Sunday was a great day at South Lansing Christian Church. The worship was inspiring. The crowd was big (684) and we took up a good offering (10% of which will go to bless All Nations Christian Church). Sunday was a great day for other churches, too.Here in Lansing, Trinity Church baptized 33 new believers in their service on Sunday. South Church immersed several, too.
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, where my wife and daughter enjoyed Easter Sunday, hosted 1400 adults and over 1000 children for their Easter dinner. That's Mrs. Frankly in the photo serving beverages to the Haitians.
Not everyone was blessed Sunday, though. I received this email from one hurting preacher:
Sunday came and went. With all the crap Satan has heaped around this church and the unwillingness of the leaders to shovel it away... I can honestly say that Easter fell short spiritually. People were whispering in corners...politicking...huddled in groups and would suddenly change topics as others came near. Church felt more like a country club annual meeting rather than celebrating ressurection Sunday. The early service was well attended...78 (one of my members wanted to speak in this service to allow me and my family to enjoy) and the second had 54. A good turnout for our church.Tell me, Frankly readers, what was your Easter Sunday like?
6 comments:
We normally average somewhere around 70 people. On Easter morning we had 137.
I think the next time someone says to me, "It's not about numbers," I'm going to have to ask them if they've ever seen their attendance double in one week.
It rocked. Check my blog for details.
Frank, I'm so glad that y'all had a great day. 684! Dude!
Funny story that you will appreciate. I was really pumped that we had 547 in services. Sunday afternoon I said to Tracy,
"547! Wow!" And she said, "Yeah that's great, but were any lives changed?" Ouch! I said, "I don't know, but we had 547!" Our Tracys have a way of keeping us humble, eh?
To Mike:
I agree. If numbers were not important, then why does God keep track of them in Scripture? He devoted a whole book to numbers and He reminds us again of the numbers in the early church in the book of Acts.
People think that God's view has changed since the Bible was written. Hey, volume 2 isn't coming out.
I've always believed and have stated,
"A church should never average in attendance."
Frank, we had a great Sunday as well. God is so good to us here at Ionia County. Our # was, at last count 192!!! "Bingo Bango...I'll take the whitefish"
Fred
We had 375 since we're counting. That's 65 more than the previous week. We could've had bigger numbers but I forgot to book Toby Mac! Maybe next year...
Less than stellar.
Each year I have had the pleasure of time to be able to reflect during the Easter season. This year was no different with having the gift of time, though the manifestation of reflection bore a new burden.
Good Friday services were interesting with adequate music directing thoughts and assisting with focusing attentiveness. The speaker broke completely new ground for me with some teaching on the final words of Christ and relevance to Psalm 22. He had done some good research and I always appreciate that.
Resurrection Sunday was nice...akin to so many celebrated over the years.
I don't know what I was missing, or maybe what I was expecting. In all certainty the dillema is within me or attributed to my current state of mind. Well, to be honest, state of soul and spirit. So often I hear of people approaching Christmas and 'not being into the season'. That would sufficiently summarize my Easter. I just never got there. And I'm still looking back wondering how to get it back? (Along with some Reese's Eggs.) As I have pondered and struggled with this I have arrived at a couple of conclusions: Christians SHOULD spend far more time in preparation and contemplation for Easter. The death of one man for our wrong doings should make us uneasy. God has been far mor sacrificial than we can ever dream up of being.
Whenever I get a little 'thoughtful' I am glad to know: God is always there. God's people were there. The Holy Spirit was there... God's promises are true. This I know. No lectures needed. I must have been in the shadows.
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