Heart and Soul Women's Ministry invites the women of Calvary and the community to hear Jennifer Bauersfeld's story of faith and perseverance as she trained to complete RAGBRAI, a bike ride across the state of Iowa. Join us in Room 111 on March 12 at 6:30 p.m. It promises to be an encouraging and uplifting evening you won't want to miss! Register for the event here.
This Wednesday morning Bible Study is led by Sharyl Jennings in room 111 from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays, starting February 25. You can purchase your own copy of the book on Amazon or Christian Books. Reach out to Sharyl if you have any questions. Everyone is welcome!
About the study:
Lysa TerKeurst knows what it’s like to consider God just another thing on her to-do list. For years she went through the motions of a Christian life: Go to church. Pray. Be nice. She longed for a deeper connection between what she knew in her head and her everyday reality, and she wanted to personally experience God’s presence. Drawing from her own remarkable story of step-by-step faith, Lysa invites you to uncover the spiritually exciting life for which we all yearn.
During the season of Lent this year, Calvary UMC will be joining in an All-Church Study of the book "Why Did Jesus Have to Die" by author and pastor Adam Hamilton. This book, and its connecting study, asks us to consider some of the spiritual practices that we can include in our lives to help us draw closer to God.
Our Sunday morning worship services will be focusing on themes connected to the book from March 1 to April 5. We will also be offering a variety of Small Group and Sunday School classes offering a group study connected to this worship series, and we are encouraging everyone to find a class or group to connect with during the season of Lent (either one you already are part of or one you might join). We will have copies of the book for sale at the Welcome Center on Sunday mornings (beginning February 8) for $17. Everyone is encouraged to pick up a copy and read a chapter a week through Lent.
From Pastor Vince
The end of 2025 brought a couple of reminders of the generosity of those who call Calvary UMC our church home. In early December, I shared an email that the church was running behind our expected financial goals and was likely to end 2025 with a significant financial deficit. Many people responded to that call, the spirit of generosity that is common at the holidays, and traditional end of the year giving; and I am pleased to say that we ended the 2025 at a virtual breakeven point from a financial perspective. Our year-end financial report shows a loss of $2,132 for 2025, but given the size of our budget and expenses that loss is less than .02% of our expenses. Thank you to all who responded so faithfully, and as we move into 2026 please remember that Calvary UMC continues to have financial needs if we are going to fully live into the call of God and live out all of the ministries that we can in Jesus's name. I remain convinced that there is no better place to invest our giving than in the life changing work of God through Calvary UMC.
I also want to share that our Christmas Eve offering at our three services totaled $11,883. We had pledged half of that offering to go to Home Sweet Home Ministries to support their Bridge project to help provide shelter to our unhoused neighbors. We have sent that check, and the Bridge will be welcoming its first residents anytime now.
We need your help to prepare and serve meals at Safe Harbor! Please contact Tammy Carlson (309) 533-6663 or tk.carlson@yahoo.com
We have several opportunities available to serve our neighbors for 2026:
May 1 & 15
June 5
July 17
August 1 & 14
September 4
October 2 & 16
November 6 & 20
December 18
Pastor Vince Rohn and staff of Calvary visited The Bridge and prayed over the buildings and grounds along with other local churches. We learned about the ways Home Sweet Home Ministries will be breaking barriers to help those who are experiencing homelessness in ways other shelters haven’t been able to do so before. Please continue to pray over the 56 individuals who have moved in, as well as the staff working there. Calvary is blessed to be able to support this ministry and those in our community. If you are interested in learning more about Home Sweet Home Ministries or their needs, please check out their website.
The Seekers adult class will start a new seven week series on January 4 entitled “The Way.” We will view & discuss videos with Rev. Don Long, Jr. (Larry & Carroll Bross’ son-in-law) reflecting on his 500 mile pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago three years ago. Anyone is welcome to join us. We meet in the parlor or on Zoom Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
As Home Sweet Home Ministries expands its work with people in need in Bloomington-Normal (including their new shelter village), Calvary UMC is blessing Home Sweet Home with a gift of $50,000! Calvary has an endowment fund that was established to help fund our Good Samaritan Fund, and the requests that we receive for assistance through that fund have not kept up with the income in that endowment fund. These funds can only be used to care for those experiencing temporary hardship and not for any of the church’s ongoing expenses, and so continue to grow beyond our ability to effectively use them for direct grants. The decision has been made then to give this gift of $50,000 to Home Sweet Home as their work also cares for people experiencing a variety of temporary hardships. More information will be shared in the near future concerning how this gift was used to care for others in the name of Jesus. Please know that in this winter season, Calvary is going above and beyond to help care for those in need in our community.
2025 Recap: We took on 118 new Care Receivers, as well as 108 new volunteers! We organized 12,200 events which included providing rides, grocery shopping, friendly calls/visits, home maintenance, newsletter folding, Christmas cards, meetings, and more! We provided services to 397 of our 600 care receivers! Our FIA Office Manager, David Nybakke, retired and Tracy Severns is the new Office Manager.
Upcoming Activities:
- 20 Over 60 Nominations due February 15, 2026 https://bnfia.org/event/20-over-60-awards-nominations/
- Mardi Gras Bingo - February 12, 2026 at Destihl Brew Hall. Currently sold out, but there is a waiting list. https://bnfia.org/event/mardi-gras-bingo-bonanza/
- Fannie May Sale (Shop to Donate to FIA) 307 Veterans Parkway Suite 512 is on March 19, 2026 from noon-4:00 p.m.
- Spring Bus Trip to Mackinaw Island is scheduled for May 18-22, 2026.
- Fall Bus Trip to Boston, Salem & the North Shore is scheduled for September 22-30, 2026.
- Volunteer orientations are the first Tuesday of the month at 2:30 p.m. at the ARC Community Room.
Men’s Faith and Fellowship will begin our new season of study, fellowship, and support of each other on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. We will study “A Disciple’s Path.” This invitation is to review the patterns of spiritual disciplines of Methodism as developed by John Wesley and authored by James Harnish and Justin Larosa. This is a six week study that will guide us to take our next step in discipleship.
We meet at 6:30 am on Wednesday mornings in Room 111, and begin with refreshments and coffee, share joys and concerns, have a video study, and discussion among the group. There is plenty of room for any man that would like to seek to follow Christ more fully by engaging in this study together.
If you would like to participate, please contact Gil Dorsey or Jim Brown for us to make certain we have enough study books available.