night our kids were invited to join the kids from Central Baptist and First Congregational to cook and eat Stone Soup and watch the movie "Amazing Grace." Fred and two of our kids took part.

Over the last few days we finalized our roster for the Mexico Mission Trip and purchased all of our airplane tickets. We also secured the final mini van for our trip. It looks like we will have fifteen of us going. I'll write more on this in another entry.

Cal

Our first Open Mic

Tonight we hosted the Open Mic at church. Fred Green and the members of the Praise team offered to host the event a few months ago. For the last year or more the members of Christ Episcopal have done been hosting the event. It is a place where Christian artists can come and share their music and have some fun. Several of those who participate are pretty good.


Our fellowship hall was transformed into a coffee house. We have talked about doing something like this for a long time. Great ideas always seem to percolate at church for a while. This time Fred took the bull by the horns and made it happen.

Next month we are going to host another musical event. We are going to host a Praise Concert for young people. Our Praise team and a group from Rhode Island will be singing for kids from our church and other area congregations. The date is Friday, March 7. Look for more info in our newsletters and Sunday Bulletins.

Whatever happened to Luis Palau?

I continue to get reports from Luis Palau and his evangelistic association. Luis was here in Norwich in 2002 and he was a blessing to hundreds of people. Recently his son Andrew was in Egypt for a life changing festival. Below you can hear a report on the work God is doing through these men of God.

Cal

Prayer and purpose

This morning I visited a family that is going through a very difficult time. I stopped by to prayer for them. The mom is facing a serious health crisis and the dad is caring for her and their three girls. A few weeks ago I mentioned in church that we were looking for folks who can make a dinner/casserole for the family. This morning I talked to the family and told them that Sue Ferguson will be in charge of co-ordinating the efforts. Sue is making a schedule and setting up a rotation. If you would like to prepare something you can reach Sue at 822-6321. This will be a great help to Mark as he care for his wife and family.

This afternoon I picked up a new book to read entitled, "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper. It was given to me by Ken Taylor. It is a great book about a man who died and had a vision of heaven. Then he goes on to tell the miracle of his recovery from a terrible accident. The whole book is an amazing story that forces you to think about the power of prayer. I might suggest we read it together next fall.

I also ordered the curriculum for Rick Warren's "Purpose Filled Life" and hope to use it for a Bible Study after Easter.

As I was thinking about Don Piper's story, the difficulties of this family at church and Rick Warren's course, it struck me that we can learn so much from each other. As we come together and share our struggles and our stories, we can begin to discover the ways that God steps into our lives to bring us hope.

Cal

It Is Thursday at First Baptist

On Thursdays I try to lay out the Sunday Bulletin and get it ready for printing. I pick out the hymns and Sandy makes sure all the announcements are in place. Then we print it. Of course that is how it works in theory. Usually something else comes up that pushes the actually printing of the bulletin back to Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Sometimes we are working on the newsletter all week and that takes priority. Sometimes we are working on a special project like the Annual Report or a Stewardship campaign poster or slide show. Sandy is scheduled to work 12 hours a week in the office but these special events sometime have her working extra hours. She doesn't mind. She can usually skip out early on another day or take a few less hours in the summer. Anyway, after we finish up the bulletin Bob Walker comes in and folds them for Sunday morning. This week we will definitely have it ready for him on Friday morning.

The other job I handle on Thursday mornings is my weekly e-mail epistle. In a perfect world I would sit down and write it on Monday or Tuesday. Usually the week gets away from me though. The experiences during the week seem to add up and by Thursday one or two of these idea percolate enough to give me something interesting to say. This week I talked about the turkey vultures (as some of my readers have suggested they were.) A few weeks ago it was a traffic stop on Tuesday night. So on Thursday morning I sit down and write.

Today was a good day. I completed both tasks. Tomorrow I will actually try to finish up the sermon for Sunday. This week I begin the "I am" series of sermons that seek to describe the many sides of Jesus. This week's message focuses on John 14 and is entitled, "I am the Way." If you want to know more you will have to join us on Sunday.

Cal

A night on the town

I was laid low by flu like symptoms today so I didn't spend much time at the church. I checked in at mid-day and then came out this evening to make appearances at two events. Our annual Lenten Journey began tonight with a service at Park Congregational Church. Rev. Sidat Balgobin delivered the message.

We began this tradition in 1999 shortly after Rev. Balgobin came to Norwich. He called us together and suggested these services as a way of serving the community as a whole. Over the years we have had several different clergy come and go including Bruce Elsensohn, Jim Eaton, Shirley Hoover, Sheldon Keller, Betty Schrader, Bill Frost and a few interim pastors. Even so, the same spirit of fellowship has continued through the years and made this a very popular event. Next week we travel to Central Baptist Church. We will host the service on March 12.

After the Lenten service I stopped at church to catch the tail end of the baby shower for Stacia Green. She was up from Florida and her mom, Gwyn, surprised her with a party of family and friends. She is due in April. Stacia and her fiance Nick moved to Florida last fall.

Cal