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My wife Marie and I talk a lot about helping our kids (and us) become “de-orange county-ized.”(yes, I made up this word!). Living in this beautiful and wealthy region, we can easily fall in love with comfort and mistake life here for life everywhere.

As followers of Jesus, I want our family and our church family to love following Jesus more than we love comfort. I want us to feel grateful and humbled that we live in Orange County while not losing sight of the bigger world. So what are some practical ways to be “de-orange county-ized?”

You can begin to allow God to form you into a Global vessel by doing these 5 things…

 1. Become Friends with a Missionary

You can start this week!  We have a Virtual Dinner Tonight (Tuesday) with 10 Calvary missionaries at 6:00pm - SIGN UP HERE

A Saturday Virtual Brunch at 9:30am with 15 Calvary missionary families. - SIGN UP HERE 

We also have a great Family Fun Night at-home kit that families can pick up from our Family Ministries offices this week - SIGN UP HERE

And this Sunday, we will have opportunities to virtually hear from Calvary missionaries in several on-campus and off-campus LifeGroups. Want a list? Email  

2. Pray for our World

I love this quote, “Prayer needs no passport or visa. Much of the history of mission could be written in terms of God moving in response to prayer.”  (S. Gaukroger).  We have several tools to help you pray for our world. 

This Thursday, we want to invite you to be part of our Seeking Refuge Prayer Night in the Calvary courtyard. We will be serving a free Nigerian dinner at 6pm and begin our prayer event at 7pm. - LEARN MORE

You can sign up to receive a text message each day this week to pray at 10:02am.  Text "PRAY1002" to 97-000.  You can pick up your copy of the 2021 Calvary Missionary Prayer Book this coming Sunday on campus.  The book has all 90 of our missionaries listed and specific ways to pray for them this year. You can also sign up at to receive our weekly 10:02 Missionary Prayer Email that is sent out each Thursday.

 3. Generously Give to the Calvary REACH Fund

This past year Calvary was able to send Bibles to Iran, provide Bible resources to Bible translators in the mountains of the Philippines and send Covid relief supplies to Albania because of your giving to the Calvary REACH (Missions) fund. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:21, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If you want to grow your heart for Missions, give financially! - GIVE ONLINE HERE

4. Go Serve Another Culture

Our GO (Global Outreach) Trips have been on hiatus during the pandemic, but future GO Team trips will be happening before not too long.  There is no better way to understand the world and God’s heart for it then going to serve in the world!  Begin to prepare now by getting or updating your passport.

5. Start in Your Neighborhood

Orange County is an incredible place to live not only for the sunsets and beaches but also because of our global diversity.  Did you know that 44% of the households in our County speak a language other than English in their homes (26% Spanish; 14% Asian-Pacific Islander; 4% Indo-European)?  You could begin by serving at Calvary’s brand new English as a Second Language ministry on Friday nights (email Jon Smalley at ) - LEARN MORE.

You could also begin by inviting an international student to your home for dinner by connecting with our Calvary missionaries Jimmy and Chloe Simpson ( )  or Dan and Tami Gonzaga ( ). Finally, you could start by visiting a local ethnic restaurant and getting to know the employees. 

He is the Potter, we are the clay, we are all formed by His hand,
Matt Doan, Reach Pastor