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Dear Calvary Family,

In Luke 6:38 Jesus taught his followers, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

The larger context of this passage shows us this is primarily about cultivating a whole-hearted and generous life in God’s Kingdom marked by mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. While this verse can be abused by those whose main motivation is just to get others to give more financially, I still know that there is some form of mysterious reward that occurs as we give towards Kingdom work – faithfully and cheerfully and worshipfully.

I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to all of you for this response in giving to Calvary Church in worship and response to God’s generosity to us. This is also a good opportunity to give an update on how we finished the year of 2024 financially and how it’s going with our Forward in Faith campaign.

Giving to both our General and Reach Funds finished the 2024 calendar year ahead of our budget target. In January, it is typical for contributions to the church to begin slowly, but fiscal year to date as of January 21st, we are only behind $11,000 for our General Fund and behind $5,000 for our Reach Fund. Thank you again for your support of Calvary's ministries here in Orange County and around the world!

The giving to our Forward in Faith fund has been incredible as well. We began this journey with a goal of raising $3.3 million and we currently have received $2.4 million in actual funds and another $850,000 in additional pledges which gets us close to our goal. We ask you to continue giving towards your pledge and considering additional giving to help with cost increases and potential other roof repair projects we have identified recently.

There have been some delays with completing the Worship Center HVAC system with more structural steel work needed than was initially expected and then we had to revise the plans with the city. We anticipate beginning the bulk of the work in mid-February. We are also moving forward with finishing plans to submit to the city for the North Walkway Entrance on the Wellington Avenue end of the campus, which includes the remodel of the parking lot next to the Fireside Room to an outdoor gathering Fireside Patio space and moving the dumpster enclosure away from this main entrance. We hope to begin that work this summer. You can see more about the scope of what’s being done and join this journey of faith today at CalvaryLife.org/Forward.

Our Trustees and Elders provide excellent leadership in all of these areas. We are currently accepting nominations during January from the congregation for the Elder Board. Recommendations must be made in writing to the Nominating Committee and may be sent by email to or by mail to Nominating Committee, 1010 N. Tustin Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and faithful support!

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
Eric Wakeling