Numbers...

Most times if people want to tell you that numbers don't matter...it is usually because they are not hitting the ones they need to.  I feel this pressure all the time, but as we talked this past Sunday, it is important to enjoy the journey and (my addition for this post) the numerical success along the way!

Here are a few numbers I am pretty happy with today...

949.  Before this month we have never had five hundred hits on our website in a thirty day window!  No matter what we did with marketing, what kind of updates or even information given out door to door, articles in the paper or ads on radio...we never had over 500 hits.  Thirty days ago we launched a "chapter a day" reading program to get people in our community and friends and family connected somehow to our community reading the Bible together and we created an online forum where people could go to discuss what they have been reading and a podcast area where people could listen to the weekly teaching from anywhere in the world!  It has been thirty days since we launched the reading program and we have had 949 hits to our website...which is double our best ever and almost triple what we usually have!

22.  This Saturday we had 22 people representing the deep at the food truck!  Seeing that many people interested in serving, being the hands and feet of Jesus and being a constructive presence in our community...WOW!

7.  This weekend we had our first ever "Dedication Sunday".  We dedicated children baptized some older kids and commissioned one adult...totalling 7!  To think that we moved to West Michigan one year ago and have only been having weekly gatherings for not even three months, this was an incredible time to celebrate God's work in our lives!

3.  Not only do we have a great staff team at the deep, but there have been a few guys plugged in at various levels who have God's hand and call on their lives!  This is very exciting for me as I love it when ministry helps and results in the development of ministers...after all isn't that the point (Ephesians 4:11-13)?!?! 

1. We have one gentleman who hangs out in the hall by our children's ministry each week "working out" & "listening in".  This week, due to our Dedication Sunday, we had a family gathering and thus no children's ministry.  Wally was showing some friends around after and this man found him, missing the kids presence that week, and gave him a check for the ministry!  It is amazing to see how, even indirectly, our Kids Life ministry is making a difference...thanks Larry for investing in our Kids and letting them invest in you!