Last Sunday many of you heard for the first time that we are considering a makeover of some of our current facility here at Calvary.  Please join us in praying and interacting about this possible decision.  You will be hearing about a special congregational meeting in the coming days.  There will be two purposes for the meeting: Vote on two new Leadership Board members and determine the Lord's will for some facility changes.  In the meantime, we will be working very hard to communicate what changes we are proposing so that you can come to the meeting informed and ready to give feedback.  The biggest piece of the makeover will be an interior upgrade of our worship center.  

What do you think?  In the coming weeks you will also hear some of my thinking (and our Leadership Board) regarding what Calvary could look like 10-15 years from now.  In the meantime, we are working off of the assumption that we will remain in our current facility for at least five more years.  It is in this context that a makeover of our worship center interior is not so extreme compared to the cost of a relocation.  

Please, please, please PRAY as we consider these changes.  Pray especially in the context of many other changes here at Calvary.  Pastor Darin Brown, Debbie and their children have arrived in Rochester.  And Darin has officially begun his ministry as our new senior high youth pastor.  Pastor Dave Genberg and his family are also still so very new to Calvary.  Please pray for these families as they settle in to ministry here at Calvary and in the community.  

You may also be noticing that our pastoral offices are being transitioned back to the south corridor behind the worship center (where they were many years ago).  You will soon notice that a brand new office area will be in the former library just off of the main foyer.  Our reception area and secretaries will be located in this room.  Each of these changes are built into our current budget year.   Please pray for and encourage Doug Kelly and his men as they make these changes.  

That's all (that's enough) for now.  

Yours for the kingdom, 

Pastor Todd 

I have returned from the Dominican Republic (DR).  David Henry, Roy Makosky and myself spent 4 days in the DR last week.  The two of them were doing the preliminary planning for the group of 46 that will be serving the DR churches on a short-term mission trip at the end of June.  I was sent down by Calvary's leadership (Board and Missions Ministry team) to assess Calvary's long-term involvement in the DR.  Our summer teams have been involved in the DR since 1991.  I will be presenting a written report to the Leadership Board and Missions Ministry team in a few weeks.  I will also make this report available to the whole church family.  

The Lord was gracious in watching over our travel plans and our time in the country.  Having gone on many mission trips in the past, I was once again reminded of the significance of getting out of our little corner of the world and being exposed to the broader world.  It is always refreshing to see what the Lord is doing in the lives of other believers,  other churches and other cultures.  The developing world is an interesting place to visit.  The Lord has materially blessed the USA and with that blessing comes responsibility.  Christians in America have been very involved and supportive of the needs of the church in the DR.  Nonetheless, there are many more needs to address as we encourage the believers in the progress of the Gospel in their culture.  

This Sunday I will finish the preaching series in Jonah.  We will be in chapter four with the title: DO WE CARE?  Jonah was a prophet with an attitude and God is a God with a plan.  We finish the series once again raising the subject of the missional heart of God.  God genuinely cared for the lost people of Nineveh.  God truly cares for the lost people around each one of us.  May our hearts be captured by the missional heart and love of God.  Please pray for our time together in worship and in the word! 

I want to also ask you to pray about a number of issues we will be discussing as leadership in the coming weeks.  In particular, we are discussing decisions regarding some changes to our facility, the third service in the Fall, and changes in some of our programming.  We will keep you informed and ask for your feedback as we are working our way through each decision. 

Pastor Brown has now moved to Rochester, along with his wife Debbie and their kids.  Please pray for them in this major move from Yakima, Washington.  Please warmly welcome them to our church family as Darin begins as our new Senior High Youth Pastor.

The book of Jonah is all about the heart and passion of God for lost humanity.  His love for the wicked and lost people of ancient Nineveh is the main theme of Jonah.  This Sunday I complete my four week series in chapter four of the book.  Jonah has a pity party under a vine, while God makes it crystal clear that He cares for all people.  He even cares for those outside of His covenant people, the nation of Israel.  As a Gentile follower of Jesus Christ, I am forever grateful that Jesus did not just come for God's chosen and elect people, but He also came to save the Gentiles.  

This message from the Book of Jonah impassions me to be like God and like Jesus in caring for and reaching out to lost people.   It also reminds me of the strong missionary nature of biblical Christianity.  My desire for our Calvary family is that we too would be missional at our core.  I pray the Lord would give us His heart for evangelism and missions.  This will be the topic of the message this weekend as we conclude our series in Jonah.  

Next week I will be in the Domincan Republic assessing Calvary's mission work.  I will be traveling with David Henry and Roy Makosky.  Mark Harris will be preaching here at Calvary on March 4th.  He will be preaching from John 17 on unity and prayer.  I will be preaching in the DR on Revelation 4-5.  Both of us would appreicate your prayers as we prepare for the proclamation of God's Word.  

 When I return from the DR (we are only down there for four days), I will begin a series of messages on fasting and prayer.  In a few short weeks we will be celebrating Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday (Easter).  Please consider inviting your friends to church during this important time of the year.  

This past Sunday I preached on Jonah chapter two. I read a story at the beginning of the message about a man who was supposedly swallowed by a whale at the end of the 18th century and lived through the ordeal.  Later Sunday night I went to the "Truth or Fiction" website to double check the truthfulness of the story.  I found that the story is probably not true.  My apologies as I should have checked the story before I used it.  I found the story in an evangelical commentary, and unfortunately it also found its way into a number of other commentaries.  I asked the sound technician to cut that section out of the version of the message that is currently on the web.  In regard to the story of Jonah and the big fish, it remains a true story since it is both in the Bible and since God is a God of miracles, regardless of what is possible from a natural standpoint.  

This next Sunday I continue in our series on Jonah and "THE MISSIONAL HEART OF GOD".  I will preach through Jonah chapter three and address the question: "WILL WE GO?"  Please be in prayer for me and for us as a church family as we continue to focus our attention on what it means to be missional at our core.  The Lord Jesus cared for lost people and so should we.  We must be about the business of the Great Commission both where we live and around the world.  "Lord Jesus, give us your heart for the world."