September 4, 2005 - Labor Day

It is a well-known fact that Labor Day is a low day for church attendance...but not here, not at The Journey, not today anyway. We had 114...! People kept on pouring into our first service (which was funny since I took out a row of chairs for our dancers that had to be put back up!), and the second service, while a little smaller, had plenty of people as well. I don't measure our success solely by our attendance, but it was exciting to have so many.

But beyond our attendance, I was very excited about a few things:
1) We took an offering to help a sister church of ours in Texas that is helping hurricane victims (see latest update below from Central Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas). We raised over $600 in offering alone, and we will send $1000 to them initially from our church. God is good.
2) I also announced that we were changing our TF Car Wash to a Hurricane Benefit Car Wash to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The donated funds will also go entirely to Central Baptist Church in their ongoing work. But after that announcement to change the car wash, I had over 20 more people v0lunteer to help out - which is exactly what we needed! Praise God. Now we just have to get the T-Shirts ready... :)
3) Beyond the hurricane news, in our worship service we had praise and worship dancers during two of our songs, God is Great and Irresistible. They were fantastic, as they danced in praise to the Lord. It was exciting because it was a mixture of adults, teens, and kids...God has blessed this church with talent, and I look forward to more of this (although we will need a MUCH bigger place!).
4) We took communion, which to me is always a special time. It was a little clumsy in the first service because of the extra row in back, but it was good.
5) We had several visitors in both services, including a woman named Judy who lives right up the road (thanks to Don & Betty).

The sermon was a message of hope, although I know that in talking about the bride there were some differing views. It is all good. I actually enjoy people presenting me with different takes on doctrinal issues because it makes me examine my faith even more. Thank you to those who continue to challenge me (in good ways) in these areas. I hope that our dialogue produces, if nothing else, good camaraderie - but I hope that it produces a deeper understanding of the Word of God and makes us "iron sharpening iron."

What a great day to be at The Journey. Thank you to everyone who makes each Sunday a wonderful success, either in ministering or in participating or even in the good words I hear. Keep going - and let's see what the Lord does here in the next several months.