Archive for month: September, 2019
Alex Theship Rosales in Rwanda
/in All /by adminRead Alex’s Newsletter!
Thanks for backpacks!
/in All /by adminThank you to all who helped with this month’s community meal and backpack giveback! It was wonderful to be able to help so many families in our community!
Leigh Loftus faith story
/in Outreach /by adminWhat is your background of church? Where did you grow up? Did you go to church? What was the experience like for you?
I grew up in Granite City, IL. I attended church off-and-on, very minimally, and mostly with friends until I was about 13. My family was not religious at all, and one Thursday evening my mom picked up my best friend and me up from youth group and told me on the drive to my friend’s house (with that friend still in the car) that my dad wanted a divorce. I didn’t blame God, or church, but at that time, I didn’t really have a strong faith, and didn’t really see the point of attending worship, so I stopped.
Can you identify different stages in the growth of your faith? What are they?
At the age of 21, I was introduced to the world of personal development. Another female businesswoman I’d photographed casually mentioned that she had a life coach. I was beyond intrigued! I dipped my toe in slowly, and as I unfolded more of this “personal development stuff,” my experience of life increased. However, it was VERY expensive, especially for an entrepreneurial photographer, so, due to cost, I’d put it off and forego delving in. Every year or so I’d find myself longing for something more out of life, hoping and praying (without yet visiting church) that something could finally work out, that I could figure out a way, in my little photography business to make enough to live beyond month-to-month, or sometimes week-to-week. I’d built a food-and-beverage photography company, and worked with some of the top brands in the world, but I still hadn’t cracked the code to making a sustainable living, and I was exhausted and frankly, wanted to quit.
Was there a time you strayed away from God or the church? Why? What happened? How did you get back?
This cycle repeated from 2009-2017. In 2017, I discovered a book called The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Shovel Shin. It became my bible. For some reason, when I read it, (which was multiple times a week) something inside me changed. I had hope. I was able to believe in the prayers I put out to the universe, but I still didn’t know how I felt about “God.”
The very first time I attended Mount Calvary, Pastor Dave’s sermon addressed equality for all people: White, black, brown, transgender, gay, etc. and the people in the congregation were of every age. This may sound simple, but the sermon was so powerful and so strong that to me, it showed amazing leadership in standing for love in all situations, and that can be a very difficult message to deliver, especially across generations.
When did you know that Mount Calvary would be
your home?
I’m still fairly new to my faith journey and I definitely came back to God and the church in an interesting way but I can say this, the more I practice having faith and turning over my problems to God and really truly letting them go, I experience outcomes and opportunities that I couldn’t have ever even imagined.
I’m truly grateful to have found Mount Calvary and I’m excited to continue to grow with the community!
Interesting links
Here are some interesting links for you! Enjoy your stay :)Pages
- Adult Music
- Advent
- Baptism
- Bible Study
- Blog
- Calendar of Events
- Caller
- Cart
- Categories
- Checkout
- Church Council
- Confirmation
- Contact Us
- Daily Devotions
- Elevate
- Event Dashboard
- Events
- Events
- Faith Families
- Funerals
- Give
- Giving Trees
- Holy Week
- holyspaces
- Homepage
- Lent
- Locations
- LSS of MN
- Luther Park
- MCPlus
- Milestone
- Mount Calvary Foundation
- My account
- My Bookings
- New
- New Members
- Partnerships
- Post an Event
- Prayer Requests
- RACE
- Rite of Confirmation
- Rooted
- Shop
- Small Groups
- Sprout
- Staff Directory
- Store
- Summer Camps
- Sunday School
- Tags
- test
- The Chosen
- VBS
- Vine
- Weddings
- What We Believe
- Worship
- YFF
- Youth Choir
Categories
Archive
- April 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
- October 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- November 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017