The morning started at a bright and early 7:00. Funny, that only months ago when it was a big Sunday my day started at 5:00 a.m. But I was thouroughly prepared for the grand opening of Severn River Church. My message, the music, the handouts, the people, everything was in place and even the areas that we had come up short in were still covered in a temporary manner. This was it. The crowning moment of 9 months of preparation by a dedicated team of people, 2 years of personal preparation, and many years of vision prior to me that laid the groundwork for SRC to become a reality.
My arrival at 7:55 a.m. found me there by myself, and I took a few moments to soak in the surroundings. I walked to the stationary phone to call for the room to be opened. The officer was already in the building. Taking down tables and moving chairs, and others began to arrive.
Everyone jumped in and started working. Each executed their assigned duties with excellence. And at starting time it was a full house...That is...the most full it had been. 53 people is the answer to the magic question. And away we go.
Of those 53 about half were first time guests. And 2/3rds of those were either unchurched or dechurched. One woman (not follower of Christ) remarked in response to the service that it was so comfortble. ( If that was your one word win -- you win! )
Everything went well, from Matt's opening (We have started utilizing comedy as ministry. Matt begins each service with a 5 minute comedy monologue.) to the music, ministry and message it went very well.
One of the coolest things was the communion. Early in the week I had received a list of everyone that would be involved in the service. Offering communion was a special friend of mine. She is 16 years old and has been part of my ministry for about 6 years. I thought it very out of the norm that a teenager would be offering communion. I guess that's what made me smile that she did it. If the kingdom teaches us anything it's that the unlikely do the most important things. She did fantastic.
Success comes in a variety of forms. Whether it's the Presbyter (bishop) taking off his tie, or the children who didn't want to leave our kids ministry, there were signs all around us that the Lord had brought us to a special place. No longer a church plant we are now a church.
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On another note.
The greatest success came not at the service, but what followed. I headed out of town for a conference/vacation; by the time that I got online in OC, Md. there were 8 e-mails in my inbox none of them to me really. I was copied in on e-mails between our operations team. They had already congratualted one another and started to work at fixing small problems that we encountered, and planning for the future. This is the strength of SRC going forward. Our Community, our Transformation, our Leadership Development.
--Thanks, Ben
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