I often say that the work of fundraising could better be termed friend-raising. Credit for that expression goes to others, but no matter how defined, the field of development is indeed driven by a genuine love and interest in people. It is also a profound and personal demonstration of faith in God, an open display of trust in His direct invitation to “Test Me in this…”

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The oldest recorded fundraising appeal was written by the Apostle Paul around A.D. 55. It’s an appeal to a group of church members in Greece to help impoverished church members in Jerusalem. The appeal is a masterpiece of donor-centered fundraising, dedicating most of its content to describing the benefits of giving.

When we give to purposes revealed or ratified in our times of honest prayer, some amazing things happen. People are blessed. Prayers are answered. Faith is strengthened, as the seemingly impossible unfolds in a process that is astonishing in its timing and elegance. Even non-participants’ and non-believers’ hearts are pulled in – following the path illuminated by their curiosity.

Acts 20:35 captures it perfectly in a simple and understated axiom, “It is better to give than to receive.” This is Truth, with a capital “T.”

God created such a simple and elegant formula for participation. There is only one thing we can give Him that He does not already own – our hearts. Our true commitments and priorities are evidenced by where we boldly pledge our treasure.

Your contribution to Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary demonstrates your commitment to global ministry and moves us forward from blessing to blessing along a pathway God has clearly prepared for us. Please travel with me on this amazing journey by investing in the lives of our students, their ministries, and our mission.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and support!

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The inflow of donations from honored alumni, faithful supporters, and partner churches is a constant blessing. Often, these arrive unannounced, engendering gratitude, surprise, and awe at how God orchestrates his creation and sustains causes that His praying children lift up to Him. 

From time to time, Calvary has been the recipient of bequests – legacy gifts that are a continuation and a demonstration of a thoughtful and generous life. One particular planned giving gift of several years ago was a great surprise – and perfectly timed to impact our growth in important ways. More recently, Calvary Bible College was the recipient of over 40 memorial gifts honoring the life of a person we did not know personally – but she knew CBC!

Planned giving is deeply transformational, because it implicitly begins with receiving. It acknowledges and demonstrates in unequivocal ways that God’s gifts over a lifetime are not intended to flow to us, but through us.

I encourage you to become a part of Calvary’s enduring history through Planned Giving. Contact me personally at (816) 322-0110 or visit calvary.edu/giving for more details and guidance on how to participate. 

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The north side of the newly named Liberty Chapel is a long expanse of wall space. If you’ve been in this wonderful room for a recent conference, musical, chapel service or other student activity, you may have noticed that this wall is beginning to be populated with the names of organizations with which we partner in a shared mission – to bring Christ to the world and to bring the world to Christ.

We have reserved the main wall in our Liberty Chapel as a space where we can honor mission partner organizations. This chapel space is the primary meeting space for services, conferences, and performances. Mission partner names chronicled here gain exposure to countless students, faculty, and visiting guests throughout the year.

A $1,000 contribution enables us to permanently and prominently inscribe the name of a mission organization wishing to partner with Calvary in this prime location. In appreciation and as additional incentive we are also offering a 20% tuition discount to members and affiliates of mission partner organizations who wish to participate in seminary-level classes at Calvary.

AVANT Ministries became the first to partner with us, and City Union Mission will be next on the wall. We are grateful to these two God- honoring ministries who work to expand the gospel on a daily basis. There may be mission agencies you are involved with that may benefit from this meaningful dedication opportunity.

Contact me personally, Sherry Hilleary, Director of Development, at (816) 322-0110 for more details and guidance on how to participate.

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Recently, Dr. Clark previewed his five-year strategic plan for Calvary Bible College. Within this plan, he described the set of cornerstone objectives for the College, the focus and emphasis that underpins and pervades all that we do.

These Overarching Goals are intended to define and refine us. We are challenged to put them into daily practice, making them an integral part of our individual and collective institutional character.

Calvary’s Overarching Goals

1. Prayer – integrate prayer throughout the campus under the direction of our prayer committee.
2. Evangelism – create a climate of concern throughout the campus regarding the urgency of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days.
3. Discipleship – emphasize the making of disciples as part of the Great Commission in order to create a growing, healthy body of Christ.
4. Outreach – intentionally promote the planting of new Bible-believing churches in communities within the United States and throughout the world.

Dr. Clark’s vision and planning clearly resonated with the audience in attendance, eliciting many comments and email messages of support and encouragement:

“Thank you for sharing your heart, and letting the students see a part of what God is doing through Calvary!”

“I want to thank you for being spiritually focused yourself and then bringing the school with you.”

“Thank you for your solid spiritual leadership and goals for the school. Praise the Lord who keeps us faithful and enables us to do the work!” 

I add my affirmation of these goals and also my thanks to everyone supporting CBC. God continues to bless Calvary through His people and our faithful leadership.

Read more about Dr. Clark’s overarching goals on our website.

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It’s 2013 and we are looking ahead to what this year will hold. Substantial modifications in tax codes and the national economy can seem daunting, especially for nonprofit organizations and for bible colleges. But I’m reminded of a song I used to hear on the radio: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. As a child this song evoked interesting pictures in my 8 year old mind. I remember envisioning huge hands descending from the beautiful, cloudy heavens.

Now, at the opening of another January, another year, it’s good to think upon the truth of that song. Scripture tells us that “He goes before us” (Deuteronomy 31:8) and that’s a reassuring thought as we reflect upon nations at war, difficult current events, and economic troubles. It’s all in His hands.

As we take a look back, we are grateful for every year-end gift we received. Thank you for being supporters of CBC and of our devoted students. Looking forward, we turn to Scripture again and are reminded that “He is making all things new” (Isaiah 43:19). Your gifts are examples of this.

The forecasting groups that we listen to mention that charitable giving was up in the last quarter of 2012 – higher than the previous year’s fourth quarter. We take heart and pray for this trend to continue. It’s all in His hands.

As we press on into this New Year, it’s important to remember that the hands that are holding us are all powerful, all knowing, and ever present …. “He’s got you and me brother, in His hands…” And, we’re grateful that He’s got Calvary too!

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Last month I visited with a number of Calvary alumni in south central Kansas from graduating classes that ranged from 1962 to 1984. I was amazed at how interconnected we are and how our shared Calvary experience unites us.

We often say that at CBC we are family – not just the faculty, staff, and students, but also the alumni and friends we have gained over our 80-year history. Connecting with these friends, I noticed the loving smile or look of contemplative appreciation that illuminated each story about classmates, instructors, and events from their seasons at Calvary. 

Our shared faith, values, and worldview unite us. Our love of Christ binds us together. And the experiences we share with one another strengthen and deepen the fabric God is weaving in our lives.

On behalf of the staff, faculty, and students of Calvary, we thank you for your love, care, and support. We wish everyone a blessed Christmas season. As you gather together, we hope you’ll sit around telling some stories. Savor every one!

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Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m. or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but it may as well be since many people are off work this day. For the last seven years, it has been the busiest shopping day of the year as retailers anticipate moving “into the black” financially when sales are tallied at the end of the day.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, created by companies to persuade people to shop online. The scheme made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a shop.org  press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year.”  This day has become an international success for online retailers in many other countries as well – Canada, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany and Chile, to name a few.

Now we’re beginning to hear about GivingTuesday™, and the mission statement for this new initiative reads: “GivingTuesday™ is a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. It celebrates and encourages charitable activities that support nonprofit organizations.” While it’s admirable to emphasize a day of giving, it seems more reminiscent of the greeting card companies’ propensity to create an end-to-end stream of holidays that are obviously promoted more for their commercial value.

When we really examine the act of giving, we come to understand that, as Christians, every giving decision is first and foremost a spiritual decision having to do with God’s faithfulness to us!

So – by all means, give good gifts to good causes on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. But let’s also remind ourselves that giving doesn’t require a certain day of the week – giving comes as you experience the alignment of your heart with God’s will for your life and his purposes. As I Timothy 6: 18-19 teaches: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it with December 25 fast on its heels! This season, may we all intentionally focus on the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, knowing that giving brings joy!

We hope that you will consider a year-end gift to Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary. We would be blessed and appreciative beyond measure. What a joy your gifts are to us!

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We have added an important program to our capital campaign – allowing you to commemorate churches and memorialize loved ones while also benefiting Calvary in its mission to reach the world for Christ. This is a unique way for your contribution and legacy to be remembered by current and future generations of the Calvary extended family.

Our Naming Rights Program was introduced just weeks ago at the annual President’s Dinner on September 27. With celebration and great joy, the chapel space within our Conference Center became Liberty Chapel in honor of Reverend Tom Zobrist’s dedication to CBC and to his church family, Liberty Bible Church in Eureka, Illinois. That same evening, our Chorale Room was christened the Vander Mey Room, to honor Calvary’s past music director Paul Vander Mey, who continues to faithfully serve God through ministry.

Remaining commemoration and dedication opportunities include the following:

I invite you to become a part of Calvary’s history through one of these God-honoring dedication opportunities. Contact me personally, at (816) 322-0110 or sherry.hilleary@calvary.edu for more details and guidance on how to participate.

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Oh, what a night! The 2012 President’s Dinner was a delightful evening and a big success. Our new auditorium was filled to overflowing – literally, into an adjacent event space. The time and energy that our students, staff, and faculty poured into this annual event paid off in beautiful ways, and they may count it a “job well done!” We send grateful “thanks” to all who came and shared in this remarkable celebration.

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In his remarks, Dr. James Clark celebrated our rich past and the present blessing of God’s generosity in this new expanded college and seminary; an arc from which we can glimpse the amazing future that He is preparing for us.

In His time and according to His plan, individually and collectively, we are being perfected. Yet we often find it so hard to translate the unambiguous progression of God’s work in our lives into a fear-free, confident future.

In the midst of our tension and anxiety, we are instructed “to believe and not doubt,” and continue Trusting God.  The financial objectives and milestones fueling the CBC expansion are considerable. Yet God has blessed us with a shared history that affirms nothing is impossible. As always, our role is to trust Him and to remain faithful and sacrificial in our service to God, to CBC, and to the many souls He has placed in our midst.

Two things are immutable and true: the future God has in store for us will come to pass, and it will be perfect. The tension and anxiety bubble up from our individual decision – “Am I going to be a part of it or not?”

My prayer is for endurance, energy, and strong faithful hearts as we run this race. Please join us in our cause to impact the world for Christ through our institution and the remarkable young men and women whom we have the awesome privilege and responsibility to prepare.

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