A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF CALVARY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

UNDER the STEEPLE

Building
Committee
Final Report

After a fruitful 7-year

journey, Calvarys
Building Committee has
submitted their final
report to the Church
Council, effectively
completing their work on
the Phase II expansion.

In short, the Phase II

expansion was
completed on-time,
within the budget
constraints set by
Calvarys members. The
project saw many
additions and special
contributions that were
the result of good
stewardship and second-
mile giving from the
congregation.

The full report will be

available to the
congregation later this
month at the
Connections Center and
online at http://
link.connectwithcalvary.org/
buildingreport.

A special thanks to the
committee that saw this
7-year project through to
its completion:

Larry Phillips
(Chairperson), Betty
Dorsey (Vice
Chairperson), Deb
Amdor (Secretary),
Kevin Hoss, Richard
Nielsen, Chad Beaty,
Mike Kreun, Mike Crane,
Nancy Behrens.
Calvary Welcomes Two New Staff Members
Laura Carter
Assistant Director of Student Ministries
laura.carter@connectwithcalvary.org

Laura will assist

with all aspects of
t h e C a l v a r y
Student Ministry,
helping to build
discipleship in our
junior and senior
hi gh s t udent s .
She is a graduate
of Il l i noi s State
University in Elementary Education and
has previous experiences at Washington
Intermediate School and ICC.

Laura enjoys staying active when she

can: working out, rock climbing, playing
ultimate frisbee, hiking, volleyball, or bike
ridding. She loves to to read, bake, and
watch movies.

In her own words:

I already love the staff and from what I
can tell the youth are awesome as well. I
have always had a passion for interacting
with kids of any age and love being an
encourager to those around me. I'm so
blessed and excited to be apart of such a
great church!
Tina Carby
Nursery Coordinator
tina.carby@connectwithcalvary.org

Tina will serve as a part-time nursery

coordinator for Calvary, responsible for
scheduling, training and overseeing
nursery care at the church.

Tina has been a

t e a c h e r a t
Ca l v a r y s K i d
C o n n e c t i o n s
Preschool for the
past 4 years and
has worked in the
Calvary nursery for
the past 6 years.

Tina and her husband, Jeremy, have two

kids, Jackson and Annabelle.

In her own words:

Calvary is my second home, and I have
been here for 7 years. I love to work with
children and teach them the love of
Jesus.
this issue
Calvary Welcomes New Staff P.1
About Co-Pastoring P.2
SPRC Update P.3
Food Packing Fights Hunger P.4
I SSUE 03 | JUNE 2014
Beginning Ministry
as Co-Pastors
By Revs. Randy and Debbie Reese,
Calvary Co-Pastors (July 2014)
Thank You from
Rev. Perry

Dear Calvary,

You are thoughtful and
generous people. The
retirement event you
provided for me on May
4th was wonderful. It was
thoughtfully organized,
incredibly creative, and
very well executed. I was
moved to laughter and to
tears. It meant so much to
have family and
parishioners from former
churches in attendance.

I will never forget the

gracious comments and
numerous expressions of
love.Thank you for your
presence and generous
love gift. Thank you to the
committee and members
of the staff who designed
and presented an event I
will never forget.

I will always feel a part of

the Calvary family. Thank
you for 15 incredible
years.

Sincerely,
Randy Perry
So, youre wondering about co-pastors?

We are, too! However, we have a vision

and a plan about how this will work which
will undoubtedly evolve as God leads us
on this journey. Randy and Debbie are
both elders in the United Methodist
Church. Randy was ordained an elder in
1982, and Debbie was ordained an elder
in 1986. Co-pastoring is a growing model
o f c h u r c h l e a d e r s h i p i n wh i c h
responsibilities are shared in a different
way than they are in a directing pastor or
associate pastor model.

For instance, rather than one of us being

the lead preacher, we will share the
preaching duties. Sometimes well take
turns preaching every other Sunday. At
other times well each take a series about
which were passionate. There will also
be times when we preach a sermon
together. Ultimately, well each preach
approximately the same number of times
per year, rather than one of us being the
lead preacher.

We will each take responsibilities in the

church that we feel are best suited to our
spiritual gifts and beneficial to Calvary.
Although it is likely that we will both have
input into all areas, one of us will take the
lead. At this point, the plan is for Randy
to be responsible for staff oversight,
church finance and administration, and
pastoral care.
Debbie plans to support the areas of
yout h and chi l dr en s mi ni st r i es,
evangelism, outreach, and connections.
Both of us will work with vision-casting,
worship and leadership development. If
youre not sure which of us to contact, its
okaylike any other pastoral team, well
refer you to the person best suited to
address your needs.

Confidentiality. Can a married couple

keep confidences? Weve done so since
the day we started dating! Obviously, our
previous ministry responsibilities called for
us to keep confidences like pastoral care
and counseling, appointment-making
(Debbie made some suggestions...Randy
just smiled!), etc. All pastorsmarried or
singleunderstand the importance of
keeping confidences. Being married to
each other doesnt change that. If
something is shared with one of us that
we believe needs to be shared with the
other, we will simply ask permission to do
so. If it isnt granted, the information
wont be shared.

CALVARY
NOTABLES

May Baptisms
May 11
Braxton Michael Hallead
May 11
Lillian Adele Howard
Mason Louis Howard
May 18
Mara Joy Lieb
May 25
Bria Leigh Hicks
May 25
Clint Tyler Goodman

May Altar Flowers
Bob and Jane Kahman,
In Honor of Liz and
Evans Wedding (May 25)

UPCOMING
EVENTS

June 4
First Wednesday
June 11
Family Park Day at Rosa
Parks Commons
June 16-19
Vacation Bible School
June 22
Reception for Pastor
Grant and Family
July 2
First Wednesday
July 4-12
CSM Reach Workcamp
July 9
Family Park Day at Rosa
Parks Commons
August 13
Family Park Day at Rosa
Parks Commons
What if I dont like one of them? How
do I share with one that I dont like their
spouse? This is a good lesson in
integrity. As with any pastoral team, it
would not be appropriate to pit one against
the other. If there is a problem with one
pastor, we suggest talking to that person
directly as Jesus instructs us in Matthew
18: 15- 17. I f t hat pr oves t o be
unsuccessful (although Randy and Debbie
are both open to discussing the things with
which others might have issues), then its
time to talk to the chairperson of the Staff-
Parish Relations Committee.

We are not only married and love each

other, but we also like each other! We will
make it as easy as possible for all of us to
make this transition as smooth as possible
while helping Calvary grow even more
deeply into the future God has planned for
us.

What are our passions? Among other

things, Randy is energized about growing
the prayer ministry of the church, spiritual
formation, Bible study, and preaching.
Some of Debbies passions are helping
people identify and use their spiritual gifts,
evangelism, leadership development, and
worship.

While Debbie has served Calvary before

(as an associate pastor from 1993-1999),
she is very aware that this is a much
different Calvary than that of the 90s. She
wants you to know that shes a very
different Debbie than the one some of you
knew in the 90s. Weve all evolved,
changed, experienced the ups and downs
of life, and seen Gods movement in our
lives in the past 15 years. Well all get to
know each other as we walk together in
the love and spirit of Jesus.

We are very excited about this new

chapter in our ministry and look forward to
seeing where God will lead us. Please be
in prayer for us as we finish our current
ministries. We continue to pray for all of
you in this time of transition, as well.
SPRC Update

Cal var y s St af f - Par i sh Rel at i ons

Committee would like to provide an
update on the status of co-pastors Debbie
and Randy Reese being appointed to
Calvary, effective July 1, 2014.

In late March, Pastors Debbie and

Randy Reese spent two days at
Calvary and met with Pastor Randy,
Pastor Grant, and Calvary staff. Good
conversati on occurred rel ated to
Calvarys staff structure and goals.

Pastor Debbie will assume Grants

responsi bi l i ti es rel ated to Fami l y
Ministries team and work, both pastors
intend to partner in providing pastoral
care, and they are still working through
details of how the preaching schedule
will be approached. They are already
developing plans on how they will
handle their first sermon at Calvary on
July 6.

Pastors Debbie and Randy have

purchased a home in the Bloomington-
Normal area and have moved their
belongings already (or at least most of
them!).

SPRC has developed an approach for

having Meet-n-Greet sessions where
Cal vary members can meet wi th
Pastors Debbie and Randy to get to
know them better and their plans for
Calvary. There will be sixteen sessions
that take place beginning the week of
July 7 that members will be able to sign
up to attend. These 90 minute sessions
will take place at the church. More
details will be shared on these Meet-n-
Greet sessions in the next two weeks.

If you have any questions at this time you

can contact any of the SPRC members:

Barb Bills, Larry Bross, Kim Campbell,

Mike Crane, Dale Hall, Susan Hoss, John
Plattner, Jay Tetzloff, BJ Wilken, Lloyd
Hulit, (Lay Leader, ex-officio member).
Calvary Packs Food to Fight Hunger
During Mays 1st Wednesday event, Calvary worked with the non-profit organization Illini
Fighting Hunger to put together meals for families and individuals in poverty-stricken
situations. By the end of the evening, Calvary had prepared 11,112 meals that were
shipped out through the Midwest Food Bank. Thanks to everyone who participated in
this exciting time of service and fellowship!

CONTACT

1700 N. Towanda Ave.

Normal, IL 61761
(309) 452-5413
info@connectwithcalvary.org

Office Hours
Monday - Thursday
8am - 5pm
Friday
8am - 1pm

/connectwithcalvary

@CLVRY
UNDER the STEEPLE Issue 03 June 2014 www.ConnectWithCalvary.org
On May 25, Calvary prayed over and sent out a team to serve in Haiti. Please
continue praying for this Hoops for Haiti team as they build the Kingdom abroad.