Wrapping Up madatchurch.com - Part 1

The day after Easter is always slow mentally. There isn't much left over after four services, even when I'm talking about the most exciting topic in history. But there are many people who have been following the madatchurch.com series, both here in Poky and around the country, so I'm going to do a few posts as we look at what God has done thru this effort. Some of the early pieces we are processing:

• 335 - the number of hits on the website. We didn't get exactly the highest traffic, most visible billboards in town, but we had a bunch of traffic on the madatchurch.com website during the time they were up. Traffic was also up on the fbcpoky.com site and the staff blogs, so people were using the web to connect to our church family. It goes to show that our culture is using technology to find answers, and even to check out churches. We as a church need to continue to find ways to use technology to the advantage of God's kingdom.
• 20-25 - the number of people who indicated they became Christ followers. In the four weeks of this series, we had the greatest response to the gospel of anything we've ever done as a church. When Aaron brought the message week two, 17 people raised their hands to acknowledge they were giving their lives to Jesus! There were 5 people who marked on their communication cards the past two Sundays. The reason we're a little vague with the numbers here is that we can only follow up on the people who tell us who they are, so we don't know if some of the people who raised their hands also checked the box the next week, or if there were more people but they didn't check the box... We're working on whatever the barriers are that keeps us from being able to follow up effectively with folks, but the big take away is this: there was a move of God in the past four weeks that has touched lives and made an eternal difference!
• Beginning or end? - We're praying and thinking about what works better: starting a series on Easter or ending a series on Easter. Over the years we've done it both ways, and it's hard to tell if there's an advantage either way. The next series we're doing is about following Jesus, and flows naturally out of both the madatchurch.com and Easter, so we're praying for people to get on board with what it means to follow the risen Christ.
• Sacrificing for others - There were several folks who gave up their usual seats on Sunday morning to come either Saturday night or to the 9 am service Sunday to make room for others. For some, that's a big sacrifice, for others a small step, but for anyone who did that, thank you! We had the largest attendance of the four services, the largest 11 service we've had in years, and three of those folks in that service gave their life to Christ! Your sacrifice in moving paid off, and I want you to know that. Thank you for loving God and loving people enough to move to another time slot.
• Taking it Personally - I met so many people who were introduced to me as guests by the person who brought them. As much as we want billboards and invitation cards to bring people to meet Jesus at Easter, it's always, ALWAYS going to be the personal invite that brings them in the door. Thank you THANK YOU to each person who brought someone to hear the good news of the resurrection this weekend. When you risk enough to ask, God smiles.

More later as we continue to process this. If you've got stories of how this series impacted you or someone you know, email me and let me know. And pray for this next series, Follow Jesus, I think it's going to push our church family toward the next step of challenge we need to hear. I'm being challenged by it already, and it's only Monday!!