How new people come to church for the first time

How new people come to church for the first time

Now Crandall’s original study was done in the 10 years ago, when church growth scholarship was really studying the impact of such advertising. From research done some time ago and still in print from Amazon (Source:The Inviting Church, 1987 p. 44), here is what was found:

• 2% by Advertisement
• 6% by the Pastoral Invitation
• 6% by organized evangelism campaign
• 86% by friends or relatives

from: http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2009/15-strategies-to-increase-first-time-visitors/

Practicing His Presence

Ok
so you probably have heard this term before, "practicing His Presence"

But I had not heard of it until today when my pastor mentioned it to me....

It is a good process of thinking. Basically, you practice God's presence in your life when you

acknowledge that He is present and there in your life.

Once you acknowledge that God is present in your life

you inevitably would live differently. Imagine God is watching your every move...

This way of thinking is an interesting one and a good one.

It should change sinful behavior.

Anyways, just a thought.

Another Experiencing God moment

God is not glorified by making our plans succeed. He receives glory when His will is done in His way.

Understanding what God is about to do where I am is more important than telling God what I want to do for Him.

This part of submission is hard for me. I get these cool, big dreams and I want to do them for God, but that is not how it works. God will come to me. I need to relax and submit to God.

If the dreams are God's dreams and He wants to work through me to do something I could never do than that is what is suppose to Happen. That is how God will work. He has His own wa and His own agenda! God will not adjust to me. I must adjust to Him.

Experiencing God moment

"We do not sit down and dream what we want to do for God and then call God in to help us accomplish it." (From Experiencing God: Blackaby and King)

"It's not a question of what you can do for me...what can I do for you, My King?" (Tree63)

I am guilty of these things. I will sometimes find myself dreaming of what I think God wants and then I will ask God for help doing it....

But it does not work that way. We must die to ourself and submit to God and what He is doing. We must die to ourself and let God do what He is going to do (not what we want to do or what we thing He is going to do) and then we must join Him in HIS work!