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You are invited to join us for a night of fun & worship.  Amazing singer/songwriter/worship leader Chris Tomlin will be in Bemidji, MN for a concert… hope you’ll join us!

Thursday, March 15

Bus loads at Calvary at 4 p.m. (concert is at 7 p.m.)

COST: $35 — includes charter bus transportation, ticket price & ‘box’ sandwich supper!

All are welcome — full payment due upon sign-up.  Payments are non-refundable.

Sign-up in the church office today or register here online!  Space is limited.

For more information, please contract Kim Adams (kim.adams@calvarygf.org)

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1405 S 9th St

Map and Directions | Register

Description:

The retreat begins with supper Friday and ends Saturday evening. It is not an overnight retreat. It will include break out sessions, a justice market, service project, worship, food and fellowship.

Guest speaker/musician/songwriter Sarah Hart will grace us with her presence and lead us in worship and general sessions.

Registration: $65, Students: $30 / Registration Deadline: March 12

Women’s Retreat Flyer

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The annual meeting will be held on SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 in the Fellowship Hall.  Lunch will be served at 12:15 and the meeting will begin at 1:00.  We are offering FREE CHILDCARE for people with young children, as well as entertainment for older children as well.

An important straw poll will be taken on the possibility of expansion for Calvary, so it is important that we have a great attendance as well as people from different backgrounds.

Read the 2012 Annual Meeting Flyer to learn more.

See you on the 29th!

It is soon Lent. Are you ready to give up?

Historically, the forty days (excludes Sundays) of the season of Lent (Ash Wednesday to Easter) are associated with some kind of fasting—a “giving up” of food. Today in America, Lent is typically associated with “giving up” undesirable habits: drinking soda pop, eating too many desserts, eating chocolate by the pound, buying venti frappa-machi-chino-hooper-whatsits every morning, watching TV, watching football, or sunbathing (note: the last two are hot choices for March). Truth be told, these “Lenten disciplines” have a lot to do with the New Year’s resolutions we made at the gym, and they may or may not have a lot to do with our relationship with God.

Here at Calvary this year, we have a little different understanding of what it means to “give up” for Lent. While “to give up” typically means “to get rid of” or “relinquish” something, there is yet another sense to the phrase: to give over—especially to Someone above you. Accordingly, while we may focus some this Lenten season at Calvary on “getting rid of” specific things, we will focus more on what it means to give over certain areas of our lives to God. After all, to “get rid of” bad habits takes self-discipline, but to give significant matters of our lives over to God takes faith. Any self-disciplined person may get rid of a bad habit; only the person of faith can surrender to God what is truly God’s in the first place.

We are also doing Lent a little different this year: our theme will encompass not only Wednesday evenings, but also Sunday mornings, as well as daily readings at home. Following Jesus’ story in the Gospel of Mark, we will consider various things we do well to “give up” in some capacity:

As in previous years, Lenten Wednesday evening worship (5:30 and 7:00pm) will present the message in the form of a drama, and a kids’ message will offer a take-home object each week. We especially welcome families to worship with us on these Wednesday evenings, and to eat dinner at Calvary hosted by our youth (see below for more information on this year’s Lenten Dinners).

Along with attending to these themes in worship, we will also read at home the Gospel of Mark. We will soon have available two different read-and-study resources: one for individual study, another for family conversation. Both of these resources supplement a reading plan of the entirety of Mark’s Gospel over forty days with questions and activities to foster learning and appreciation of this great story. Even more, we will have some designated times for “Readers’ Conversation & Q&A” (AKA Oasis sessions) on Sunday morning and during the week (times yet TBA) – open to all and anyone reading Mark. …We invite all congregation families and members to join together in this seasonal reading and meditation. If you have never before read a book of the Bible from beginning to end, this will be an engaging time and remarkably approachable way to do so.      YYou can pick up your copy of the reading plan at Calvary, or click on the following link to access it as well.

Mark Reading Plan

Mark Bible Study

Many of us are familiar with ideas of “giving up” sweets and the like for Lent. During the season this year, however, let us consider rather how we might give ourselves over to the God who gave all for us.

I am excited to give up. Are you?

Your fellow believer,

Pastor Troy

Lenten Dinners ~ 2012

This year’s Lenten theme is “Giving Up” and we will be exploring what it means to give over to God what we have (possessions, expectations, etc…).

This year, we are going back to the traditional Lenten Soup Suppers as we journey through our Lenten Season.  A study taken in 2011 reported that there are 925 million hungry people in the world.  In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world, meaning that 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.

What does this mean for us?  Lenten Dinners are generally large scale, with plates full of food and much of what is served on a plate often discarded simply because it was “too much.”  This year, we are scaling back, reminding us that we have an abundance of food…even with a bowl of soup, a piece of bread, and a salad we have MORE than enough. 

So, we invite you to join us in the Fellowship Hall every Wednesday evening during our Lenten season from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. for a hot bowl of soup.  Proceeds will go to support the senior high youth traveling to New Orleans this summer for the 2012 National Youth Gathering.  

Dinner rolls, salad, and ice cream will also be served each week, and pizza will be served for children who choose not to eat soup.

Cost is $5/adult and $3/child.