Back to Normal - SWEET!

I'd like to say that this was a typical service. I knew we'd have a lot of our regulars *back* from the holidays, but to have SEVENTY regulars - wow, that was awesome! I think we only had 5 first time visitors. Not that we don't want visitors, it's just that, I always wondered if all the regulars came at one time, would we have a decent crowd? We did, and it was so nice. We also had our largest offering. It definitely got us excited about what the new year could hold for us!

This past week, we read a full-page ad about a new church coming to our community! I'll be honest, my 1st reaction was, "uh, we don't need another church plant" lol. BUT, after I expunged that out of my brain, I realized how nice this might be. Our church neither has the funds nor enough people to do a major event in our community that *truly* draws people to Jesus. In our former church/town, we used to work with other churches to do a major outreach and really saw some fruit from it. So far, the other tiny churches in this community want to do NOTHING. Well, this new advertised church is touting themselves as a "mega-church" or I guess, a mega-church wannabe. A friend and church member of ours was talking to me about all of her fears with this new mega-church. I think a church 45 min. away is going to send 100 people to startup this church. Yeah, 100 is a lot of people, lol - for our area! But, I told her, this new church will NOT hurt us!! It can only help us.

First, if their focus are churched people - our focus is on people who DON'T attend church, so no big deal, there. If their focus is on unchurched people - hey there are soo many out there - they'll just stir things up and we'll still get benefit! Plus, this new pastor team might want to work with us on a community event, and that's JUST what we've been wanting. Afterall, who cares if we join together for this event, and no one attends our church? At least we've been a part of bringing people into God's kingdom!! Whew, that's what our goal is in the FIRST place! When I thought about that, it got me excited. It's kind of like "ooh, these are the neighbors who'll move in and have the same mindset we do!" I'd be crazy to think "what if these neighbors take all of my friends?" LOL.

So, it would be nice if every Sunday were like this one. But, not to my husband. His goals are much higher. I'm a manager (I love taking care of details and I'll maintain). He's not - he's a dreamer!