Box Score for Weekend of December 3/4
Here’s the "box score" for this past weekend at Granger Community Church.
Music: "Gloria" by MercyMe
Message: "What I Saw" — Keith Ferrin of That You May Know ministries
Service Highlights: Keith opened the Christmas season at Granger with a dramatic presentation taking a look a three unique perspectives of the birth of Christ. Charles Fussbudget III, Shep, and Bruno Buccelli. I bet you didn’t realize they were actually there for that first Christmas. OK, so they aren’t written about in the Bible, but they can sure tell the story. Charles is a family friend and the CPA of Joseph & Sons Construction. Shep is a First Year S.A.P. (That’s the Shepherd Apprentice Program.) Bruno is the full-time bodyguard for the Three Wise Men. All three told their stories with their own unique twists.
Stats: 4,894 total attendance (3,739 adults + 1,155 kids); 0.0% increase from the same weekend last year
Percentage of weekend attendance by service:
- Sun 10:15 am = 28%
- Sun 11:45 am = 23%
- Sat 5:30 pm = 21%
- Sat 7:30 pm = 15%
- Sun 8:45 am = 13%
Final Notes: Next weekend, the children in our ministry will be performing during all of the weekend services. Parents, grandparents and other friends will be there with cameras and camcorders. Aside from Easter, this is usually one of our biggest weekends of the year.
Hey Tony…just wondering…why is it when children participate in the main service, it’s called “performing,” and when adults participate in the main service, it’s called “leading worship”? If those kids are singing the same songs they’d be singing if they were in their own rooms, having their own worship experience, why does it become a performance because the room’s different and the audience includes family members with camcorders?
These numbers don’t mean anything. All they show is how many seats you filled. Really, isn’t that it? How do these numbers reflect anything different than the people who chose to listen to Chuck Swindoll this week from their cars?
What about the most important numbers? How many people are living out their faith outside of your services? I’m tired of us counting heads. I want us to start weighing hearts.
Eric, I sat on this for a couple of days, but I have to respond–mainly because I couldn’t disagree with you more. Are you suggesting that the men, women and children that worship with us and hear from the Word of God each weekend “don’t mean anything”?
And, why do you assume that just because we have a lot of people who join us for weekend services, that those same people aren’t living out their faith? In the last couple of weeks, as an example, I’ve highlighted on this site the plans those “numbers” have to feed over 8,000 families in the South Bend area and renovate our church’s community center in downtown South Bend where we provide ministry to low-income families.
Maybe you missed when I shared about the thousands of people who have accepted Christ and have been baptized as a result of the ministry those “numbers” have in India in partnership with the Bible League.
Maybe you missed it when I shared the news that over 300 “numbers” attending our services accepted Christ in one weekend. Then just a few weeks later over 400 were baptized in one day.
All of that ministry happens as a result of the gatherings that take place each weekend on our campus–the services where we are “just filling seats.” Those people meet Jesus. They turn from their old ways and start down a new path. They connect in relationships with other Christ-followers. They serve the hurting, the hopeless and the lost. They worship. And, they invite others to come and hear the Good News.
“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31).
I want to be a part of that kind of church, Eric. And that’s why I think those “numbers” mean a lot.
tony
< Are you suggesting that the men, women and children that worship with us and hear from the Word of God each weekend "don't mean anything"? >
No, I am suggesting that they can’t be tracked by counting heads
< And, why do you assume that just because we have a lot of people who join us for weekend services, that those same people aren't living out their faith? >
I didn’t meantion anything about “a lot of people” I mentioned counting people. Why do you mention the fact that it is so many? Is size a focus for you that you read it in other peoples comments?
< In the last couple of weeks, as an example, I've highlighted on this site the plans those "numbers" have to feed over 8,000 families in the South Bend area and renovate our church's community center in downtown South Bend where we provide ministry to low-income families>>
I didn’t miss it, why the need to boast about how many are doing this? Couldn’t you just say “Our people are ______”?
< All of that ministry happens as a result of the gatherings that take place each weekend on our campus--the services where we are "just filling seats." Those people meet Jesus. They turn from their old ways and start down a new path. They connect in relationships with other Christ-followers. They serve the hurting, the hopeless and the lost. They worship. And, they invite others to come and hear the Good News. >
Then share about that versus the heads you counted this year versus last year. Satan can fill a seat, can’t he? That doesn’t tell us anything about his heart.
< "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord" (Acts 9:31)." I want to be a part of that kind of church, Eric. And that's why I think those "numbers" mean a lot. >>
It did grow in numbers but it doesn’t say how many in that passage. If you compare in the bible where numbers are specifically cited versus the times it talks about people growing in faith you will find the counting is way overshadowed by growth on a personal and kingdom level. I’m glad to be a part of a church that is less concerned about tracking external seating and more concerned about making internal room for Jesus. Why does it matter to track numbers for attendance? In Revelation one of the greatest churches spoken about is small where one of the most hypocritical ones is large. What is God telling us about size?