Calvary Evangelical Church

New Pastor’s Blogspot

Check out the new Pastor’s Blog at www.pastorcecvw.blogspot.com

This new link will enable you to post comments and engage in dialogue with the pastors about the issues, books, theology, etc. as they post.

Now What?

All the boxes are unpacked.  Kids are starting school, utilities are switched over and the cable is on just in time for the World Series.  Our family has been anticipating this transition in our life and now that it has happened we ask the question NOW WHAT?  This happens in our lives all the time.  We finish a big project, come through a trial, or sometimes are just bored with life. 

This Sunday we will be starting a series entitled “Now What.”  We will look at Joshua and the transition that took place in his life and how God instructed him to handle it.  We will look at the transition of the church and what Biblical Eldership is and our response to God’s plan for the church.

NOW WHAT, we will look at God’s desire for our personal lives and the lives of our church family.  I look forward to serving you and seeing God’s blessing in the future.

Chad Chute

These Are Exciting Days!

We are privileged to see this scripture fulfilled every day in so many different ways!  As a church, we have had 90 days of concentrated prayer for our Lead Pastor.  Several folks have come to me throughout the summer stating how they felt God was really working in the prayers of His people as the Personnel Committee progressed in their search.  God in His faithfulness and in answer to our prayers, has confirmed and reconfirmed His leading and His will in bringing Pastor Chad Chute to us.  We are excited for his ministry with us to begin!  We have also been praying for God’s will to be done as we continue the transition to Biblical Eldership.  The in-depth study that the men have been going through has literally been amazing.  This study and the discussion that goes with it will be about 16 weeks in length, requiring many hours each week of preparation.  We have had 30 men go through this study together; some may be elders, some may be deacons, some may be advocates and supporters of what the scriptures teach concerning Biblical Eldership.  All of us continue to grow in our understanding of and love for God’s Word, grow in our love for Christ, and grow in our love for one another.  We are praying for God to choose the men He desires to be the first ones to fill these important roles in the church; and we know that “…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results;” so we can trust that God will answer and His will- will be done.  With much prayer and hard work, the constitution review and revision committee is near completion of the draft of the new constitution.  God continues to lead and guide us, re-shape and re-mold us, make us better structured, better led, better established, so as to be more effective in ministering in His power and more effective in reaching out to a lost world in His name.  These are such exciting days and I truly believe the best is yet to come because God is faithful and He answers prayer.  The key is for us to keep praying!  Keep watching!  Keep expecting God to answer!  Because, “…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” 

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor 

Introducing the Chad Chute Family…

Calvary Evangelical Church would like to introduce Chad Chute, potential lead pastor candidate, and his family - Tammie, Michael, Christopher and Caitlyn, and welcome them to Van Wert on Sunday, September 9 for the Churchwide Hotdog Roast and Picnic at Smiley Park beginning at 5pm.  All are welcome to come and meet them.

Winners & Losers

In the coming weeks, we are going to be studying together about some of the characters from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  The series is entitled, “Winners & Losers - Lessons from the lives of those who followed God or ignored Him.”  I have been looking forward to this series because I can identify with both the winners and the losers.  There have been times when I have listened and followed God and reaped the joys and benefits of doing so.  There have also been times when I have ignored Him and attempted to do things my way and have reaped the consequences of those decisions.  I am so glad Jesus loves me in spite of myself.  In His grace He teaches me both through the following and through the ignoring; through the benefits and through the consequences.  He never seems to tire of me, but is always ready to put me on the path and move me forward.  I know I’m not alone in this.  I have people come and talk to me all the time, about wanting to do right, but really struggling with pulling it off.  Paul even talks about this in Romans 7:14-25a (New Living Translation)  “14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good.  The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it.  Instead, I do what I hate.  16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.  17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.  18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t.  I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.  20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.  21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  22 I love God’s law with all my heart.  23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.  This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  24 Oh, what a miserable person I am!  Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  25 Thank God!  The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord…”  Verse 25 is the key for all of us - “THE ANSWER IS IN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!”  In Christ - even when we act like a loser - He makes us a winner!

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor

The Master Potter

In Jeremiah 18 we read of Jeremiah going to the potter’s house to watch him make pots on his pottery wheel.  Jeremiah says, “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hand; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him…”  He then records a message from God, “‘…can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord.  ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand…’”  What a picture of God as the giver of second chances.  So many times we make mistakes, we make bad choices, our lives get cracks and imperfections and then come the consequences.  We struggle with guilt and feel like a loser.  We feel that God can’t use us.  But then, with His skilled hands, He begins that process of reshaping us and reconstructing a new “pot.”  That’s mercy.  That’s grace.  There is no mistake so big that our Master Potter can’t rework and still make us useful for His purposes.  We just have to be willing to allow Him to take us in His hands and put us through His process of reclaiming us.  It may be a painful process, but the end result - of being transformed by the Hands of the Master into a useful vessel - is worth whatever Jesus deems necessary; because He promised in Romans 8:28, that it would all work together for our good.  Be encouraged!  The Potter is at His wheel - and you are safe in His hands.

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor 

Huge Faith

I am reading a book by Brad Powell and in it he says, “The Bible makes it clear that there are two essential values and priorities that must be invested by anyone desiring success and fulfillment in their spiritual lives and/or ministry.  Those two essentials are hard work and huge faith.”  That is exactly where we are as a church.  We are in the midst of our third time through the “30 Days of Prayer” guide as we pray together as a church family for God to provide a new lead pastor.  It takes huge faith as we, as a search committee, go through the process of reviewing resumes, praying over them, contacting potential candidates, meeting with them and seeking God’s wisdom to discern His choice for us.  It is also taking hard work to read through the resumes, meeting and discussing as a committee, interviewing references and possible candidates.  It takes hard work and huge faith to work together as a constitution revision committee to update and change the present constitution so that it will be consistent with biblical eldership.  We are meeting consistently and going through the constitution, article by article, praying that God gives us wisdom and trusting Him to lead and guide the process.  And it takes hard work and huge faith as our group of 32 men continues the study on biblical eldership; being trained and equipped to be leaders in the church.  The materials and biblical references are extensive and require hours of preparation each week- it’s hard work!  But these men are up to the task and are joined together in heart and spirit as they study, meet together and discuss the Word.  It also takes huge faith as we are praying for God’s Spirit to reveal to us, the men He is preparing from this group to serve His church as elders.  God is amazing!  He continues to reveal Himself and His will as we “step out” in huge faith in Him and “step in” to hard work for Him!  These are such exciting days as God continues to re-shape and re-mold us to make us a more effective church for His glory!

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor

God’s work, done God’s way…

God is so good!  We have just completed the third week of study for the training of elders.  We have a total of 34 men who are meeting together on Sunday nights to study God’s Word and discuss together the insights we are gaining about God’s design for leadership.  It is a great group of guys and it is exciting to think that God is going to call lay elders from this group to be servant leaders and shepherds of His flock here at Calvary.  I am privileged to be able to lead this study and to be a part of what God is doing in the life of this church.  Good days are ahead as we continue to follow God’s lead and pursue His vision for Calvary.  Elders are being trained, the church constitution is being revised, the search for our Lead Pastor is going well and moving forward, and God is in control of it all.  What could be better for His Church?  Continue to be praying for God’s will to be done- God’s work, done God’s way, in God’s power, will not lack God’s supply!

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor

Jesus Is The Answer

Recently, as a congregation we went through a survey to give us a better “feel” for who we are now as a church and what some of the most pressing needs and topics are that are relevant for our people.  Looking over the results presented me with the upcoming sermon series that begins on July 8th.  It is entitled, “Desperate Households.”  Based on the survey results, over the coming weeks we will look at marriage, parenting and grandparenting from a biblical perspective.  All over our community and surrounding area, as well as within our own church family, there are desperate households.  Desperate to know what to do to strengthen or heal a marriage; desperate to know how to better guide, direct and minister to their children; desperate to find out how to positively impact their grandchildren - or how to be a surrogate grandparent to children in their neighborhood who could use some stability in their lives and especially some spiritual guidance.  My desire is to address these issues in our studies together in July and August.  You see, I am a firm believer that Jesus is the answer - no matter the question.  He can and will show us through His Word how to have a strong, committed marriage relationship, how to be a better parent and how to impact future generations for His sake.  I hope you’ll join us for “Desperate Households.”

Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor

Results Positive!

Results of the Congregational Meeting Vote on 6/17/2007….(163) members voted to support the change to Leadership by Biblical Eldership and authorized the Board to take the necessary steps to make it so.  (8) members voted for another option; however, their preference was not supported by any Biblical documentation.