The Dawning of a New Era...

Sunday night we had a special service at our church. We didn't know what else to call it, so we just called it a "Welcome the Pastor" service. He invited friends and family from all over. We, as church members, invited people that normally don't come at all, or normally don't come at night. We had 86 in attendance (if you include the 5 kids in the nursery and the 2 nursery workers). The service consisted of 3 congregational hymns (accompanied by 1 piano, organ, trumpet, flute, & violin), 4 different groups (with member overlap) doing special music, a time of meeting & greeting, and the preaching service.

My first service here was the New Years' Watchnight Service of 1994. From that service until March 2008, the greatest number of people I've seen in attendance for any service has been 75 (for an Easter Sunrise Service back in the late 1990s). Any service that we see 40 to 45 in attendance is a great service for our church. This last Sunday evening approximately 35 people came because they were somehow related to the pastor, or a friend of his family. We as a church had around 50 attend... on a Sunday Evening!

I enjoy meeting visitors and talking to people (and eating, of course) which we do a lot of at the fellowships; hopefully we can schedule similar services more often.