A time to celebrate.

The convention ends today and will spend the afternoon on Mission Beach. I hear they have a roller coaster there! I head home in the morning and I am excited to get back for worship on Sunday. Our Praise team is going to sing. Lori and Adele are going to give us a flute-piano offertory. We are going to commission our Mission Team. The combined choir will sing about the King of Love. Pastor Michelle is going to preach. We are going to com to the Lord's table as one big Baptist family. We are going to have lunch together. It is going to be a day that will glorify God from start to finish. I hope you will be there to greet God!
Cal

Long distance communication

I am still here in San Diego. I heard John Ortberg speak this morning. He is a Pastor from Menlo Park, CA and we used some of his DVD materials for Bible study last year. He was as good in person as he was on the DVD. As a matter of fact I picked up a copy of his new DVD Curriculum and will use it next fall for a Bible study. I am also picking up some other resources that we can use down the road.

This morning I was thinking about how much communication has changed in my twenty two years at the church. I finished the newsletter out here yesterday afternoon and emailed a PDF copy to Sandy in the office. She printed it out and it should go in the mail tomorrow.

I needed some information so I called a few people to get the answers. It didn't cost me a penny because I used the cell phone. Just before the morning session I emailed my weekly epistle to the Norwich Bulletin and to a good part of my list. I did from California this week and most people probably won't even know the difference. Then this afternoon I emailed Pastor Michelle about Sunday's service. I talked to Fred Green about the Praise team's plans and received an e-mail from Patricia Ohlund about flowers for Sunday.

Now all I need is to find someone to set up the pot-luck lunch on Sunday and make sure we have plates, cups, punch and coffee.

Anyway,m the conference has been good and I have lots of anecdotes to use in sermons, blogs and epistles for a while. I'll write more tomorrow!

Cal

Report from the Left Coast

I got a sneak preview into what some of our men are going to receive on May 10th. We are planning a trip to Worcester to the Iron Sharpens Iron Conference. Chuck Colson will be the featured speaker. I heard him this morning and he really makes you think. He spoke about the calling we have as the body of Christ. He just wrote a new book and he reiterates that we need to know what we believe so we can transform the world. I can't wait for our men to hear him.

Check out the newsletter and Sunday bulletins for more details. Today I spent some time working on the newsletter. Sandy is going to try and get it in the mail on Friday. It's a big one. The Newsletter crew is going to shoot me! I hope they have fun.

I also saw the premier of Ben Stein's new movie Expelled. It is a documentary that confronts the fact that Intelligent Design is being blackballed by the liberal media and scientific community. It was really thought provoking in the way Michael Moore and Al Gore's documentaries were. It comes out in April and everyone should go and see it, simply to be able to hear what we Christians really believe and what others are accusing us of believing.

Enough for now. I'll check in tomorrow.

Cal

Live from the mountain top

Today I am in San Diego, California for the National Pastor's conference. It is a great continuing education event sponsored by Zondervan and Inter Varsity Press Publishing Houses. They have a great line-up of speakers and several inspiring and thoughtt provoking workshops planned. It doesn't hurt that it is in Southern California in February either.

I love coming to these events and over the years the church has been generous in providing scholarship help so I can afford to get away. After the first session by Erwin McManus, it struck me that these conferences are like mountain top experiences. The preaching and worship are great. Being here recharges my batteries and fires me up for the ministry we do back home. It would be tempting to seek out events like this all year long, but I was reminded again today that our real job is to be engaged in ministry in the neighborhoods where our churches are.

So I'll be home on Saturday with some new ideas and we can take it from there. I'll check in with a report over the next few days and let you know what is happening. It's hard to believe I'm on the other side of the country now but these photos from the airport and my hotel room ought to prove it.

Cal

Our kids had a blast.

On Sunday night we had a youth group meeting and Fred Green got to host his first of the year with our kids. Up until this point he has been working with the other churches in joint projects. Fresh of a youth leaders retreat led by ABCCONN Volunteers, Fred was anxious to try a few ideas with the group.

The kids got together at 5:00 p.m. and got right to work digging through the Bible to find the ingredients for a "scripture cake." They read the verses and then mixed the elements together and put it in the oven to bake.

Then the kids played a memory game that helped them get to know a bit about each other. That was followed by a game of trust called "time bomb." The kids had a great time. While they were eating the cake they made. They made some plans for future meetings. Here are a few pictures from the meeting.

Cal

A family reunion

I love Sundays at church. Every week is like a family reunion. I think sometimes we get caught up in all the activity. All of us who are regulars at church are busy running around, getting ready for Sunday School or setting up for choir and worship. Sometimes the morning is fairly stressful, especially if it has been a hectic week at home. But when you really think about it, getting together to sing with friends or check in with people you have been with for a while is really special.

I like the people who make up our church family. You do too or else you probably wouldn't keep coming back. Many of us have forged friendships over time. We have been together in moments of crisis. We have celebrated good times together too! The people we greet each week have become a part of our lives.

I think that is why I look forward to special events at church .They give us the opportunity to visit and enjoy each other a little longer. Coffee hours after special Sundays, Bible studies and fellowship events like movie nights and progressive dinners are great times. Hey, even the time we spend at work parties and events like the Tag Sale can be fun because of the people we are with.

So know this. You are missed when you are away. So don't be a stranger. I'll see you next Sunday.

Saying good bye isn't easy

The snow could not stop what had already been set in motion earlier this week. Steve Roscoe passed away on Wednesday morning and today we had his funeral. I was at the Convalescent Home with Jean and Steve on Tuesday. The nurse had called to say that Steve was failing, and I went over to sit and pray with them.

Last night I went over to the house to meet with the family. Jean's daughter and her family had all come in for the funeral. We chatted for a while and shared stories about their dad and grandpa. Then we prayed together.

Today a small crowd gathered at the Church & Allen Funeral Home for the funeral. It was nice, as funerals go. Steve's daughter and two grand-daughters spoke and that helped personalize the service.

I hate funerals because they hurt so much. Maybe that is why I try to remind people of how fortunate we were to know the person who died. I have always said that Christian services should be the benediction, the last good word, on a life well lived. We get together to thank God for our dad or mom or wife or child , that person we are letting go of at the service. We can do that because our faith tells us that their future is already secure in God.

I try to make every service personal as my way to minister to the family. The prayers, the scriptures and the eulogy are all designed to reflect God's love and care for them. I think that happened today and even the snow couldn't stop it from happening.

Keep Jean and the family in your prayers tonight. She and Steve had been together over sixty years and married 59 1/2 years. She is really going to miss him even though she knows it is for the best and that he has gone home to be with the Lord.

Cal