Thinking Back....

Last Wednesday night I was at the UNITE picnic on the PCC campus grounds in Connors Park. I was sitting there musing; looking around at all the people who were having such a good time and my mind began to drift back…

I began thinking about a youth event & family picnic we held back in our first year or so. We took a group of people to Munson Lake one Sunday afternoon after church. There were about 15 people there that day and they represented about half of our congregation. I specifically remember having a “God moment.” Even though it happened ten years ago it is still so fresh in my mind that it seems like yesterday. I was looking at this very small group of people who were playing have having so much fun when a feeling of gratitude came over me as I thought, “This isn’t much to show for a one or two years of work. It’s so small. But we ARE a church family and I am honored to be their pastor. Thank You God, for selecting me for this work.”

So I’m Connors Park last Wednesday night looking at all the people who were there, thinking about that day at Munson Lake ten years ago, and as I’m looking at the 125+ people who are there, I thought, “We have come a long way. There was a time when PCC did not even exist. Now look at it. Thank You God for letting me do this.”

Honestly I did not know how this “experiment” would actually work out when we started. But God has proven Himself faithful. Pace Community Church is eleven years old. But in our first year....

• We averaged 30 people in Sunday attendance
• We had one person on part-time paid staff (me) and I was supported entirely from OUTSIDE the church. (I operated a landscape business).
• In our second year we had three part-time staff, (myself and two others), and I personally paid them from earnings generated in my landscape business.
• We had two small groups.
• We had no paid administrative help for the church.
• We owned no property, no buildings, and had no assests.
• We met at Pace High School.
• We had no office. My bedroom served as my study and admin office.
• Everything our church owned we could fit in a 5x8 trailer.
• Our weekly offerings were about $330.00.

Eleven years later:

• We have more children in our children’s ministry than we had in our entire congregation back then
• We have more teens in our student ministry than we had in our entire church back then
• We now have four paid staff, and at least four unpaid staff
• Our weekly attendance averages about 450, and sometimes we go over 500.
• And we will baptize more people this month (May 31) than we had volunteers back then

Would you agree with me that God has enlarged our borders?

I could have never imagined all that God was going to do. I could have never imagined all the changed lives through the ministry of this church. I could have never imagined how God would change me!

If the last eleven years are any indication of what our future holds… then greater things are still to come.