New Song Devo: He Will Hold Me Fast

This tune has been around for a while now, gaining popularity as a modern hymn. I first heard it at a conference a few years ago, singing in a crowd of several thousand voices, and was struck by the sense of peacefulness it brought. Strong themes of God’s sovereignty and great love seemed to envelop the room and rest over each one present, their confidence growing as together they were reminded of the character of this God they worshiped.

One of the first times I fully felt the weight of God’s love for me was when a close friend challenged me in the midst of a season of great self-doubt by saying, “Jesus paid the highest cost to hold your heart – don’t you think you can trust him with it?” 

What a great way to sum up the Christian walk! Am I willing to trust Christ to lead my life? My emotions, my fears, my choices? If his love for me is so great that he was willing to take on the wrath of God and be murdered instead of me (Isaiah 53:4-5), is he not worth trusting? If he is one with God the Father (John 17:21), the creator of everything seen and unseen (Gen 1) who knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), does he not hold my life in his hands for the purpose of his glory?

I don’t think it’s accidental that the songwriter chose to put the lyric He will hold me fast practically every other line. How greatly we need to be reminded of this truth! 

When my faith is weak and I’m consumed with self-doubt, he will hold me fast. 
When I’m overcome with worry about current events, he will hold me fast.
When temptation seems like it’s going to win again, he will hold me fast.
When the cloud of depression hangs heavy in the air, he will hold me fast.
When my family seems to be falling apart, he will hold me fast.
When I one day leave this life behind, he will hold me fast.

As we prepare to worship together with this song on Sunday, I encourage you to meditate on the lyrics and corresponding Scripture passages and to listen to the recording. May you be strengthened and encouraged as you are reminded of the faithfulness and love of our sovereign God. I look forward to worshiping together this Sunday!

Emma Prong


Verse 1

When I fear my faith will fail
Christ will hold me fast
When the tempter would prevail
He will hold me fast
I could never keep my hold
Through life's fearful path
For my love is often cold
He must hold me fast

Chorus
He will hold me fast
He will hold me fast
For my Savior loves me so
He will hold me fast

Verse 2

Those He saves are His delight
Christ will hold me fast
Precious in His holy sight
He will hold me fast
He'll not let my soul be lost
His Promises shall last
Bought by Him at such a cost
He will hold me fast

Verse 3

For my life He bled and died
Christ will hold me fast
Justice has been satisfied
He will hold me fast
Raised with Him to endless life
He will hold me fast
Till our faith is turned to sight
When He comes at last

CCLI Song # 7016161
Ada Ruth Habershon | Matthew Merker
© 2013 Getty Music Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
Matthew Merker Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
For use solely with the SongSelect®. Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 702888

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7 (CSB)

The Lord delights in those who fear him,
    who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Psalm 147:11 (NIV)

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NIV)

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV)

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25 (NIV)

New Song Devo: Give Us Your Heart

Give Us Your Heart Devo

When “Give Us Your Heart” first played on a new Spotify album I was streaming, I didn’t think much of it. The lead vocalist had a nice voice, the melody had a nice hook. It was another nice song in the midst of many other nice songs. But as I re-listened to that particular album over the new few weeks, the lyrics started to catch my attention. 

// oh give us Your heart / let the light of heaven shine / as we step into the dark //

Isn’t this just the epitome of discipleship? As Jesus followers, isn’t our highest calling to declare His glory? Not just by singing praises in the comfort of our church walls (though this is a very important thing as well), but by living day-to-day, week-to-week with a heart like Jesus? Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” 

// all to see Your kingdom come and death depart / oh give us Your heart //

As a staff team, we’ve been working through a study on missional living where we’ve explored the idea of mission as simply declaring the rule and reign of God – in the way we treat people we know and don’t know, the way we handle our finances, the way we spend our free time, mission influences everything we do. This song seemed to reinforce that idea for me – a cry to become more like Jesus and live in a way that declares God’s kingdom already here and yet to come. This was something we needed to be singing at Calvary.

I especially love that this song is an ask. It’s not a statement of having already arrived or achieved perfection. The verses give us a reminder of the heart of God, while the chorus and bridge remind us of our goal. And woven all throughout is the prayer, “make us like You Lord”. Philippians 3:12 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

As you prepare to worship as a church family this week, I’d encourage you to take a listen to the recording of “Give Us Your Heart”, either through the video linked below or on our “This Sunday At Calvary” Spotify playlist. The song lyrics, as well as some corresponding Scriptures are listed below for use in your personal worship time. It’s my prayer that your heart would be softened to this challenge throughout the week so that when we come together as a family your worship would be authentic, genuine, and that you would be energized by sharing in that worship with others. I look forward to our time of worship together on Sunday! 

– Emma Prong

Give Us Your Heart

Verse 1

Your eyes are on the lowly though others look away
Your feet run to the broken, Your hands are quick to save
Make us like You Lord

Verse 2

You walk with the forgotten and offer them a home
Adopting the unwanted and calling them Your own
Make us like You Lord

Chorus

O give us Your heart, O give us Your heart
Let the light of heaven shine as we step into the dark
O give us Your heart, O give us Your heart
All to see Your kingdom come and death depart
O give us Your heart
O give us Your heart

Bridge

Let justice flow like a river in the desert
Let the nations know that You will reign forever
As the earth beholds the glory of the Savior
Let justice flow

2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Amos 5:24
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Ephesians 1:4-6
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

CCLI Song # 7080403
Jake Richards | Jordan Merritt | Melanie Tierce | The Emerging Sound
© 2016 Tent Peg Music (div. of New Nation Music [Admin. by Music Services, Inc.])
The Emerging Sound Publishing (div. of New Nation Music [Admin. by Music Services, Inc.])
For use solely with the SongSelect®. Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 702888

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Calvary's 2019 Year in Review

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Thank You For 2019!

As the calendar turns this week and we look forward to the start of a new year, we want to thank you for partnering with us throughout a great year of ministry in 2019. Through weekly worship services, family events and activities, and outreach initiatives, we’ve continued in our effort to help people follow Jesus together. We are so grateful for your generous investment of time and resources that makes this possible.

In case you missed it, we’ve put together a year-end booklet that highlights the impact your partnership has had over the past year. It also provides a glimpse at how a year-end special gift could empower us to go further in impacting the lives of people here in our local community and around the world. You can take a look at this special booklet below.

As we approach our 87th year of existence in 2020, we are excited and expectant to see what God will do in and through us for His glory. We’ve seen His faithfulness year after year, generation after generation, and are so thankful for your continued partnership in the ministry of Calvary Baptist Church.

On behalf of our staff and leadership teams here at Calvary, thank you, and happy new year!

Christmas Worship Choir

We are recruiting worshipers for a special worship choir to sing in the worship service on Sunday, December 15. We will have 3 practices: Sundays November 24, December 1, and 8 from 8:15-9:15am in the Choir Room. A light breakfast will be provided and we will teach both melody and harmony parts.

To sign up, please email emma@cbcjoy.org to receive a link for a digital download of practice materials, or to receive a practice CD so that you can prepare ahead of time.

All ages are welcome and no experience is necessary – just everyday people singing praise to the Lord!

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Global Partner Spotlight - York Moore

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R. York Moore serves as National Evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA, and serves on a variety of boards focusing on missions, community development and evangelistic initiatives. As the National Director for Catalytic Partnerships with InterVarsity, R. York Moore is a convener of leaders for evangelism and missions in America. In this capacity, York has helped to start the ‘Every Campus’ initiative, a national multi-organizational coalition focused on planting gospel movements on every campus in America. He lives in the Detroit, MI area with his wife and 3 kids.

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Welcome Our New Community Life Director!

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As was announced at last Sunday’s worship service, we are very excited to welcome Bobbie Lee Barr to the Calvary Church ministry staff! Bobbie Lee has been hired as our new Community Life Director, and her first day is October 14th. Some of her key responsibilities include: 

  • Be an agent of change within our CBC family, helping us to progress as effective followers of Jesus.

  • Develop a culture and oversee strategies that help the Calvary family move forward as “sent ones,” as part of our OUT orientation and engagement.

  • Develop, equip and deploy the body in local outreach, evangelism and external volunteerism.

  • Oversee core discipleship pathways and strategies that help the CBC family advance in relational connectedness, spiritual growth and ministry investment.

  • Develop, equip and deploy the body for and in group/class/community life.

  • Develop and oversee guest services, guest follow-up and assimilation pathways.

Please pray for Bobbie Lee and her family, as she begins to servant-lead at Calvary in this capacity. Thank you!

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Membership Class - October 20th

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If you are interested in taking the next step of partnership with our Calvary family, we encourage you to plan on attending this special class. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of how Clavary functions and how you can become more deeply invested in the ministry. We’ll also be discussing the short book I Am a Church Member by Thom Rainer. We have 30 copies of this book available for free in the Lobby; pick one up and sign up if you’re planning on attending the class.

The class will take place on one night, Sunday, October 20th 6:30PM and dinner will be provided.

Questions? Contact Dan Arbitter

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Have an impact on the lives of children. Join ABCs in the D!

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We are looking for Jesus followers willing to be His hands and feet in the lives of inner city students! Partnering with Central Detroit Christian, CBC is preparing to begin it’s 10th year with ABC’s in the D mentoring ministry. We need people who are willing to be mentors to elementary-aged students in Detroit on Saturday mornings, rotating every other week (about 10 sessions), October 5 – March 31. No experience is needed – just a heart for Detroit and kids! We are also in need of people willing to provide breakfast for our students on occasion and teach Bible stories. For more information please contact Paul Trulock at 734.377.4776 or contact us online!

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We're making a new Calvary Family Photo Directory!

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Come get your family’s photo taken for free!

What to Expect

A Free professional photography session, no session fees. 

View your images after your session and make your selections. 

You will receive one free 8x10 standard print, a printed church directory, and other special offers.

Photography Dates

October 7-8 • 2PM - 9PM
October 9 • 10:30AM - 5:30PM
October 17-18 • 2PM - 9PM
October 19 • 10AM - 5PM

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Kids Club Registration Now Open!

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You can now find info and register for all of our Wednesday Night Kids Clubs at Calvary!

Info and Registration Links for Tiny Tots, Cubbies, Sparks, Girlz Unlimited, and Stockade can be found on our Wednesday Night at Calvary Page.

Have questions about any of our Wednesday night Kids Clubs? Contact Bonnie Varney

We're Hiring: Helpdesk/System Administrator (Full-Time)

POSITION DESCRIPTION

As a System Administrator/Helpdesk Technician, you will be supporting end-users across our Church and School. You will be part of our TechOps team with a focus on providing a good experience for end users. We are looking for an individual who is active in their church, with a positive attitude that enjoys working in a team environment. In this role, you will be responsible for answering and responding to incoming emails, and ticket submissions. Other responsibilities will include managing our servers and infrastructure both on and off site, researching solutions for new and unresolved issues, maintaining an accurate hardware inventory, and other common System Administrator duties.

RESPONSIBLE TO: TechOps Director

AREA/LOCATION: Calvary Baptist Church / Plymouth Christian

POSITION TYPE: Full-Time (40 Hours/week)

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Required Skills:

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills with attention to detail and accuracy.

  • Excellent documentation skills for assisting in the creation and maintenance of an internal knowledge base.

  • Microsoft Active Directory configuration and support

  • HyperV Server virtualization and ongoing maintenance

  • Windows Server 2012/R2, 2016, 2019 Administration

  • Network Infrastructure Support

  • DNS Administration

  • This position is a 40 hours/week position with typical duty on site on Sunday’s, with remaining hours between Monday-Friday as coordinated with the TechOps Director.

  • Confidentiality – This position regularly handles confidential information. Confidentiality must always be maintained for this kind of information.

  • Key attributes and Characteristics: work well as part of a team and individually, has a servant-leadership approach to their work, strong interpersonal skills, collaborative workstyle and customer service attitude, good attention to detail and ability to multitask with interruptions.

  • Demonstrates flexibility and adaptability to changing events and circumstances.

  • Exercises good judgment in organizing and prioritizing work assignments while managing multiple, simultaneous activities.

Education/Desired Skills:

  • Industry Certifications preferred (ACSA, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA A+, etc)

Other:

  • Must be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

  • Prefer the person to become a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

  • Position provides benefits package including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances as well as vacation/time off and tuition discount for PCA. Benefits are effective first day of full time employment.

  • Calvary Baptist Church/Plymouth Christian Academy offers ongoing training and certification through ITPro.tv.

Are you interested? Contact us for more information!

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We’re Hiring! Part-time Children’s Ministry Coordinator

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Have you been looking for a great chance to use the gifts and skills with which you’ve been blessed to impact the kingdom of God? Do you love spending time with children and helping them to learn about Jesus? Do you have a passion to partner with parents and other Children Ministries’ team members to help these little ones understand and become Followers of Him? If you answered “Yes!” to those questions, then you’re invited to consider becoming part of the ministry team at Calvary Baptist Church, in the role of Children’s Ministry Coordinator. We believe God is providing a wonderful season of opportunity for the ministry at CBC, and we also believe that locating His person for that role will be a key part of seizing that opportunity! Take a look at the qualifications, attributes and job functions; if the Holy Spirit is leading you to apply, please let us know!

Children’s Ministry Coordinator

Qualifications

  • Mature and growing follower of Jesus

  • Willing and able to align with Calvary’s statement of faith and vision for ministry

  • Active participating member of Calvary or desire to become upon hire

  • Has completed a bachelor’s degree in education or Bible

  • Has experience in local church ministry to children

  • Able to teach and convey God’s Word to children

Essential Attributes

  • Exhibits flexibility, patience, a nurturing spirit, kindness, gentleness, compassion, humor

  • Love of interacting with children and their parents

  • Ability to work cooperatively with parents and fellow staff members

  • Giftedness in organization and planning

Essential Job Functions

The position of Children’s Ministry Coordinator is a paid part-time position. Specific hours and schedule will be developed with your supervisor 

The Children Ministry Coordinator reports to and assist the Director of Children’s Ministries in the following areas:

  • Serve as the lead contact person in the absence of the Director of Children’s Ministries including Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights

  • Recruiting of and communication with Children’s Ministry volunteer staff

  • Planning and implementation of:

    • Summer Children’s Ministries programming

    • Lesson plans for Children’s Ministries as needed

    • Special projects and programs (Service projects, special holiday projects, etc.)

    • Teacher appreciation projects

    • Teacher training sessions as needed

    • Facility/classroom improvements

  • Assist with special events (Vacation Bible School, Good Friday Services, etc.)

  • Assist in Children’s Ministries mailings

  • Purchase of supplies and organization of the supply room in classrooms

  • Teach classes or substitute in classrooms as needed

Are you interested?

If so, please contact our Executive Pastor Dan Arbitter at dan@cbcjoy.org

Applications for Elder, Deacon, and Regents

If you have been nominated for the position of Elder, Deacon, or Regent, or if you are interested in seeing what is included in the application, you can find paper copies in the church lobby. Digital copies are available below. Please contact us if you have any questions! Elder Application - Available Here

Deacon Application - Available Here

Regent Application - Available Here