For years, I have reported to the church concerning areas of ministry which could be measured and those which cannot. Today, I want to report about those which can be measured.

Each year at this time we report our vital statistics to the Northshore Baptist Association (100+ churches in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes), the Louisiana Baptist Convention (1600 churches statewide), and the Southern Baptist Convention (45,000 churches in all 50 states).

This is what has happened over the last twelve months: We have seen records in all three areas of baptisms, Bible Study attendance, and worship attendance.

First, we have received 134 people by profession of faith and baptism in the last twelve months. This exceeds the previous year (122) which was the largest number we had ever baptized. We are exceedingly grateful for this number of people coming to faith and obedience in Christ.

You may recall that our pastoral team set a goal of a 50% increase for the calendar year 2012. Please continue to pray that many others may follow Christ. After all, this is why we exist.

Second, we had a record average attendance in Bible Study of 1261. This was a 6% increase over the previous year. This number only represents the number who attend our Bible Study hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning. It does not include the 500 people who attend Bible classes during the week. We had a high attendance 1508 people last month.

Third, our worship attendance averaged 1844 and increased from the previous record by 7%. Our high attendance days (non-Easter) of 2200+ occurred once in January and once last month.

We are all thankful for God’s blessings. These, of course, are only numbers but they represent people and ministry going on in our body of believers.

Recently, one of our pastors said that FBC Covington is the largest volunteer organization in St. Tammany Parish (I’m not sure that is correct, but we are blessed with many wonderful people ready to serve). We only are able to minister and serve because you minister in the name of Christ.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

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