Embrace Oneness: Pray, Serve, Give

    Embrace Oneness: Pray, Serve, Give is our October theme at CBC!  As we explore the book of Ephesians together, the Scripture calls us to,

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.

(Ephesians 4:3 NIV)

Unity in the church calls for our attitude, our prayers, our service, our generosity and our love for one another.  While all of these are important, as a CBC staff, we feel the greatest priority right now is prayer.

     Thus, we are calling our congregation at CBC to a month of increased prayer.  Every year we have at least one season of intensified prayer in our church.  Sometimes it is in the spring, sometimes in the fall, and occasionally on both.  This year we are doing both spring and fall.  October we are calling ourselves to be united in prayer for His church.

     There are a lot of great things happening at Calvary.  Our Student Center renovation was a complete success.  Our student ministry is growing this fall.  We are seeing people come to Christ and follow him in believer's baptism almost every week.  We have new members every month.  Our home fellowships are vibrant.  Our connecting point is in progress.  Our Wednesday night participation is up.  We are engaging hundreds of people through our community ministries.  Our WIT's feature lunch celebrates its 40th anniversary.  Men's ministry is expanding.  And we are making disciple-makers every week.  These are just a few of the great things God is doing.

     On the other side we are also facing some challenges.  Some of our projects seem to get delayed for unforeseen reasons.  Several of our leaders have loved ones with difficult medical situations.  We have marriages and families who are experiencing tremendous pressure.  And our church is behind on budget giving in a way in which we had not seen in many years.  These are a few of the challenges we face as we move forward into the Great Commission with the Great Commandment.  These are a reminder of our need to depend on God on a daily basis.

     Our staff feels like we really need to pray and seek God so that we stay united, so that the enemy is defeated, so that we don't get distracted from God's mission, and so that God can heal any wounds or hurts from the past.

     We would like to invite people to choose one day of the week where they will have a deeper focus on prayer interceding for the lost, the unity of our church, for workers in God's kingdom, and for the financing of God's mission through CBC.  Some may choose to fast one day a week.  However you choose to fast, or even if you are not able to fast, we ask that you dedicate more time to fervent prayer.

     Additionally, we call on Bible Fellowships, Home Fellowships, Huddles and other ministries to set aside more time for prayer in their sessions together.  It is at the group level also that participants can share more personal prayer requests as we pray for each other.

     At a church wide level the weekly prayer emphases will be as follows:

Week 1 (October 1-12):

1. Unity in the Church (within CBC and across the RGV)
2. Deacon Screening and Nominating Process
3. Children's Ministry

Week 2 (October 13-19):

1. People far from God
2. the Connecting Point Project
3. Student Ministry

Week 3 (October 20-26):

1. Marriages
2. Budget Giving & the 2020 Budget Development
3. ABFs, Home Fellowships, WIT and Men's ministry

Week 4 (October 27-November 2)

1. Missions Emphasis (Provided by Chad/Denisse)
2. Committee Nomination Process
3. Music and Worship Ministry

   We hope you will join us!  Only God knows what He'll decide to do when we join our hearts and spirits together in one accord for the sake of His name.

     What day of the week do you choose to intensify your prayer during the month of August?