Several years ago I started keeping track of attendance for Bible Study and for worship for the twelve months between June 1 and May 31. At this point, I don’t remember exactly why I did so. I seem to recall that we once thought about beginning the new church year in June.

That didn’t happen, but I have kept the records ever since. We have just ended the twelve month period from June 1, 2018, to May 31, 2019.

Here is what those records show.

We have had the best attendance ever for that time period. It’s even better than the previous year when we were experiencing the excitement of two new buildings.

For the past twelve months we averaged 1468 people in our Connect Groups (Connect Groups are our small group Bible studies which meet each weekend). In the previous year we averaged 1368, exactly a 100 person increase.

In the same time period we averaged 2230 in worship, 129 more people than the 2111 average the previous twelve months.

Giving to the budget is exceeding the previous year and the Forward Capital Campaign is also tracking well.

For all of this we can be thankful. It should spur us to love and good works. It should make us see those who don’t know Christ.

Whenever Martha and I talk about meeting someone new or finding someone who is not churched, we will often say, “They’re everywhere.”

They truly are, and they need God in their lives.

Let us seek to tell the story of Jesus and help people experience life-changing relationships through Jesus.

As I write this, we are right in the middle of Vacation Bible School. All I can say at this point is that it is a wonderful week and attendance is really high, over 1300 so far. I’ll give you a full accounting next week.