We’d like to ask a big favor. We’ve been working hard to keep the bleachers empty on Sunday mornings, but lately we have had anywhere from 20 to 30 people back there. The students see a whole bunch of adults sitting back there so they feel like they should be able to. Can you guys please help us by keeping that area clear (unless you are serving in some way and that’s the best place for you to be). Thank you!

Make sure you check out a few of the new posts over there

We met with the students and parents who were signed up to go to Mexico today to let them know that we have postponed the trip. We haven’t selected a new date yet, but we will definitely let you know as soon as we have! Postponing the trip was a tough decision, but one that we needed to make. If you have any questions please feel free to call the Student Ministries office.

We are planning an in-town community project for Saturday, February 14th.

We are calling all manly men to a manly men meeting.

We want YOU, manly man, to help us plan our manly men’s retreat (for the high school “men”), which will take place May 22-25th.

This manly meeting will be on FEBRUARY 8th in FC-101 at 12:00 (right after Elevation) at Calvary Church. We’ll order some pizzas so you don’t have to go grab lunch.

Come to the brainstorming meeting with:

• IDEAS about destinations for the retreat, ways to get there, ways to keep it affordable (as close to $100 as possible per student, or LESS), ways to make it amazing, toys to play with, mountains to climb up or canyons to climb down, vehicles to drive, food to eat, houses to stay in, forests to stay in, people who know people who own things that we can use, ways to make it the most memorable four days of our lives, etc…

Let me know if you can come. And if you’re the parent or leader of a manly student they can come too. Email me (rguard@calvarylife.org) or comment on this blog and let me know you’re planning on coming.

That was AWESOME!

I think we counted about 275 of y’all (including some students) last night. I thought that the Harris boys did a fantastic job of encouraging and inspiring everyone.

The hard part of doing hard things is actually doing hard things. I think it all starts with the last thing I said at the meeting: just doing something!

We want to be a church that is all about the big things AND the small things. We’ll give your kids a thousand opportunities to do something, but we also want to be a place where they are free to dream about and create HUGE things. I knew about two of the stories he told of students who had done the hard things- and I know a couple of the details of those two stories: 1. Each of them had parents who were applauding, encouraging, and participating in the thing. 2. There was a youth pastor who was doing everything he/she could to make the dream come alive. So… we’re in if you are Actually, we’re in even if you aren’t. But I imagine you are.

A quick question: when is the best time for YOU, as a parent, to attend our parent meetings? Sunday nights? Sunday afternoons? Fridays at 3am? Is it easier to go grab lunch after church and come right back, or do you prefer to go home for a few hours and  come back at 7pm?

Leave a comment and let us know! Thanks everyone.

This Sunday we have a couple of special guests joining us at the parent meeting. Alex and Brett Harris are the authors of “Do Hard Things“, a book that was written to encourage and challenge teenagers to live lives that glorify God! They also have a blog that gets about a billion hits a day. They are in the middle of a nationwide tour, and we were able to snag them for an evening at Calvary with you guys.

Your children are invited and encouraged to come to this meeting! We’ll hang out together (students, parents and staff) to kick things off, and then we’ll split the parents and students up for a couple of things. The students will have a chance to hang out with the guys, hear a little bit more, and ask some questions. We’ll have a brief meeting with the parents to discuss a few things coming up at EDL.

Hey parents!

We still need a handful of drivers/cars for broomball on Friday night. You’d need to meet at the church at 7:15pm and be available until the festivities are over at 11:30pm. You’re welcome to hang out with us during the event or to simply come and go when needed!

Email me or comment right here if you can help out. Thanks!

rguard@calvarylife.org