I do not teach out of "Numbers" very often, and actually I am not going to say much about that book today. (Okay, maybe a little at the end!) But I do want to talk about the meaning of numbers today -- specifically the meaning of Heartland Church numbers.
Heartland is not a particularly big church compared to some. In 2011, our average Sunday attendance was probably between 600 and 650 people.
If you have been attending HC for at least a year or two, though, you have almost certainly noticed that our numbers are growing. Really, we have been growing fairly consistently since we moved from Irving to Carrollton a couple of years ago. In fact, that's why we decided that we needed to go ahead and build the new parking lot earlier this year.
When we were planning the move to Carrollton, the "experts" told us that we would experience most of our growth in the first six months to a year after the move, and that attendance would then likely level off. That has not turned out to be the case. In fact, our greatest growth appears to have taken place in just the last couple of months.
To put things in a little perspective, in 2011 we had less than ten Sundays where our attendance eclipsed 700 people. As I mentioned, our average attendance in 2011 was somewhere around 600 to 650. Since the second week of last December, though, we have been over 700 nine times, including the last six Sundays in a row. In the last nine Sundays, we have only been under 700 twice. And, last Sunday our attendance was over 850 -- which was our biggest non-Easter Sunday in years!
As the Executive Pastor of Heartland Church, I am both excited and extremely thankful for our growth. I love the energy I feel in our services, and on some level it is gratifying to know that the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and staff is paying off.
But honestly, growth in and of itself really doesn't tell you all that much about a church. SIZE doesn't tell you all that much about a church. I think that in our culture it is possible for churches to thrive for the wrong reasons. I think that church growth can often be attributable to a good communicator, to slick production, to good organization and so forth. But that is not how it should be.
I am paraphrasing, but in his book titled "Crazy Love," Francis Chan mourned the fact that we live in a world where a pastor can be wildly "successful" because he is an excellent communicator, despite the fact that he does not love people. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.
I pray that our growth at HC is for the right reasons. I pray that we will be a church that always puts "first things first" -- that we love the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and that we love one another as ourselves.
I praise God for Pastor Dan -- because of his love for people. I pray that we never become too caught up in the numbers, but that we always measure success God's way. I pray that we always see success as souls won for Christ, as lives transformed, as marriages healed, as faith increasing, as deeper relationships with God, and as the heart of a congregation that loves each other -- and that even loves the unlovable.
So many great things have been happening at HC over the last several months that I cannot even begin to chronicle them here. If you are an HC partner, I hope that you have been a part of some of those things. I believe that God is really doing something special at the church right now, and that our numbers really tell very little of the story.
If you feel the same way I do, maybe this would be a good time for you to post a testimony about what God has done for you -- either here or on Facebook. I am sure there are many people out there who will be encouraged by what you have to say.
Now, a quick word about Numbers.
On of the important ways that I personally measure the success of a church is when its partners (or members) are empowered and equipped to do the work of God. In fact, Jesus calls "some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers" for the very purpose of preparing "God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11 - 13. To put it bluntly, if you are not serving, our pastoral staff (me included) may not be doing its job!
It's funny, but people don't serve for a variety of reasons. And, one of the most tragic reasons is that people sometimes don't feel worthy. They find it hard enough to believe God really loves them -- much less that God would trust them enough to allow them to serve in any meaningful way. I know. I once felt that way myself.
In those times when I felt unqualified, in those times when I felt unworthy, in those times when I felt that surely God wanted someone other than me, Sherry Ferris would tell me that if God could use a donkey He could use me! See Numbers Chapter 22. Well, there are plenty of misfits and sinners that God used in powerful ways in the Bible (think Rehab the prostitute, David the adulterer, Paul the murderer, Peter the coward, ... you get the idea). Maybe I should be offended that given all of those names Sherry still chose to compare me to a donkey. I don't know. But then again, her point remains valid. If God can use a donkey, surely He can use me too. And, if God can use me, then surely He can use you too!
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
When I was growing up in Ohio my brothers and I were big into caterpillars and butterflies. In the Spring we would take our nets out into the fields in search of whatever varieties of butterflies were missing from our collections. (Can you imagine letting your 2nd or 3rd grader do that unsupervised today?) For whatever reason, we were always interested in Swallowtails -- and particularly in Tigers and in the always elusive Zebra Swallowtail.
I know, I know. Some of you are saying to yourself "wow, I never would have thought that John was such a geek." Others of you are probably not all that surprised. Anyway, I gotta tell you that it was a lot cooler than it seems -- particularly for a little kid.
In fact, the best part really wasn't catching adult butterflies. What was cool about this particular hobby was catching caterpillars, setting up habitats for them (which we fashioned out of cardboard boxes), and raising them to adulthood.
Watching the caterpillars hang from leaves and then encase themselves in chrysalises was really an amazing thing to witness. But, the best part, of course, was watching the butterflies emerge. (Just so you know, a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, and a moth from a cocoon).
We would check on the chrysalises frequently, and at some point they would begin to wiggle. This, naturally, would tell us that the rebirth was near. We got pretty good at gauging the speed of the process, and we often had the opportunity to pull a chrysalis off a leaf and watch the butterfly emerge, dry its wings and fly away -- all in the palms of our hands!
It doesn't take much imagination to see the parallels between the complete transformation of the butterfly -- from an egg, to a caterpillar, to a chrysalis, to a butterfly -- and the transformation that we go through when we truly allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives. ... or does it?
Actually, for people who are outside of the faith (and for new believers) I think it is almost impossible to appreciate what can happen when Christians really surrender their lives to Christ. And, I think there are at least two reasons for this. The first one is that its hard to understand what you yourself have not experienced.
When my sons were younger, and particularly when they were teenagers, it was nearly impossible at times for them to really "get" the benefit of my experience. In fact, at times when they were thinking about making a bad decision (or, more often, when they had already made a bad decision) I had a little speech I would give them. The speech was intended to be funny, but also to drive home this very point. I would tell them that what they needed to understand was that they were "idiots", but the good news was that they were not alone; that all teenagers were idiots, and that someday they would look back and they would say "Dad was right, we were idiots!" (By the way, both boys are in their twenties now, and each has at one time or another acknowledged that I was indeed right!)
I don't mean to suggest at all that nonbelievers and new believers are idiots -- to the contrary, there are some really intelligent atheists out there. What I am saying is that faith is, in part, experiential. I just don't think you can appreciate the life-changing power of a relationship with Christ unless you have seen it or experienced it for yourself. This is why it is so important that we share our testimonies about what God has done for us. Sometimes it is painful, and it requires a transparency to which the world is not accustomed. But, it is so critical.
You can talk about the Gospel all you want -- until you are blue in the face -- and get nowhere. But people have a much harder time rejecting a power that restores marriages, that breaks the bondage of addiction, that ends depression and sickness, that brings hope and purpose to life .... People have a hard time arguing with actual transformation.
The second reason why I think it is so difficult for nonbelievers and new believers to appreciate the transformation that God can make in their lives is because, sadly, it is sometimes hard to find. What I mean is that the "Christians" the world sees all too often do not appear to have been transformed at all. Their lives look no different than their neighbors. All too often, their only distinguishing characteristic seems to be their ability to speak in Christian-ease.
If you spend enough time with the Bible, though, what you will see is that transformation is not only possible through Christ, but that true faith always results in transformation. I hope I said that plainly enough. Think about that. Time and time again the Bible talks about rebirth, about the fruit of the Spirit, about how to identify people of faith ... about transformation. And here is what is really cool -- the transformation process never ends!
I have undergone some pretty radical transformation in the last ten years -- just ask my wife. But something funny happened just a few weeks ago. I mentioned to my Wednesday night class that a lady had approached me a couple of Sundays earlier, and had commented on how much I had changed in the last six months! When she said this I was completely taken aback. I had no idea what she was talking about. Even more surprising, the entire Wednesday night class agreed with her!
I am not mentioning this to pat myself on the back. How could I even think of taking credit for something of which I was completely unaware? I am still not exactly sure what those people were talking about. But, they are all my friends -- they know me. Whatever it is I accept it. More than that, I praise God for it.
Have you been transformed? If not, maybe now is the time to get serious about your faith.
