The Journey

I want to give you an update on our capital campaign, The Journey.

We have received just under $283,000 in pledges for the campaign. We have received $74,788 of those pledges so far. In the next few weeks I will give you more info on who money is coming in from the pledges.

If you did not make a pledge or give in the First Fruits Offering I am going to ask that you consider doing so in the next two weeks. I will have pledge cards at church on Sunday mornings and you will be able to give to the capital campaign using our offering envelopes.

Finally, I want to make sure that everyone knows that we have changed our offering envelopes to include the capital campaign. To give to the campaign simply designate your offering on the front of the offering envelope.

Easter Rewind

This Easter was a record day for our church and a great morning in the presence of the Lord!

We had our first three service Sunday! I love preaching three times. A lady was saved in the 10:15 a.m. service and what a beautiful experience it was!

Our attendance was a record, 245. Attendance the last four weeks has been record setting each week actually. Each week has been a new record.

Along with these number records I am very happy to say that God is working in people's lives. I am trying to organize some of the testimonies from the last few weeks so that people will be ready to share their story with you. Numbers are often deceiving, unless there are individual stories of what God is doing in people's lives.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the Sunrise Service. I was so glad to see so many friends who attended. I think I like having an Easter Sunrise Service. I have not been to one since I was a child in the Lutheran Church.

Blogger Probelm

I am sorry that the previous post is all one paragraph. Blogger is doing something very weird. I have tried to fix this since yesterday afternoon and can find no remedy. Sorry for the crammed blog entry.

Celebration Sunday Report

Celebration Sunday was really spectacular! Here is a run down of some of the offering and pledge totals for The Journey Capital Campaign. Total Pledged: $282,460.00 Total in the First Fruits Offering: $74,708.15 I went over to the church this morning only to find that someone who could not be at Celebration Sunday today had sent a check to me in the mail. It was for the building fund. It was $51,500.00! I knew that was a good start for celebration Sunday. It was only a check, no pledge was enclosed. When I announced the First Fruits offering, it included that gift. When I announced the pledges, it did not include that gift because it was not in the form of a pledge. However, considering it as a one time gift and the completion of a three year pledge up front the above numbers are correct. We had an absolutely amazing morning. Here are some of the great highlights. 1. So many people helped to make this an amazing day! Mark Knickmeyer and Tim Willard had perhaps the most time consuming and stressful jobs of the campaign with huge amounts of organization accomplished. 2. So many others helped I don't know where to start. Many people almost 20 gave an entire day of work to this project this week. 3. I am absolutely proud of The Stand Youth. First, they beat the $1,000 goal I set for them. zThey raised $1,000 in one month. Second, when worship started, over 30 youth hit the front of the room, lifted their hands and began to worship God. What an amazing experience. 4. It was amazing to see our entire church at one time! Today was a new all time record attendance of more than 220. 5. Two young ladies responded to the opportunity to be saved. One of the young ladies has responded before. The other, who was younger, was responding for the first time in an adult service. Her mother had never seen her accept Christ in a public way. We have now seen 22 people saved on Sunday mornings in 2011. 6. The enthusiasm of our church is a huge blessing to me. I am thrilled to be a part of what God is doing for us. From young people to older people, there is a real excitement in all of our hearts.

Runners

We have had a recent visitor who was training for the Go St. Louis marathon. Running through town this person kept running past "Nothing's Too Hard For God" signs. The theme of the signs kept them going in their training. Then, they decided to come to church. Pretty cool. Thanks to all who put out one of our yard signs. We are actually growing in the number of runners in our church. We actually have a good size group that could start meeting to train for a marathon together. We could pick a race in the fall and all have fun running together. With a group, we could do some very creative runs too. Talk to me if you want to get started.

RSVP

We need you to RSVP for Celebration Sunday! RSVP cards are at church and will be in the bulletin on Sunday again. Worst case, call the office! All RSVP cards must be received by Sunday morning. We have to give the caterer our count on Monday morning, April 11th.

RSVP This Week

We need all our responses for Celebration Sunday in by this Sunday morning! RSVP cards will be in the bulletin again. Please come to Celebration Sunday even if you have only been a visitor to our church. This is a weekly church service for us and we want to you attend and be in God's presence! Invite friends and RSVP for them too! Invite a friend to church on the day that we will feed them lunch. We are over 170 at this time, but have plenty of space for a whole lot more!

Leadership Meeting

We celebrated a mile marker in The Journey Friday night! We invited all our leaders of ministries at church to attend an advance commitment meeting. In 1 Chronicles 29, King David was preparing to build the temple. When they received the offerings to build the Leaders of Israel gave first (vs. 6-8). "The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD." (vs. 9). So we have followed that pattern and asked the leaders of the church to let us know what their commitment might be on Celebration Sunday. From 17 households, 30 people who are leaders in our church, we already have commitments of $99,700. That is GREAT! Thanks to all who participated. I want to encourage you to keep praying about your commitment on Celebration Sunday. Every person's commitment is essential, no matter the size. We expect equal sacrifice, not equal gifts.

Please Keep Your Cell Phone On.

If you have a cell phone with a texting package, bring it to church on Sunday morning and forget the announcement that we make each week to turn off your cell phone during the worship service. This Sunday will be fun!

Turn Your Cell Phones On Durring Serivce!

If you have a cell phone with a texting package, bring it to church on Sunday morning and forget the announcement that we make each week to turn off your cell phone during the worship service. This Sunday will be fun!