Progress!

Last Sunday was a big week for The River, and a big week for me.

Two weeks ago in worship, I had shared the financial status of The River- that we end every month with $500-$1,000 less in the bank than we started with, and that the difference is 7 families giving $35 more per week. Also, the Vision Team had made the first Sunday of each month "Invitiation Sunday" as a way to get before everyone the idea that we are to invite others to The River. Two weeks ago was the first time we had rolled that out as well.

Making these kind of appeals are a new thing for me. In many ways, I'm still new to the captain's chair. I have plenty of experience in church work, and I'm pretty darn sure I have the skills to lead a church, but I haven't put them into practice before. It's one thing to think it and know it, quite another to actually do it. The River is my first venture as the leader of a church, so I've wondered how things like this would go. So what happened?

We had our first break-even week and highest attendance since Easter.

So it was a really big week for The River, because it showed all of us that growth is happening and that we can do this. It also showed me that I can do this- that I can be the leader of a church in all respects. Obviously, I'm gonna be better at some and worse at others, but all this time spent looking, listening and learning paid off. I feel really good about that, and really good about the future of The River. Enough so that I was able to really enjoy taking the 4th off.

Since this is a roller coaster ride, I fully expect that next Sunday in worship it will be me and a dozen crickets, but we still made progress last week, and nothing can change that, and nothing can change what it did for my confidence and the confidence of the folks on this journey. Yay, God!