Calvary Road Baptist Church

Pastor Sheffield

2009-12-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

Pastor Sheffield from Michael Kleitz on Vimeo.

Living By Faith

2009-12-15T21:59:00.001-05:00

Living By Faith from Michael Kleitz on Vimeo.

2009-10-23T11:06:00.001-04:00

My apologies

2009-08-03T13:25:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry that I have not done so great at keeping my blog updated. This summer has been a great summer for Calvary Road Baptist Church. Our attendance has gone up. New families have joined and at least 10 souls have been saved. A new sunday school class was started with another slated to start in September. Camps went great, as did VBS. We still have the Kentucky State Fair soul-winning booth ahead but God has blessed in so many ways already this year. I want to take this opportunity though to thank everyone at the church for your commitment and involvement. You are a blessing to me as your Pastor and Dawn & I are so blessed that God has allowed us to serve in such a great church.

It's been awhile

2009-05-10T14:08:00.002-04:00

Just thought I'd stop by and post since it's been about a month since my last one. Today is Mother's day and we had a really good day at Calvary Road Baptist Church. We had several visitors and the altars were full. I love that God has allowed me to pastor this church.

The main reason for this post though is to wish all you mothers a happy Mother's Day.

Very funny video I found recently

2009-04-10T00:24:00.003-04:00

2 years have come and gone.

2009-03-03T09:21:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 years now since God allowed me to become the Pastor of Calvary Road Baptist Church. In the past two years we've seen alot of great things happen and have had some great new additions to our church family. In that time I can only think of 3 people that we have lost and all were due to moving to a new area. God had been good. We've also added our new building, the Sheffield Family Fellowship Center. This building went up in only 4 months and has been a great improvement for our Sunday School classes and for our church as a whole as it gives us much needed space. I can only hope that the next 30 years go as great as the first 2.

Sunday is going to be a great week as we will have a special guest with us. Missionaries to Costa Rica, Jonathan and Sarah Robertson, will be with us for both the morning and evening services. They will also remain with us until Tuesday when Bro. Robertson will be one of the special speakers for the Indiana Baptist Bible Fellowship meeting that we will be hosting.

The last few weeks have been really exciting as we've had 7 new members added through baptism and I can't wait to see what God does for us this week.

The year is almost over

2008-12-31T03:05:00.010-05:00

I figured I'd try an get one last blog in for 2008. As most of you know my son, Caleb has surrendered to ministry and I am very excited about that. That being said, I found this video comical and thought I'd share it with all of you.

P.S. Ignore to premise and let your baby grow up to be a Pastor!!!

2008-12-19T14:50:00.001-05:00

Well since our building has been completed I've not done a good job of keeping this blog updated. From here on out I will try to do better.

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is already upon us. What an awesome year the Lord gave us in 2008. Obviously, the first blessing that comes to mind, for most of us, is the addition of the new Sheffield Family Fellowship Center. When we stop and think about all that took place the last few years to make this building a reality, only one conclusion can be made…..God is still on the throne and is still in control. But beyond that there were many more blessings in 2008. Our church has had the best year in our history as far as our giving is concerned. Our Faith Promise Missions program increased by an amazing 45%. Our 2008 Sunday morning attendance average grew by 17% and our Sunday School average increased by 16% from 2007. The Lord also enabled us to see a record number of salvations during the Kentucky State Fair this past summer. We sent 22 kids to camp, 3 asked Christ into their hearts during the camp week and 1 (Caleb Kleitz surrendered to preach. I could continue listing blessings until I run out of room on these pages, but I digress.
Although 2008 was an amazing year, I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in 2009. Starting this month on Wednesday evenings we will have a weekly outreach to kids through our new ministry “King’s Kids”. This ministry is available for all children age 4 - 6th grade. If you would like to help work in this ministry please let me know. Another great blessing in store for this year is that we will be able to bring back VBS which we have not been able to have for the last few years. We will have camps, retreats, youth rally’s, a week of revival services, and our second annual Missions Conference as well. One new activity for this upcoming year that I’m really looking forward to is a “Harvest Carnival” on October 31. This activity will be used to bolster our usually slow Sunday School time from August to November. I truly believe that the Lord will bless our efforts to reach out to young people and give us souls for the Kingdom. This would be a great time for you to jump in and be a part of what God is doing here at Calvary Road Baptist Church.

Mission's Conference results

2008-09-30T00:03:00.004-04:00

Well our Missions conference just ended on Sunday and the Lord blessed in a great way. Last year our church gave $314 per week for worldwide missions. This year our comittment is for $449 per week. We also added Josh and Lani Joyce to our Faith Promise Missions program.

Tomorrow is the big day

2008-09-06T22:05:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we open up our new Family Fellowship Center. I'm so excited to see how the Lord uses this building to help us further His Kingdom. I hope to see you at the services tomorrow.

Here is an external picture of the new building expansion:

Here are a few pictures of our Missions wall:

Our new fellowship hall and gym:

The Teen classroom (This took alot of work but the teens really like it):

The Juniors classroom:

The Primaries classroom (this also took alot of effort):

Finally, here are a few pictures of our new kitchen:

11 days and counting....

2008-08-27T16:32:00.001-04:00

Here's a few updated pictures

Coming Soon!!!

2008-08-23T12:21:00.002-04:00

Our open house / dedication services for our Family Fellowship Center will be September 7th. In the meantime, here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the progress being made.

Finally some interior pictures

2008-08-07T19:06:00.002-04:00

Our building is set to be in use by September 7th. Here are a few interior pictures taken today (August 7)

Finally, some more pictures

2008-07-22T14:21:00.003-04:00

Drywall starts on Thursday

Our entry way from the current building into the new building.

A couple more pictures

2008-07-08T14:12:00.002-04:00

This week the Soffit, Siding, HVAC, and Electric are all being installed. I will have alot more pictures later but for now I thought I would put a few up with the soffit completed and the siding being started.

Back from camp

2008-06-28T15:06:00.002-04:00

This week was our annual Junior Camp and it was a great week. We took 13 kids 2 adults and we picked up another kid from Grace Baptist Church in Bluffton and took her with us. 3 from our group got saved and 1 surrendered to preach (My 8 yr. old son, Caleb). Praise the Lord!!!

When we returned home we found more progress on our building. The bad thing is that the longer this goes the harder it is to get the entire building into one screen shot. It looks bigger everyday. The electrician will be in on Monday to begin wiring the building and hopefully we will be in the building before we know it.

Done for the week

2008-06-20T13:25:00.002-04:00

It rained today and it is very cloudy so the pictures aren't as great as some of the recent ones. I will be gone for camp all next week so I won't have new pictures up until probably next Saturday.

Walls going up - Day 4

2008-06-19T15:26:00.000-04:00

Wow, this is moving quickly....

Walls going up - Day 3

2008-06-19T15:25:00.000-04:00

Here ya go.

Walls going up - Day 2

2008-06-18T14:23:00.000-04:00

more pictures

Walls going up - Day 1

2008-06-17T13:37:00.001-04:00

Not much to say, just pictures

A few more pictures

2008-05-31T13:25:00.003-04:00

The concrete was poured last Friday. June 16th should be when the frame starts going up!

A few updated pictures

2008-05-27T21:19:00.002-04:00

Today, the rest of the gravel was poured. As of now the plan is still to have the concrete slab in by Friday afternoon. Here are the newest pictures

Rain slowed us up a bit

2008-05-24T20:28:00.002-04:00

Due to the rain over the last week and a half, we are a little behind where we expected to be at this point but we should be able to make up for lost time this coming week. The plumbing and the concrete slab should be in by the end of last week. As for now, the gravel got put in on Friday and will have more added on Tuesday.

Moving right along....

2008-05-13T21:12:00.001-04:00

Footings are in!

2008-05-07T13:23:00.001-04:00

Footings went in this afternoon before the rain started. Lord willing we will have a concrete slab down by next Friday.

slow day

2008-05-06T14:01:00.004-04:00

Due to election day we were not able to get the inspector out to check out the work. That kept us from pouring the footings today. The crew was able, however, to finish digging and putting in the Rebar for the footings. Here are the pictures, they will give you a better indication of the size of the building.

Day 1

2008-05-05T22:27:00.004-04:00

Today marked the first day of our new building project. For those of you who aren't aware of what we'll be doing, we are adding a gymnasium with 6 new classrooms and a kitchen. We are really excited and I will try to frequently update pictures throughout the construction. Today was a good day, the weather was perfect and the crew got alot accomplished. We did run into a much bigger "water table" in the soil than we would have liked but not so much that it will hold anything up. When the trench was dug up for the footing next to our current building alot of water started pouring out of the foundation. it took several hours to drain the water table but now we can move forward. Below are a few pictures from our first day.

Footers go in tomorrow, Lord willing!!!!

My new favorite video

2008-04-21T12:45:00.003-04:00

This video is of my son, Caleb, preaching his first sermon at a junior rally. He was very nervous, especially during the opening verses but he did an excellent job if I do say so myself. Hope you enjoy it as well

A sermon from about two years ago

2008-04-08T23:20:00.002-04:00

This is a sermon I preached at my church awhile back. Please read the whole thing, not just parts...... like many do the Bible.

CHURCH MEMBERS WHO MAKE GOD SICK

Rev. 3:15-17

"I will spue thee out of my mouth!" These are the words of the Lord Jesus and our word VOMIT would be a good translation of the word spue. The message is given by Christ to the church of Laodicea. the last mentioned of the seven churches in Asia Minor to whom the Spirit sent messages by John, the human writer of Revelation. The message seems especially given for the last days. The message to Laodicea comes just before the story of the coming of Christ for His saints as pictured in Revelation 4:1. "I know the works," Jesus said. He knows the human heart, and that which seems all well to the casual observer is nauseating to God.

"I know that you think you are well off," says Jesus. "You say, 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing' and knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked."

WHO IS IT THAT MAKES GOD VOMIT?

Not the infidel! Not the atheist! Not the self-confessed unsaved sinner! Not those who deny Christ! They have never been in intimate touch with Christ how can He spue them out? One who is not a branch of Christ can never wither as Christ's branches sometimes do. (John 15:6) NO! It is not because they are cold that they nauseate the Saviour. It is because they are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. The people in the churches, not those on the outside, nauseate God. To lukewarm Christians God says, "I will spue thee out of my moth."

This doesn't mean one can lose his or her salvation. Yet, though a Christian cannot lose his salvation, never think that he has nothing to lose by sin! He can lose the joy of his salvation, he can lose his daily fellowship with his Heavenly Father, his enjoyment over the Bible, lose answers to prayers, perhaps lose souls that they might win, and certainly lose much of the reward they might have had in Heaven.

WOULD CHRIST PREFER THAT YOU BE AN OUT-AND-OUT SINNER REJECTING HIM, DESPISING THE BIBLE, INSULTING THE HOLY SPIRIT, REFUSING TO BELIEVE, THAN TO BE SAVED BUT LUKEWARM? YES!

"I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Christ desired that all His own be on fire for God, filled with the Sprit, but if you are not red hot, then Jesus prefers that you be cold. "I would thou wert cold or hot."

Of course, you feel that it is better to be a lukewarm Christian than to be a lost sinner going to Hell. And for YOU it is better. YOU had rather go to Heaven even though by your indifferent living, your lukewarm heart, your week Christianity you sent a thousand others to Hell! And that is what many Christians really do. If you have truly trusted in Christ and have been born again, you will go to Heaven. But if you are a lukewarm Christian, you thwart the gospel and damn other souls. All some people ever will know of Christ is what they see in you. And what they see in you, many do not want. They see no victory over sin, no Christian joy, no sincere testimony. They see no evidence of a changed heart, no proof of the reality of Christ and salvation to the believer. LUKEWARM CHRISTIANS ARE THE ALIBI OF SINNERS. Lukewarm Christians are double-crossers of Christ, spiritual adulterers who do more harm than good.

Symptoms of the Lukewarm Christian

Verse 17

SELF-SATISFACTION

How well pleased we are with ourselves! Our complacency is, in fact, the very hearth of our sin! If we were burdened by our own faults, if we could see our own shallowness, our own insincerity, our own spiritual poverty. the God would not be so nauseated and disgusted with us. But Jesus said to the lukewarm Christians of Laodicea that He would spue them out "because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." That is the reason He must vomit the lukewarm Christians out of His mouth!

The sin of our self-satisfaction! We have beautiful church houses, we have more modern church equipment than ever before. We have larger budgets than ever before, we have great Christian literature and radio programs. We have more missionaries being sent than at any time in history. In many cases the most influential people in some towns are members of our churches. We are rich and have need of nothing! SO WE THINK, but to God – our smirking self-righteousness, our being so well pleased with ourselves, is an abomination. We do not know that we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked! The truth is our lukewarmness is simply a phase of our unbelief, of our unconfessed sin, of our love for the world. We are so full of self and the world that we have no hunger for God. We do not have a hunger for God and for some reason we do not care!!!

We are lukewarm Christians. And may God forgive us, for that self-satisfaction is the thing that makes us hopeless of God's blessings. We feel we have need of nothing, so we seek nothing and we find nothing! We are not hungry so we do not eat! We're not thirsty; so we do not drink! We are not conscious of lack of power; so we do not seek power from the Lord. We do not even realize how our sins grieve God; so we do not confess them nor forsake them! We do not feel any special need to pray; so we do not pray, we don't weep, we don't fast, we do not confess our sins! May God awake us self-satisfied Christians before we are spued out of the mouth of God, before we are permanently laid aside, never to be used in His service again.

NO CONCERN ABOUT HOLINESS Matthew 23:27

Sadly, the average Christian is really unconcerned with personal holiness. We all want to be respectable people. We want others to think well of us. Like the Pharisees we whitewash the sepulchers, which are beautiful to behold, while most will never see the rottenness and uncleanness on the inside. Surely it is true of us, as the Lord said through Isaiah and as Christ said in Mark 7:6 "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." We TALK a good religion, but how much heart-hunger do present-day Christians have for personal holiness – to be pure in the sight of God, to be set apart altogether and absolutely for Christ? How many do you know today that seem to hunger and thirst after righteousness and have an unspeakable burden to be like Jesus? Probably not many!

Paul himself frankly confessed that he was not perfect and that he had not yet attained what he sought, but because of this Paul followed hard after the Lord Jesus. He said, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"

(Phil. 3:13,14) Paul stated in the 7th chapter of Romans that he was a wretched man, serving the law of God with his mind, but with his flesh serving the law of sin. The key is that Paul makes the confession with an agony of heart and cries out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24) Paul was not perfect, but he mourned over his sins. Paul was not sinless, but he longed to be, prayed to be, tried to be. What could we accomplish for the Lord today if we each had this hunger for personal holiness.

Please understand, I am not saying that Christians are altogether cold on morals. That is not what God tells you. That is not what disgusts Jesus Christ. Christ did not say that we didn't have good morals, that we do not try to live good lives in general. He simply said that we are not red hot about it. We are not cold, but we are not hot either. We are lukewarm about personal holiness.

It is one thing to be an upright, respectable, moral Christian of good character and standing, and an entirely different matter to be a holy man or woman – set apart for God, longing and praying, with heart searching, with confession, with tears, with self-crucifixion, to be free of every secret thought, every touch of worldliness that would grieve the Holy Spirit of God. I'm not saying that we are cold Christians but I am saying we are not Hot Christians. Half-hearted Christianity is an abomination to God and Jesus wants you either hot or cold.

UNCONCERNED ABOUT THE BIBLE
2 Timothy 3:16

The lukewarmness of church members toward the Word of God is shocking. Many people do not believe "all" the Bible. (It's either ALL God's word or it's not God's word AT ALL) It's strange how many people CALL themselves Christians, even Fundamentalists, and yet do not believe certain parts of the Bible, they do not believe that all scripture is infallibly correct. Many believe in inspiration but do not believe in verbal inspiration (concepts vs. word for word). Many think that the Genesis account of creation is only allegorical and figurative, that no fish REALLY swallowed Jonah, or they do not believe that Jesus LITERALLY came out of the grave. Many women when they read the divine commands about obedient submissive wives ( not domineering and sneaky wives) and women not usurping authority to preach believe that Paul only wrote that because that was the way that women were treated back then. More than once I've had church members tell me that they would not follow the plain commands of proverbs about spanking children to make them obey because people tell them they should find other methods to persuade their children to obey. Most of us claim to believe the Bible, but our profession is insincere. We believe the Bible, but not that it is scientifically accurate. We believe the Bible, but not that it is historically correct. We believe the Bible, but not that Christ will literally return in the sky and call believers to join him in the air. We believe the Bible, at least we say we do, but we do not believe miracles are really possible. We do not believe God's promises about answered prayer. We are insincere hypocrites when we are indifferent toward the word of God. We do not take it very serious. Odd are that some off you here today are thinking that I'm taking this too serious. I have a feeling we'll all agree on this when we stand before the Lord. We believe God's word a little but not with all our hearts. We're not atheists, we believe the Bible in general but not in particular. We are partly for it and partly against it. We are not cold toward it but neither are we hot toward it. We have become lukewarm AND THAT NAUSEATES GOD

The Lord Jesus leaned upon the Word of God! His constant passion was to live every moment the Bible says "that the scripture might be fulfilled." He did not forget it in the garden, and it was repeatedly mentioned concerning the crucifixion. Christ died "according to the scriptures" and rose the third day "according to the scriptures". With the Word of God, Jesus defeated Satan at His temptation and declared later that not one jot nor one tittle should ever pass until all be fulfilled.

The fact is that Christians are not interested in the Bible. The average Christian had never read the Bible through. If I were to have everyone raise their hand to say that they have read the entire Bible through odds are that about 1/3 of the room would raise their hand. In most cases here I could ask people what their favorite book of the Bible is and when they answer they cannot tell me how many chapters are in that book.. I've seen Christians start turning in their Bibles and looking for the verse when the Pastor will tell them to turn to the book of Hezekiah or the book of Samson. The average Christian in our country today doesn't even know that these are not books of the Bible.

Christians do not know their Bibles even moderately well. If : Psalm 1, 23, 103- John 14 – and Romans 8, 12 were taken out of the Bible and about maybe 4 or 5 others then about two-thirds of all the scripture that the average Christian can quote would be gone. Christians know more about the life of Dale Earnhart Jr. than they do about the life of Jesus Christ. They know more about Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson than they do about Paul and Barnabas. Christians simply do not know what the Bible says about baptism or divorce or about Hell, it's no wonder why people jump from church to church to church because they don't know which church is teaching the Bible and which isn't. Very few Christians, if marooned on a desert island with an unsaved man, could show that sinner how to be saved. Lukewarm Christian do not know the Bible that they claim to love. Some read it, a chapter a day, read it with yawns, and then have to place a book mark at the place they stop so they can remember where to begin the next day because they do not remember what they read.

"I read the Bible I just cannot remember what I read even right after I read it" I've heard that statement at least a hundred times since getting in the ministry. Yet they remember street addresses, telephone numbers, and names of friends (illustration about baseball stats). The simple truth is that Christians do not read the Bible because they do not love it, they aren't reading it with a passionate fervor. A Christian will read a chapter in the Bible as a matter of duty and then read through the entire newspaper, equal in volume to about 2 books. They read the Bible because of duty and read the newspaper because they enjoy it. The sad truth is that we have no heart for the Bible. We do not love it, we do not search it, we do not meditate in it day and night. It is not to us 'sweeter than honey or the honeycomb' as it was to David. Surely nothing could show our backslidden state more quickly than our attitude toward the Bible. Prosperity and success in everything we say and do is promised to one who meditates day and night in the Word of God and does not depart from it's teachings. (Ps. 1 and Josh 1:8). Yet people read the Bible as a drudgery or not at all. Surely God is grieved and angry with us for this criminal and inexcusable indifference toward the holy Word of God!!!

COLDHEARTED PRAYERS James 1:6-7

Do Christian "mean it" when they pray? Evidently most of us do not. We have very weak prayer lives these days. We have prayer without fasting, prayer without supplication, prayers without tears. Most Christians have never prayed all night nor all day. Most Christians never missed a meal or a days work to pray. We are skeptics about prayer. Very few Christian expect God to heal the sick in answer to prayer. We call the doctor before we call on the Lord when someone gets sick.

We spend very little time in prayer. The average Christian does not spend 3 minutes a day seeking God's face. Those who do pray many times fall into vain repetitions or only praying for meals. New Testament Christians fasted and prayed. The disciples fasted before Pentecost, for Jesus said that 'when the bridegroom is taken away then shall they fast'. The Christians at Antioch fasted and prayed before they sent Paul and Barnabas one their missionary journey. In fact it says in Acts 13 that they fasted and prayed twice. The Bible says that Paul was "in fastings often". Even the Pharisees fasted. But fasting seems to be out of date with many Christians. We pray without fasting, we give without true sacrifice, we witness without tears, that is why we are reaping without sowing.

We do not love prayer, we spend little time in prayer, we do not expect blessings in prayer. No wonder the Lord Jesus counts our weak praying, half-hearted, insincere, dry-eyed praying as an abomination!

Conclusion

The sad fact is this and the bottom line is that we are not cold, and we are not hot. We love God but with no fervor. We pray, but with no passion. We give, but with no sacrifice. We testify, but with no power. We make God vomit with our lukewarm Christianity.

Will you get alone with God this morning in a time of holy confession, forsaking your lukewarmness, and begging Him to give you a burning hot heart? Will you plead for the anointing of our eyes to see the doom of sinners and weep for their salvation? Will you come this morning and start afresh with the Lord and give your life back to him. I pray that the Lord would forgive us of our lukewarmness.

Going strong

2008-04-06T21:44:00.002-04:00

The Lord has continued to bless and our building project is on it's way. We held groundbreaking services on March 30th and our permits have been filed. Now all we are waiting on is the appraisel to come through and we will be ready to start the foundation. In March, we had three straight weeks with over 100 in attendance. This morning we had 1 woman (Audrey Crick) join the church. God is good and greatly to be praised.

Moving forward

2008-03-05T21:55:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe but 1 year has come and gone since I became the Pastor here at Calvary Road Baptist. Tuesday, March 4th, was the anniversary date and in some respects it seems like it has been way less than a year and in other ways it seems like it has been way longer. I truly love my job and the people that God has allowed me to Pastor.

On Tuesday we received some very good news. We have been approved by the bank to receive a loan to build our new addition to our facilities. Ground-breaking services will be on March 30th and for those of you that haven't seen the video of what exactly we will be doing, here it is.

Great video

2008-02-27T00:55:00.001-05:00

I promise that this video is not about me....

Is there grass on your path?

2008-02-15T13:56:00.000-05:00

Psalms 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Early African believers were earnest and regular in private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time, the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, "Brother, the grass grows on your path."

Prayer is a time when we can be completely intimate with the Lord -- we can share all our burdens, heartaches, situations and life struggles... but sometimes we need to get away into the thicket, alone, and be intimate with Him! The Lord loves to be intimate with us! He doesn't want a superficial relationship of recited prayers -- but a deep relationship with Him -- the One who loves us with a love that is everlasting!

If grass has begun to grow on your path, take some time out and find your way to that spot in the thicket today. God awaits you!

It's been a while...

2008-02-07T20:17:00.000-05:00

Well it has been some time since I last posted a blog so I guess I will give a quick update from the church. This past Sunday we had 1 woman, Anna Goedeker, join our church and this coming Sunday her daughter, Katie, will be bapitized. We are having a Junior Rally at our church tomorrow night. This is always a fun event and a great opportunity to share the gospel with a bunch of kids who are open to the message. Next Saturday we will be having our Valentine's banquet. This year, we will be using our banquet as a fundraiser for our teens to raise money for camp this summer.

Attendance has remained stable through what is typically our lowest time of the year. Although having several people out each week due to illness or work, we are averaging more over the last 3 months than we have for any 3 month period in our history. I'm really looking forward to the spring season as I feel that the Lord is really blessing the work that is being done.

Be in prayer with us as I have an appointment on Monday with the bank regarding a loan which would help us get our building project underway. I feel our building project is vital in keeping our momemtum going as we are rapidly running out of space in our Sunday School classes.

Gaining momentum

2008-01-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

The Lord has been working in a great way here at Calvary Road Baptist. Typically, November - February is our lowest time of the year when it comes to attendance. Not this year though. We've had visitor's almost every Sunday since the beginning of October. (Not coincidentally, that is when we moved our visitation to Saturday and our visitation participation went from 4 to 14 on average). In membership we've added 7 new members in this time and attendance for Sunday School has gone up by over 20% and Worship service attendance is up by about 15% all since October.

Pastor Brian Blount will be with us in March for a week of Revival and with all that God is doing during our "slow time" I can't wait to see what the spring season brings us!

2008 is upon us.

2008-01-01T16:37:00.000-05:00

As we close out on 2007 it is great to see the Lord at work in our midst. Last night we had our annual "Watchnight" service and had one of the best crowds we have ever had for our New Years Eve service. We had 5 great sermons, 2 brought by teenagers, 2 by men of our church, and 1 brought by our former Pastor. I was especially proud of our two teenagers, Josh McKinley and Seth Sheffield, for the messages that they preached last night. It is awesome to see God use young people who are willing to submit to the Lord's will.

As we move into 2008 it is important for us as a church to press forward in the work of the Lord. One of the things I'm most excited about in the coming year is our new Discipleship program that we will begin in the spring. "A to Z Of Christian Mentoring" will help to strengthen and grow many of our church members. We will be unveiling the program to the church in the coming weeks and I am sure the Lord will use this program to do great things through our church.

Look out the window

2007-12-17T20:38:00.000-05:00

This was the devotion I read today and I just wanted to share it.

John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

Here’s an interesting fact about American church history that you may not know. Years ago, when the first New England churches were designed, they were built with clear windows rather than the stained glass ones we see so often today -- and the graveyard was usually built in the churchyard, which would normally be seen from the pulpit. Why?

It was so that the pastor could see the graveyard while he preached and be reminded of the urgency of his message! It was so he could be reminded that everyone who sat in the pews before him as he spoke, would eventually fill a place in that cemetery outside the window and ultimately have to stand before God to be judged. Can you imagine?

Back then, the first and foremost priority of the church was to bring men and women into a right relationship with the Lord. What’s happened to us that we’ve started building churches with windows you can’t see through!?

There is a harvest outside! Let’s uncloud our windows and give ourselves to the work that needs to be done! Let’s make a commitment to share the good news with someone today!

Amen!!

Great Day!

2007-12-16T22:41:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day at Calvary Road Baptist. Our children performed their Christmas Program and they did a great job. We had 120 in attendance which is the second highest total we've ever had. (The highest was on March 4th of this year when we had 145 for our "transition week" when Pastor Sheffield retired) We also had a baptism after the morning service. Aaron Scoles got saved on December 3rd and came for baptism. It's always good to see young people follow the Lord in believer's baptism.
Coming up on December 31st is our annual "Watchnight Service" when we pray OUT the old year and pray IN the new year. Services will begin at 8 p.m. Josh McKinley, Seth Sheffield, Pastor Sheffield, Richard Howard, and Randy O'Brien will all be speaking and we will be having a pitch-in dinner. We will be starting a new annual tradition this year with a video yearbook. Every year we will make a video with pictures and video clips from church activities of that year. I'm sure the picture of Brother Henson in the blonde wig will make it's way in the video. lol

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

2007-12-08T01:10:00.000-05:00

This month will be a busy one at Calvary Road Baptist (as are most months lately). The ladies will be having their annual Christmas Ladies Meeting on Saturday the 8th. (1:30 - 4:00 p.m.), the Men's Prayer Breakfast will be on the 15th, the Children's Christmas Program will be Sunday Morning (11 a.m.) on the 16th, Evangelist Bob Hamblin will be with us on the 19th, (6:30 p.m.), and finally we will be having our watch night service on the 31st (8:00 - Midnight). whew, catch your breath after reading all that.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the "spirit" of Christmas, that we easily forget the "reason" for Christmas. I know, I know, you've heard this speach before, but now, more than ever, we need to be reminded that Christmas is not about presents, but about a Person - Jesus Christ.

This Christmas will be the first one since my uncle Gary passed away. My uncle and I were very close for many years and I know that he is now getting to celebrate Christ's birthday with Christ Himself. Praise the Lord! Aside from the sadness of having Christmas this year without uncle Gary, I'm very excited because I drew my grandma's name for Christmas and I got her the perfect gift. She never gets online so I can share it here.(but if anyone tells her, you'll answer to me) She is a lifelong Kentucky basketball fan and I happened to luck into two tickets for the Kentucky vs. Louisville game in January. She is only getting one of those tickets (she doesn't get a choice - I'm going to the game with her). Not only am I looking forward to giving this gift to her and seeing her face when she opens it, but I'm also excited about spending the day with her in Lexington at the game. My grandma has been one of the most positive influence's in my life. I know I would not be a Pastor today if it were not for her. It has been very difficult for her since my uncle passed away and hopefully (at least for one day) she'll be able to enjoy herself.

Great day

2007-11-26T16:31:00.000-05:00

We had another great day here at Calvary Road Baptist Church yesterday as our Pastor Emeritus, Wade Sheffield, preached during the morning service. We had a family of 4 join the church and many came to the altar during the invitation. The family that joined (John, Denise, Dustin, and Kayla Abbott) comes to us from Cornerstone Baptist Church in Hanover, Indiana. They recently moved to New Albany and I believe they will be a great addition to the church.

If you haven't been attending our Sunday Evening services I want to encourage you to join with us as we continue with our series of lessons focusing on the family. "Hook, Line, and Sinker" is the title of the series and if you have missed these lessons I believe you have missed a blessing. I am working on getting the series of lessons put on cd's that we can hopefully make available once the series is complete.

This coming Sunday we will have a special guest with us. Bro. Roy Trimble, formerly of the Southern Gospel Quartet 'The Cathedrals' will be with us during the evening service. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!!

Check out my latest additon from The Pastor's Desk

November 21, 2007

2007-11-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

Well this past Sunday was a great day. We had two Bapitized (both recently saved) and another (Ron Dixon) joined our church family. We had 91 in attendance which is a great number for us. We also had several who were out for a variety of reasons. Tonight will be the first sermon for Josh McKinley and Seth Sheffield. We should have a great crowd tonight and I hope you are one of them. I know that it will be a great encouragment to these two young men if the church was full tonight.

Here is a funny video that a fellow pastor (thanks Dave) posted on his blog awhile back and if you've ever counseled anyone you will understand how he feels.

November 16, 2007

2007-11-16T19:35:00.000-05:00

Today I had the opportunity to preach at a funeral for a longtime family friend. Although it was a sad thing to see him go, there were 9 souls saved at the funeral. PRAISE THE LORD!!! It is so awesome to see God use the foolishness of preaching to see people get saved. Sunday will be a big day here at Calvary Road Baptist Church. We will be having two people baptized (Tonya George and her son Allen) as well as having our annual Thanksgiving Dinner after the morning service. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Welcome

2007-11-14T12:36:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the blog of Pastor Mike Kleitz from Calvary Road Baptist Church in New Albany, Indiana. I will periodically post here to update you on the goings on at Calvary Road Baptist. I hope you find this blog enjoyable and helpful. I will write more later, I'm just hoping to actually figure this out and get it posted for now.