Calvary Church Annual Report AnnualReport2018-web | Page 3

staff leadership team
It is a privilege to reflect on another year of God’s faithfulness to Calvary Church and celebrate
with you the amazing ways the Lord continues to be at work at Calvary Church. This June,
during my annual study leave where I prepare for the upcoming year, one of the real highlights
was an extended time of prayer. As I prayed and listened to the Lord, the Lord affirmed just
how pleased he is with Calvary Church. Reflecting back on where God has brought us during
the many years of our Grace Beyond journey, it was an incredible experience to walk through so
many things that God has done among us and to be able to stop and say thank you, all the while
feeling overwhelmingly affirmed by Him.
One of the passages the Lord brought to mind was Hebrews 10:35-39, which were some of the
main verses for Grace Beyond. God reminded me that he promised to richly reward us for not
throwing away our confidence in him and not shrinking back in what he asked us to do. All year
long we have been reminded of his promise to us when we say Ruth 2:12 as part of our bene-
diction – “May the Lord repay you for what you have done, may you be richly rewarded by the
Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
God also reminded me that like the Israelite exiles in Egypt, he has rescued and sustained
Calvary Church with his mighty right hand. He continues to teach us as a church to pray and
our prayer garden is a ongoing reminder of how central prayer is for us as a church. So many of
us have seen God do incredible things, both as a community and individually in our lives. He
has increased our passion for his church, transitioning the Open Door Project to the Jerusalem
Project to allow us to bless and serve other churches. He has brought godly, humble people to
be part of Calvary. We continue to see the salvation candle on the platform lit on a regular basis
as many people respond in faith to Jesus’ offer of eternal life. God has provided us with staff
and volunteers to work hard and labor among us. He has taught us to grow in mercy and hos-
pitality as we love the foreigner, the oppressed, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner and those
who suffer.
We are in many ways a new church as we have been trying to communicate through the videos
shown on Sunday mornings back in January. Like the second half of the benediction from this
past year, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45)” we are
becoming a church that like Jesus is willing to serve, and to give of ourselves for the benefit of
others. In my prayer time, the Lord took me to Zechariah 8 to highlight what he is and will do
among us. It is an wonderful passage full of great blessings and as we choose to live faithfully
and righteously before the Lord, we will see the great hope we all have – that many in our fami-
lies and community will seek the Lord.
Although there is much to look forward to with expectation, God also showed me that the path
ahead will at times be a hard road ahead that will have suffering, spiritual warfare, and struggles.
But, as we continue to press forward on the path that he has for us, it will bring us to a place of
great blessing and hope. This only increases my confidence for what he is going to do in and
among us in the future.
It is a joy to journey with each one of you,
Jim Samra, Senior Pastor
Pastoral Leadership Staff
Jim Samra, Senior Pastor
Tom Olsson, Lead Pastor
Kristen White, Senior Pastor’s Personal Assistant
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