Yesterday, I was reflecting on the last few months of my life and Engage. As you know Engage is a start up Church. We are like a toddler learning to walk for the first time; wobbling legs, eyes wide as silver dollars, start-go-fall and starting again. We have been able to take some very significant steps and much has happened along the way. I want to share the progress with you…Look what God has done thus far.
Here are a few of the many things to celebrate: Let’s do this in numbers! (i know this may be a bit long, but it’s worth your time)
TEN. The number of months ago that a few of us met for the first time to discover the vision for Engage. According to statistics some new churches meet for 2 years before they are ready to have a Sunday morning expression.
THIRTEEN of us met on Feb. 24th, 2008 for the first Engage Core team meeting.
FOUR..the number of months its been since we left New Life Community ( our parent church ) to formally launch Engage.
FIVE-HUNDRED..the number of people who came to Green Fest and heard about Engage.
Plus, we had many great conversations that day. We established identity and presence in the community. There is where the Bergeys first met Engage. Yahoo..for the Bergeys.
TWENTY-SEVEN..the number of those outside of Engage who came to our “Come and See” informational evenings following the Green-Fest.
THREE. The number of times Engage has been in the local paper.
SIXTY is the number of vehicles we worked on for single parents last Sat. This is double the amount from last year.
ZERO..Just three months ago this was the number of places we knew we could rent for Engage to meet on Sundays.
ZERO..Just three months ago this was the number of people who were ready to lead Engage Kids…Yahoo for Amy K., Kristen, and Mimi!!
ZERO..The number of people we knew who could operate our sound system just 2 months ago. Yahoo for Shawn, Chris, and Jeremy!!
ONE month ago we didn’t have a dedicated official treasure of Engage. Yahoo for Bill our treasurer.
ZERO..The number of people who could lead music on Sunday less than two months ago. Yahoo for Brad!!!
ONE-HUNDRED and TEN–The average number of visits to our Engage web site per day. This is up from 80 just last month. Yahoo…Jeremy!!
THIRTY. The number of adults who consider themselves a part of Engage and want to help.
Not bad, since we left NLC with just 7 adults who were original to NLC.
SIXTY-FIVE HUNDRED is the amount of money individuals outside of Engage have given us because they really really believe in what we are doing believe God can reach even further through us.
IMMEASURABLE is the collective number of people we are loving, touching, and having meaningful relationships with. People who want to be around you. People who want to know you more because they can sense that they really matter to you. This is what it means to be the Church. We are the church! We don’t need to launch a service on Sunday to be God’s expression of himself to our friends, co-worker, each other, and those far from God himself. It’s official. Engage is a Church. We’ve been a Church. Remember what we say, “Church is what happens the other 6 days of the week at work, at home, on the phone, through emails, etc.” I was reminded this past week that our primary focus is not launching a worship service. Our primary service is launching people. Sundays are important! But they are not the most important. God has plans to use us to help people in our community who are looking for God but not religion.
Seth Godin is very insightful person who writes books about the power of ideas to influence people. He recently said, “Faith matters. A lot. Religion often gets in the way of faith. Religion, the scolding, rules-based part of religion, the part used as a lever in life or politics to insist that people follow a certain person or a certain idea… that’s not spreading so fast online. But faith, faith is the salve we’ve always wanted and still want. . . People want to believe, they want to be surrounded by people who believe and they want to feel good about it. What an opportunity.” Check out Seth’s insightful blog and books at http://sethgodin.typepad.com
This is our moment. This is our mission. Helping people know Christ and find real and true life.
So, I think God has been at work. God is showing us that his grace is sufficient for us. His power is made perfect in our weakness. Our church coach Bob Lane was at Engage on Sunday. He was very encouraged by what he saw. My dad has always said to me, “Jon, enjoy the journey. Celebrate what God is doing. Live in the present.” I need this reminder. It’s often the present, the process, that determines the progress. Look what God has done thus far in a relatively short amount of time.
{But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.} Corinthians 12.
