Kathy Noel serves on staff at Calvary Church as the Director of Child Discipleship. That means that her primary role is brainstorming and implementing ways that we can help kids pursue life in Christ, which includes coming alongside parents as they seek to disciple their children daily. Kathy started serving with kids when she was just a teenager, and she has a wealth of experience in both ministry and education that God has used to equip her for the work she’s doing now. CLICK HERE to sign up f...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Growing up in an affluent family in New Jersey, Lois knew a world where importance and success were found in flashy things that money could buy. But, even though her parents owned the biggest house and the best car in town, Lois knew those things didn’t lead to happiness. When Lois was a teenager, she witnessed her mother become radically transformed by Jesus, and she wanted that same joy! After making the decision to follow Christ, Lois went to study at a Christian college, where she met her hu...
Nov 09, 2023•56 min•Season 12Ep. 3
When Kyle Matteson was a kid, he really didn’t want anything to do with the church. While he was raised in a home that knew Jesus, circumstances early in life caused him to become angry towards faith. As a teenager, God got a hold of Kyle’s heart, and it started to soften. As he graduated from high school and has navigated his early 20s, Kyle has started learning that following Jesus means trusting with open hands, and allowing Him to lead in every decision.
Nov 09, 2023•36 min•Season 12Ep. 2
Cheyanne Seber serves as the disability coordinator for Calvary Kids, as well as the inclusion specialist for Calvary Preschool. Cheyanne always knew that she wanted to work with kids, but it wasn’t until college that God really gave her a specific passion for kids with special needs. Now, through her role at Calvary, Cheyanne has the opportunity to work with kids and families to help meet their specific needs in a way that also points them to the love of Jesus. Today, Cheyanne is not only shari...
Nov 09, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Chris and Ashley Kresic join us today to talk about navigating discipleship with young children. The Kresics are busy parents, with four children under the age of eight and one more on the way. But, despite the busyness, they seek to live missionally-minded lives that intentionally point their kids, and others, to what it looks like to follow Jesus. Today’s episode is a very real conversation about being obedient to God in every season, even when we don’t quite know what we’re doing, or when thi...
Nov 09, 2023•52 min•Season 11Ep. 7
Twins, Becky and Lizzie, are entering their senior year of high school. Not only have they been intentional to be discipled through their involvement with Calvary Student Ministries, but they have also taken seriously the call to make disciples, both actively sharing their faith with their friends, and serving the next generation of kids in grades 1-4. Becky and Lizzie are examples to us all that no one is too young or too old to live out the Great Commission.
Nov 09, 2023•36 min•Season 11Ep. 6
Cross Training candidates, Melea, Hadassah, and Allyson, each have a unique story about how God has bent their hearts towards the nations. They also have a unique story about how He brought them together in their pursuit of overseas work – through prayer. All three of these young ladies are actively involved in Calvary’s Young Adult ministry, and have had a front row seat to the ways that God is at work in this community. Together, they are leaning in to what it means to living sent, right now, ...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Ray Huber serves on Calvary’s Facilities Team, and his main responsibility is to work on building projects and construction-related repairs. As a part-time employee, this is Ray’s retirement job – or, as he calls it, his “repurposing.” Today he is sharing about his many years of serving God in church planting and missions, what he’s learned about being an initiator, and how to effectively pass off what’s been started to someone who can better maintain it.
Nov 09, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Karl & Eileen Fisher have been leading a group here at Calvary called Essentials for almost four years. Through this study of the Old & New Testaments, and how they weave together into one story, the Fishers have become connected with many individuals in all different parts of their journey towards Christ. Through these connections, they have seen people come to Christ for the first time, strengthened in their faith, and equipped to go and disciple others as they themselves were disciple...
Nov 09, 2023•32 min•Season 11Ep. 5
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18 This fall on Pursuing Life will be all about stories of life-change, focusing on the ways that Jesus transforms the lives of people who decide to follow Him. We hope you’ll tune in starting next Monday, September 11, and find encouragement in the stories of others, as you consider you...
Sep 04, 2023•2 min•Season 12Ep. 1
Michelle Kirby and Lydia Swarr both serve in Calvary Student Ministries – Lydia as a student group leader, and Michelle as a coach – and were connected with one another through a unique opportunity that arose for female leaders to be individually mentored by women in the church. Michelle had a burden to walk alongside younger women, while Lydia desired to be intentionally growing in her faith as she also walked alongside her group of high school girls. While some leaders only met with their ment...
Jul 10, 2023•40 min•Season 11Ep. 3
Over the last year, AJ & Lindsey Lafferty have been actively seeking to follow God’s call to make disciples. It hadn’t been a previously foreign concept to them, but after sitting through Calvary’s Ripple Effect sermon series, and attending the disciple-makers workshop that followed it, they really began to ask themselves if disciple-making was truly a reality in their lives. As they’ve processed together, God has taken them on a journey, both individually and as a couple, to be intentional ...
Jun 26, 2023•54 min•Season 11Ep. 2
This summer is all about disciple-making on the Pursuing Life podcast. Tune in, starting June 26, to hear stories of people at Calvary who are taking seriously Jesus’ call to make disciples, and how it’s changing hearts and lives.
Jun 19, 2023•2 min•Season 11Ep. 1
Ginny Rehnberg has held many different roles at Calvary over the years, but currently serves as a ministry assistant, working mainly with our benevolence ministry. Ginny came to know Jesus as a young girl living in foster care, and today she is sharing with us how knowing Him has changed her life, and how she sees her role at Calvary as a way to share the love of Christ with those in need.
Jun 12, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 14
June is graduation season! Every year, we prayerfully send off dozens of high school seniors as they enter into a new season of life. It is our hope and prayer that each of them would go forward with Jesus as their foundation, looking to Him as their source of direction, wherever they go in life. This week on Pursuing Life, we talk with a few of our seniors about how God has been at work in their lives, where they sense Him leading in the future, and how they want to continue to grow in their pu...
Jun 05, 2023•31 min•Season 11Ep. 1
Mike Smucker serves as the president of Smucker’s Meats, which is a business that has been in his family for three generations. Mike and his family desire to share the love and character of Christ through their actions and use biblical principles to lead their employees. Today, Mike is sharing the ways in which he has seen God’s faithfulness in his work, how he has learned to trust God’s leading, and why he continues to be faithful to his calling, even when it’s hard.
May 22, 2023•31 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Beth Gregory is one of the counselors on staff at Calvary Church. While she has not always worked in the counseling field, it has always been something that piqued her interest. After some circumstances later in life prompted Beth to seek out counseling for herself, she decided to go back to school to get her Master’s degree so that she could help others in their journeys as well. Today, she’s sharing how God not only used her experiences to lead her to the work she now does, but also how He has...
May 15, 2023•55 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Cliff Hurter worked at Calvary Homes for over 40 years. For the majority of those years, he served as the Executive Director and, at the end of 2022, he stepped into retirement. Cliff really viewed his role at Calvary Homes as a ministry, and he sought to be intentional with the relationships he made with both the residents and staff that he worked with. Today, he is reflecting on his tenure at Calvary Homes, and speaking to what it looks like to transition well through life’s changes....
May 08, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 5
We are so excited for you to meet Juan and Rose, Calvary’s newest Global Partners! While they are new to Calvary Church, they are not new to global work, nor are they new to working with refugees, which is exactly what they do now in Lancaster City! Today, they are sharing how God has faithfully brought them full circle with the work that they are doing, and how He is actively at work among those who have sought refuge in our community. Do you want to partner with Juan and Rose, and the work tha...
Apr 24, 2023•44 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Global Partners, Bobby and Michele Law, serve in Taiwan, engaging working-class people in least-reached communities and emerging generations who are interested in missions. They have been church planting for nearly 30 years, and it’s their desire to see leaders raised up within the churches they plant, and that eventually those churches would also fulfill the Great Commission by sending out their own missionaries.
Apr 17, 2023•33 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Every year, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week which starts with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and culminates with his death and resurrection. As we look at these events through the lens of Matthew’s Gospel, we see that Jesus predicts His death and resurrection on numerous occasions. His disciples had many questions, and only understood the significance of why Jesus had to die after He rose again. For us today, we may have similar questions: “Why did Jesus have to die? What did...
Apr 03, 2023•49 min•Season 11Ep. 1
Joshua Brussel serves as Calvary’s Middle School Director, working with 7th and 8th grade students. Joshua grew up overseas, and his experience as a missionary kid really paved the way for the work that he does today. Joshua brings a lot of fun and energy to our staff, and we are so grateful for the heart he has to walk alongside teens as they wrestle with what it looks like to follow Jesus in an ever-changing world.
Mar 27, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Laura Leigh Kinley serves as Calvary’s Communications Manager, and she is one of the people responsible for the many visual media elements that you’ll find around Calvary Church. Laura Leigh exudes creativity, possessing talents across a broad spectrum, and, as she’ll share today, that made it difficult for her when it came time to choose a college major and, eventually, a career. She has gained so much wisdom as to discerning the right path and about the importance of hobbies. So, if you are – ...
Mar 20, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Mike Derus was living a life far from the Lord when he found himself in a desperate situation and in need of a place to live. At the time, he was dating his now-wife, Tami, whose parents agreed to take Mike into their home until he got back on his feet. Tami’s parents, Jere & Judy Brubaker, were committed followers of Jesus, and it was ultimately their love and kindness towards Mike that eventually brought him to a saving relationship with Jesus. Today, Mike and Jere are both here to tell us...
Mar 13, 2023•44 min•Season 10Ep. 5
Having been adopted as a baby, Julianna Gerlach struggled in her adolescent years with feelings of being abandoned. This led to many years of looking for love in all the wrong places. Eventually, this pursuit of love led her across the country, where she found herself pregnant, twice, and facing circumstances that left her feeling devastated and hopeless. Eventually, God led Jul home, and through the love of her family and others, she discovered the love that she had been looking for all along, ...
Mar 06, 2023•28 min•Season 10Ep. 4
John Noel has been serving on the Worship Ministries staff at Calvary for over a decade. You may see him most often playing piano or keyboard on a Sunday morning, but he also does valuable work behind the scenes helping to plan for worship services, leading the worship choir, scheduling musicians, creating music charts, transcribing and arranging music, serving with our live production team, and so much more. Not only does John love serving the Lord through music, but he also loves his family, w...
Feb 27, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Emily Bechtel longed to be a mom since she was a little girl. But her expectations fell short when she and her husband learned that having biological children would be difficult. After a four-year journey with infertility, God answered Emily’s prayer and gave her a son. Emily joins us to reflect on God’s faithfulness to her in the waiting, and, ultimately how He showed her what it means that He is good.
Feb 20, 2023•30 min•Season 10Ep. 3
In 2019, Melinda Smith and her husband, Nate, became certified for foster care, and quickly found themselves matched with a newborn baby girl. In the years that followed, God worked in the Smith family to teach them what it looks like to extend love to the world around them, even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient. Today Melinda shares how the love of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, changed and grew their family in a way they never could have imagined. If you attend Calvary Church...
Feb 13, 2023•39 min•Season 10Ep. 2
We all have family, yet no two families are alike. For some of us, family brings to mind the people who are, or were, most directly related to us – our parents, siblings, children. For others, family is untraditional; it’s the people who extended love when we most needed it. And yet, for some, we acknowledge that family is a reminder of brokenness – that on this side of heaven, things are just not the way they’re supposed to be. The Bible has a lot to say about family. It’s filled with genealogi...
Feb 06, 2023•2 min•Season 10Ep. 1
Monica Kirsch has been hosting Pursuing Life since it launched in December 2021. Today we flip the script to hear directly from her as she reflects on the last year of the podcast, shares her hopes for what’s to come in 2023, and tells us part of her own story of following Jesus. Guest hosted by Liz Rodriguez.
Jan 30, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 10
