Five years ago I presented a sermon series titled I Love My Church and it was really, really good! Not because of what I had to say but because of what people had to say in the video testimonies of how they came to the church and what the church meant to them. I especially remember Danielle Rodriguez' testimonial when she said a great memory of her church was when she was baptized and she said "wow, I'm with God". That was beautiful and by the way, Danielle Rodriguez is now Danielle Avella, she and Nik were married, via ZOOM, at the end of 2020!
Now we're in 2021 and guess what? I still love my church.
As I look back on 2020 there were so many wonderful things that took place in and through our church. Of course, we never thought that we'd be closed to in person gatherings for about 120 days but we were and we actually grew our church during that time. We were already offering online services for Sunday mornings along with occasional special events and that gave us a head start on what was to be a major shift in doing church. Immediately after we had to close the building for in person gatherings we began adding to the schedule of online services either through our online platform, Facebook, YouTube and ZOOM. Everything were were doing to connect as a church was online and we added three more weekend services as well. What we saw was astonishing to us, the amount of people viewing the online services more than quadrupled. The ZOOM meetings for Women and Men were attended by more than double the amount of people who were attending in person. The Joseph's Storehouse, our community outreach for food and clothing did remain open throughout the shutdown, hundreds of people received help during that time thanks to the awesome volunteers that serve in that ministry.
It was a challenging four months while we were closed to in person gatherings but the media and worship team did a phenomenal job of adapting and expanding. It was strange leading in worship and preaching when there was no audience but we all found ourselves picturing the people engaging in what we were doing and the response by the increased online attendance showed us that the audience was drawn into the worship and the word as we had hoped they would.
As I close I really wanted to make this point; in person and digital gatherings are vital to accomplish the calling that God has on Living Water Church. Someone observed that they appreciate the online preaching because they can stay focused on the message and refer back to it as well. Someone else said that they appreciated the online services but they are so very happy that we can meet in person again. However you attend please know that you're special to us.
We've seen about 70% of our church family back in the in person gatherings, that's just about double the national average. We've also seen new people join us too. There's also a lot of people who are still participating online because of various concerns and reasons. As Pastor I want tell everyone that they're very important and special to me and I would LOVE to hear your story of your in person and online church experience. Do you love Living Water Church? Would you please take a moment to comment on this blog page or perhaps send an email to me and share your thoughts, I'd truly appreciate it. My email address is george@livingwater.online
I hope you're enjoying the New Year New You series and also I hope you're looking forward to the February series Road To Financial Freedom.
With daily prayers for you,
Now we're in 2021 and guess what? I still love my church.
As I look back on 2020 there were so many wonderful things that took place in and through our church. Of course, we never thought that we'd be closed to in person gatherings for about 120 days but we were and we actually grew our church during that time. We were already offering online services for Sunday mornings along with occasional special events and that gave us a head start on what was to be a major shift in doing church. Immediately after we had to close the building for in person gatherings we began adding to the schedule of online services either through our online platform, Facebook, YouTube and ZOOM. Everything were were doing to connect as a church was online and we added three more weekend services as well. What we saw was astonishing to us, the amount of people viewing the online services more than quadrupled. The ZOOM meetings for Women and Men were attended by more than double the amount of people who were attending in person. The Joseph's Storehouse, our community outreach for food and clothing did remain open throughout the shutdown, hundreds of people received help during that time thanks to the awesome volunteers that serve in that ministry.
It was a challenging four months while we were closed to in person gatherings but the media and worship team did a phenomenal job of adapting and expanding. It was strange leading in worship and preaching when there was no audience but we all found ourselves picturing the people engaging in what we were doing and the response by the increased online attendance showed us that the audience was drawn into the worship and the word as we had hoped they would.
As I close I really wanted to make this point; in person and digital gatherings are vital to accomplish the calling that God has on Living Water Church. Someone observed that they appreciate the online preaching because they can stay focused on the message and refer back to it as well. Someone else said that they appreciated the online services but they are so very happy that we can meet in person again. However you attend please know that you're special to us.
We've seen about 70% of our church family back in the in person gatherings, that's just about double the national average. We've also seen new people join us too. There's also a lot of people who are still participating online because of various concerns and reasons. As Pastor I want tell everyone that they're very important and special to me and I would LOVE to hear your story of your in person and online church experience. Do you love Living Water Church? Would you please take a moment to comment on this blog page or perhaps send an email to me and share your thoughts, I'd truly appreciate it. My email address is george@livingwater.online
I hope you're enjoying the New Year New You series and also I hope you're looking forward to the February series Road To Financial Freedom.
With daily prayers for you,
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4 Comments
I do love my church! Very much!!! I love our diverse, real and unique church family. I love the messages that inspire and challenge me. I love that there are so many places and opportunities for people to serve and that "happy are the workers" in the Lord's house. I love that so many people that attend our church feel that we are poised to reach more people and are excited to see it as well as be a part of it. Did I mention I love my church? Did I mention that I love that we have real people in our church? People that recognize that they aren't perfect and that we all struggle and that we are uniquely positioned to share a message of hope with people that need that! People that need to know it's ok to not be perfect. And when you're going through it, there are people that have been through it and are willing to pray for you as well as pray with you and walk the road along side you until we get to where God wants us to be. I love that my church NEVER GIVES UP!!! Never gives up on people, never gives up on reaching out, never gives up on trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I. LOVE. MY. CHURCH. And I thank God for keeping me connected.
Thank you very much for your comments, I blessed to serve our Church with you & Susie
I love our church and I love the group of women who come together on Tuesday to share and pray with each other on zoom. I am blessed to be able to connect in person and online with our church family.
Than you for your comments, I love serving our Church with you.