Tuesday, April 27, 2010

When Church and School Collide





One of the things I love the most about our ministry here at Grace is when we combine together as a church ministry and a school ministry and see God use our complete ministry in a most remarkable way. That is exactly what happened last Sunday morning as I preached as if I were in the middle of a Scripture drama from John 21 with Jesus and Peter. What made it special is that both Jesus and Peter were played by Lititz Christian School (LCS) students. Nate Garland, who graduated last year, played Jesus and Jonathan Distler, a Senior this year, played the role of Peter. They were outstanding. How fulfilling it was to see God use their talents which were groomed and developed under the ministry of Mrs. Jen Felty and Mrs. Sue Bitner through their participating in LCS musicals, dramas and drama classes.

It was a very moving experience Sunday to see dozens people coming forward at the end of all three morning services to say, “Yes, I am choosing to follow Jesus in spite of my past spiritual failures. I believe He has forgiven me and still wants to use me.” Here is what one person wrote on our church Facebook page about the service yesterday:

"What an amazing service today. What an awesome God. Thanks Grace & the whole staff for ministering to us!!!"

Below is another piece of feedback I received about last Sunday’s services. I especially love this one because it shows how God also has used our Face Your Fears yard signs.

“I just wanted to say thanks to you for your amazing messages. This series is speaking right to my heart. I am sure that God is doing a great work in the hearts of many through you. I do not belong to your church and have not been going to church for a few years. When I started noticing the lawn signs pop up all over the area I began to wonder what they were about. I was encouraged to check out Grace Church by someone I went to high school with and I have been coming all series long. Each week I pray to find the courage to go alone and each week your words speak to my heart. Thanks so much for doing the work that God has called you to do!! Your messages bring me to tears and make me feel like I am where God wants me to be. Today’s message was truly the message I have been needing to hear for a long time.”

If you would like to watch the message/drama portion service last Sunday you can do so through out internet ministry at http://www.gracechurchworship.org/april252010.html

We also had 103 visitors who watched the live stream of the 10am service last Sunday on the web. 53 of these visitors completed a survey. We discovered that 32% of viewers were first time visitors to the live webcast and that 28% of viewers were NOT regular attendees or members of Grace Church. We also learned that on average, for each visitor that logs on, there are a total of 2.6 people watching. So given yesterday's numbers of 103 visitors logged on to our live webcast we can figure that a total of 267 people watched the live webcast. 86 of these people were first time viewers to the live web cast and 75 of the viewers were not regular attendees or members of Grace Church. Thank you, Jesus, for what You are doing here at Grace, using us to meet as many people as possible right where they are and helping to move them to where God wants them to be.

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