It's About People

On January 7th and 8th Pastor Dave gave one of the most inspiring vision messages I have ever heard. I told him Monday that if I wasn’t already on board here at Charter Oak Church, I would be now. I was moved by his passion to reach new people for Jesus and to develop our own people to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. Pastor Dave laid out a plan to reach new people by targeting children and youth. If we can successfully introduce Jesus into these young people’s lives, their parents will want to know why their kids have changed.

This past weekend we broke a new record for attendance on a “regular” Sunday. There were 607 people in worship! I was so excited. Pastor Dave jumped into my office to tell me the figure. He was definitely pumped up about the news. A week after his vision message and people were already responding. At the end of each worship service I challenged each person to invite people in their circle of influence – friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members, to join them in worship. After one of the worship services, someone grabbed me and said if people listen to me, we will have to start setting up chairs! It sounded like he was genuinely excited about that possibility.

How awesome would it be to have so many people in worship that we had to start setting up chairs! Then I started thinking about some conversations I have had with pastor friends of mine. They get on my case when I start talking about our church growing and reaching more people. They tell me I am all about the numbers. I will be honest with you, it frustrates me when they say that. I do want to celebrate when we reach a new milestone like breaking the 600 mark in worship attendance. But I don’t celebrate the number, I celebrate the people. For me, it’s all about the people.

I am called by God to introduce people into a relationship with Jesus and then to help them to become more like Him in every aspect of their lives down to the last detail. That’s why I live. What about you? If we continue to grow in our current building and we have to set up chairs, will you be willing to sit in a chair instead of a pew? Would you be willing to sit on the front pew and park farther away from the building? Would you be willing to change worship times to allow more guests to sit comfortably in our sanctuary? These are tough questions, but for me, they are easy, because it’s all about people coming into a relationship with Jesus.

God is at work at Charter Oak Church!