By Brad King, Chairman, Leadership Board

I am encouraged by the response to our recent capital campaign and I am excited about the purpose for the campaign – to position ourselves for future ministry by paying off our debt and investing in people.  I have been reading Ephesians and in that book Paul encourages the church to be all that God has intended her to be.  What Paul writes fits so well with our vision for Calvary. That vision is one of all to maturity, all to ministry, and many to leadership. Below is Ephesians 4: 11 - 16 (NIV)

¹¹“It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.  ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  ¹⁶From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

In this passage we see all three elements of our vision.  All to maturity is seen in verses 13 and 15. Paul teaches us that it is God’s intention that we all grow up and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  In verse 13, we find that God’s design for the church includes all of us (until we all reach unity in the faith …).  We are all included in building up the church as each part does its work.  This means that there is a place for each of us to serve in the body of Christ.

God also provided the church with resources to help all believers to maturity and assist them in finding their role of ministry within the body.  He has given some in the church a leadership role (as pastors and teachers or pastor-teacher) for the explicit purpose of preparing God’s people for works of service.  And Paul goes on to tell us that the purpose of these works of service is to build up the body of Christ.

As I envision our future, I am again challenged by the comments in the report from our Charting a Higher Course steering team.  They very clearly stated that the challenge isn’t forming the vision, it is implementing it.  To quote from their report:

The success of our vision depends on strong follow-through.  Dreaming and writing down positive plans is relatively easy.  Turning them into action requires many people working together in sweat, prayer, cooperation, and persistence.  In some cases, it will require change.   Let’s not make any structure or program a sacred object. Let’s be bold in pursuing what would  honor the Lord and reach people.  Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48, NIV) We believe that Calvary has been blessed by the Lord. We have been “given much.”  Now, let’s rededicate ourselves to using that to meet and exceed the Lord’s expectations of us.

Let us rededicate ourselves to give all of ourselves, our time, talent, and treasure so that together we can meet and exceed the Lord’s expectations of us.

In His service for His glory,

Brad King, Leadership Board Chair