Best Month Ever

We planted with an awesome launch team.  If you met them all, you would conclude, “This church cannot fail!  Look at the quality of people starting it up.” 

Well, that is human reasoning — and never the “factor” in a spiritual endeavor.  Our launch team, over time,  had a few strikes against it:  First, a number of families that helped us “plant” moved out of state, thereby, depleting our core group.  Secondly, almost all of them were driving into the community each Sunday — so they were not actively involved in the community or meeting with the locals outside of church events.  Third, we were comprised almost entirely of young families (which is great for a “family experience” at church, but most were committed to spending time at home with family rather than mid-week fellowships).  Fourthly, the pastor (yes, me right here) started his preaching campaign with some objectives not entirely embraced by new visitors (more on that another time). And finally, our initial location was a blessing, but not a source of excitement.

Well, by the time we made our move to a new facility (a year and a half after our start), the VAST majority of our launch team has stayed with our work.  We’ve also been joined by some wonderful people who have replaced the movers (a gracious blessing!).  Secondly, most of these new participants are from our surrounding community (with a mid-week meeting in the area starting to grow!). In addition to this, we are identifying local community events in which to attend, rather than designing our own outreach events focused primarily on our campus.  Third, our young families — they attract young families!  So yeah, our mid-week meetings are all young and childless; but having kids around means having fun around, even if it is just on the weekend (moms know how to get together on their own anyway).  Related to this, we are even more thrilled about our new facility and its childcare room.  Fourthly, the pastor has been implementing some personal guidelines in order to enhance his preaching (more on this later).  Finally, the new location is SO CHOICE!  Great street location, and just a more “church like” space (you should hear the congregational singing now!).  Each week, our “designers” make improvements, and each week we are feeling more like we are at home. (Still need to figure out how to deal with the sunlight filling the room and the A/C buzzing overhead).

All of that to say that September ‘07 brought us a lot of blessings in how a church plant measures growth and vitality.  Glory to God.  And may He grant us more favor as we seek to make His name known.

 View from the inside is a view to the outside

RevK