This is an email I received that I found very encouraging. Maybe you will too. I emailed the sender back and asked if I could post. She said yes, so here it is.
Linda is a regular visiter to this blog. She just randomly stumbled upon this place. As always, if you feel you have something more lengthy to share and don't want to start your own blog, feel free to share it with me to share here.
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Hi Regan,
Linda is a regular visiter to this blog. She just randomly stumbled upon this place. As always, if you feel you have something more lengthy to share and don't want to start your own blog, feel free to share it with me to share here.
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Hi Regan,
I noticed on your site, that you had a link to the Greg Laurie book, Upside Down Church. I wasn't sure how familiar you were with Greg Laurie and his ministry in Riverside California at Harvest Christian Fellowship, but thought you might enjoy a few Calvary Chapel links in that regard, not just from there, but also from a few other Calvary Chapel pastors/churches. I attend Calvary Chapel Cary here in NC.
Before we started attending there, God had really put a stiring in my heart about what church is and is not. We searched high and low for a group of like minded Christians that were truely trying to live out their faith God's way, not just the way that was "comfortable" or how they wanted God to be. God did a lot of groundwork before we got there, so that when we started attending, we knew we were at home. It has completely changed my view of church and of what being a disciple of Jesus means because God continued to complete in me what He started in that stiring.
I don't send you any of this to try to sway you away from where God has you serving, only that I felt that you might enjoy hearing and reading some of where they stand....and having a bit more info and perhaps some good resources to look into. You may or may not agree with everything you see there-but before you reject any of it...maybe let it set on your heart a bit and rest it on that shelf there to see what God may do with it later. Harvest Christian Fellowship is a Calvary Chapel, and before you go to the site and perhaps are turned off by the fact its a mega church....truely give it a chance. My first reaction was somewhat negative. I couldnt understand how a church of 15,000 plus could be intimate and good, but a friend of mine that attends there squashed any and all negativity by sharing their story of how the intimacy within the body is found there. What they said, I found within my own fellowship here in NC.
Our church is growing by leaps and bounds. Its not about being bigger, but people are drawn to the simple teaching of Gods word and the lack of all the things that in my opinion drag down a church-distractions, programs, obligations (not speaking of being committed here) etc. Anyhow-Just surf as you like, I'm mainly sending my favorites among what I've found, including the distinctives, what makes Calvary Chapels different perhaps than other churches.
I know I've read somewhere in your blog that you prefer home churches. Our first home church experience was in a person's home. He moved back to Cleveland OH as he felt God taking him back to his home there. Another man stepped into pastoring the home church, but for reasons we do not really understand, we didnt feel that we should stay there anymore so started going to the CC @ cary.
Some churches may feel the need for a building just for the sake of doing what others do....I know that in our church's situation, they only make changes to the building (size wise and beyond) as the need is there to accomedate more people. They dont build on, or rent a new bay just to try to fill it, they do so to accomedate those already there. They do not create programs for the sake of making folks busy, if a program is developed it is because a need already exisits, and it always centers around the teaching of God's word. (we have very few programs btw at our church for this reason) They are so un number driven...they just want to be faithful with Gods word and teach it, verse by verse, chapter by chapter , book by book. People come and are changed when Gods word penitrates their hearts-and a likemindness occurs as well when people put down their own thoughts about God and Christianity and let God direct the path. Once again, Im not trying to get you to abandon where God has placed you-but thought you might enjoy the links and the information contained there . Anyhow....before I ramble more, here are the links:
Before we started attending there, God had really put a stiring in my heart about what church is and is not. We searched high and low for a group of like minded Christians that were truely trying to live out their faith God's way, not just the way that was "comfortable" or how they wanted God to be. God did a lot of groundwork before we got there, so that when we started attending, we knew we were at home. It has completely changed my view of church and of what being a disciple of Jesus means because God continued to complete in me what He started in that stiring.
I don't send you any of this to try to sway you away from where God has you serving, only that I felt that you might enjoy hearing and reading some of where they stand....and having a bit more info and perhaps some good resources to look into. You may or may not agree with everything you see there-but before you reject any of it...maybe let it set on your heart a bit and rest it on that shelf there to see what God may do with it later. Harvest Christian Fellowship is a Calvary Chapel, and before you go to the site and perhaps are turned off by the fact its a mega church....truely give it a chance. My first reaction was somewhat negative. I couldnt understand how a church of 15,000 plus could be intimate and good, but a friend of mine that attends there squashed any and all negativity by sharing their story of how the intimacy within the body is found there. What they said, I found within my own fellowship here in NC.
Our church is growing by leaps and bounds. Its not about being bigger, but people are drawn to the simple teaching of Gods word and the lack of all the things that in my opinion drag down a church-distractions, programs, obligations (not speaking of being committed here) etc. Anyhow-Just surf as you like, I'm mainly sending my favorites among what I've found, including the distinctives, what makes Calvary Chapels different perhaps than other churches.
I know I've read somewhere in your blog that you prefer home churches. Our first home church experience was in a person's home. He moved back to Cleveland OH as he felt God taking him back to his home there. Another man stepped into pastoring the home church, but for reasons we do not really understand, we didnt feel that we should stay there anymore so started going to the CC @ cary.
Some churches may feel the need for a building just for the sake of doing what others do....I know that in our church's situation, they only make changes to the building (size wise and beyond) as the need is there to accomedate more people. They dont build on, or rent a new bay just to try to fill it, they do so to accomedate those already there. They do not create programs for the sake of making folks busy, if a program is developed it is because a need already exisits, and it always centers around the teaching of God's word. (we have very few programs btw at our church for this reason) They are so un number driven...they just want to be faithful with Gods word and teach it, verse by verse, chapter by chapter , book by book. People come and are changed when Gods word penitrates their hearts-and a likemindness occurs as well when people put down their own thoughts about God and Christianity and let God direct the path. Once again, Im not trying to get you to abandon where God has placed you-but thought you might enjoy the links and the information contained there . Anyhow....before I ramble more, here are the links:
(Greg Laurie's Fellowship...Check out some of his sermons online, as well as the Day7 links and the Harvest Crusade links. He did a Crusade here in NC two years ago, and it was quite awesome)
(this above is the main CC link to all the ministries of Calvary Chapel)
(the first Calvary Chapel)
(Jon Courson used to be the Sr pastor at Applegate Christian Fellowship in OR. He resigned that post to his son, Peter-Jon two years ago and moved back to CA to help serve @ Costa Mesa with Chuck Smith , the CC founder. Jon Courson has to be one of my favorite cc pastors beyond my own, and his teachings are found on this site....where he has gone all through the bible.)
(this is a link to many of the Chuck Smith writings in PDF format that you can read online.)
(I especially bring your attention to this one....this is the link to the PDF booklet of the Calvary Distinctives I mentioned. Lots of good stuff in there that might be of interest to you to toss around in your head.)
(Calvary Chapel of Ft Lauderdale FL-Bob Coy. Yet another good teacher of the word. This guy is quite amusing....there are sermons for free listening there....just might take some poking around to find exactly what you are looking for...they keep changing the site on me lol.
(my church)
Beyond that, surf through the different Calvary Chapels from the main site. Interesting part about Calvary Chapels, is that while they all might teach in much the same way, they are all non denominational and independant one from another, yet unified as the body of Christ should be. They each have a flavor all their own, and are each unique. They come in many sizes .
Oh and if you are looking for another good Greg Laurie book to read perhaps, A Passion For God is another favorite among those he has wrote.
God bless.
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Well, there it was. I hope you enjoyed it. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
Watch out for the potholes.
**
Well, there it was. I hope you enjoyed it. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
Watch out for the potholes.
