Let me begin this blog saying that even though I’ve just had a huge lunch and a 3 hour nap, I’m still pretty keyed up from this morning so I’d like to apologize in advance for any randomness that comes from my thoughts.
First of all, this morning Timm spoke about money which is not an easy subject for a pastor. Everyone always thinks he’s asking for money to get a jet or something rediculous. What they don’t realize is that there are so many opportunities for us to minister to people that we have to pass up on because we don’t have the funds. He pointed out that according to the average household income for the state of Florida in 2007, if every family that went to our church tithed our budget would be OVER DOUBLE what it is now.
Some of you are saying, “So what?”
Here’s what: we didn’t only tell them we needed money. We didn’t ony challenge them to give it. We put our money where our mouth is and instituted a 3 month tithing challenge. In Malachi God dares us to test him with our money, so we’re giving our attenders a no-risk trial. The Deal: if they will tithe 10% of their income for the months of October, November, and December, and at the end of those 3 months they are not satisfied with the results, we will happily cut them a check for a full refund of the entire amount given. No questions asked.
How freakin’ sweet is that? A chance for all parties involved to get blessed.
Equipment. I’m not sure how many of you know Justin Whidden, but for all his craziness he is a freakin’ genius. I walk into our booth today (the booth basically runs the entire Sunday service and they rock it every week) and there is an extra computer and a ton of recording equipment. I can feel the panic rising in my chest. I don’t want my crew distracted by that stuff because the stakes are so high right now, I really don’t want any mess-ups. But that equipment had already been tested and it worked FLAWLESSLY, thanks to Justin. The band got an amazing recording, my crew was extremely attentive and flexible (especially our sound guy, Gabe). They basically kicked me out of the booth because there wasn’t enough room and I stress them out. I love it.
People. OOOOOh people. After my booth workers kicked me out I got a chance to kind of walk around the back of the sanctuary and observe. It was SLAMMED today. People were really into the music (seems like I say that every week) and about half way through the set list we had to bring in chairs. I’m pretty sure it was 2 rows of chairs. I’m telling you what, this is not an official RPC announcement, but I’m calling it. By the beginning to middle of October I’m predicting we’ll add a 3rd service. My favorite part is that we are so ready for it. Our Leadership Team has been preparing for this for about 6 months now. In the past 2 weeks, our attendance has increased by 75 people. Insane.
oh yeah p.s. – we got to use the “low rider” song today as part of a segue and it made me really happy 
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