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There is an argument that seems to dominate the church world–do the number really matter?

I actually refuse to engage in that argument anymore…it’s stupid and meaningless and the ONLY churches that say number do not matter are the ones with no numbers.

AND…I find it funny that the same churches that say they do not count their people because numbers do not matter WILL count their offerings.  WOW–I guess in those cases money matters more than people.  Come on now–if numbers do not matter then stop counting the offering!!!

The reason I am so passionate about this is, well, first of all, I have a biblical view of how God designed the church to grow and reach the world for Him.  The more people we reach–the fewer people that go to hell!  And GOD HELP the church that just wants to be small and comfortable and, in so doing, neglects sharing the Gospel with those who are bound for hell!!!

Anyway–got an e-mail from a lady in our care department that informed me that since we have moved into the building a year and a half ago that we have baptized 1,171 people!  PLEASE READ THAT AGAIN!  One thousand one hundred and seventy one people have stood and said out loud, “Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord.”  

Folks…one can argue that numbers don’t matter all they want–but in THIS case I am sure that all of heaven would strongly disagree!!!

AND get this–NewSpring…that means we have baptized more people in the past year and a half we’ve been in the building than we did the previous five years!!!

AND…if that is what God has done in just this past year and a half–what does the NEXT year and a half hold?

I say it all the time…I will say it again…our best days are ahead of us!

This fall we will be launching a campaign to further the ministry God is doing here…in this campaign our church will be…

• Challenging each individual in our church to pursue God’s plan and purpose for their lives.
• Celebrating the largest baptism that our community has ever seen!  (Details to come later!)
• Building a state of the art children’s worship center–seriously, the upstate has never seen anything like it!
• Building a state of the art youth facility!  Our teenagers keep reaching people for Christ–and they’ve pretty much outgrown every building we’ve put them in!
• Launching a campus in Greenville–we already have a campus pastor and are aggressively pursuing land and a building.
• Giving 10% of every dollar raised in our campaign to missions!
• Seeing God do a work that ONLY HE CAN GET CREDIT FOR!!

Hold on NewSpring–we are going all out.  God hasn’t called us to slow down and play it safe–in fact, He is leading us to hit the gas pedal!!!  We are going to reach more “numbers” because we know that in those numbers are your co-workers, your best friend, your spouse, your parent, your child–and they matter–they matter to Jesus–they matter to us…and we are going to do all we can to partner with you to reach them!!!

YEAH!!!   WOO-HOO…I am so pumped!