Our vision here at ABC is to see God light up your life, your home, your neighborhood, and the world. However, we have been learning through our sermon series that we will only fulfill that shared vision if we first share the same core values. We have examined three core values thus far: truth, grace, and authenticity. This Sunday, I will conclude our series by looking to our final core value, impact.
Light is supposed to make an impact. Darkness cannot move light, but rather light was created to move away darkness. Sadly, many Christians are failing to live impactful lives in their churches and in the world. This Sunday, we are going to discover that Jesus has called each of us to do big things for His glory and for the good of others. Immediately following both worship services, you will have an opportunity to make an impact in our church by finding a place to serve in one of our vibrant ministries. I hope you come prayed up and prepared to find your place to shine here at ABC.
I will warn you though, it always takes some level of personal sacrifice to make an impact. With this principle in mind, I’m asking for your assistance in helping our church make a greater impact on our Sunday morning gatherings. Beginning Sunday June 4th, we are going to alter our Sunday morning schedule to create more margin for transition time between our worship services and the Bible Fellowship Group hour. Starting that Sunday, our choir and orchestra led service will begin at 8:45am, BFG’s will begin at 10am, and our band-led service will move to 11:15am.
There are multiple factors leading to this change, but the most pressing problem that needs to be addressed occurs between our BFG hour and 11:11am service. I love that we give a full hour to BFG’s as I am a proud advocate for on-campus discipleship groups in churches. However, our current schedule does not provide any transition time for folks to make it to the 11:11am worship service on time. BFG’s are currently running from 10:10am to 11:10am, and our second hour folks cannot make it across our church in one minute. Instead, most arrive 10-15 minutes late and they miss out on the opportunity to greet and welcome the dozens of new visitors that show up for that service each week.
If you pop your head into the worship center from around 11:00-11:15am, you will find myself and a small group of people in their chairs. You will also discover that almost all those people in their chairs are new to the church and stepping into a cold and empty room for their first impression. We do not have proper greeter teams in place because our second hour members would have to forgo much of their BFG hour in order to serve. Additionally, we lack a critical mass of worshippers in the room to lovingly welcome all these new people that are coming to our church. This lack warmth in our first impression is causing us to lose new visitors each week at 11:11am.
This schedule change will create margin for us to build up a proper first impression team that will replicate the excellence that we already offer in our first service. It will also give us enough time for BFG class members to enjoy a full hour of fellowship and not have to sacrifice missing a large portion of worship because of it. I understand this change will require many in our church to wake up a little earlier, and it will cause others to stay a little longer. However, it is worth making this small sacrifice because we must always be a church that exists for those who are not here yet.
This small change will help our church make a greater impact each weekend. We will recruit and empower more volunteer leaders in the second service, and by God’s grace, we will welcome more people into the fellowship of our church. Thank you for helping us through this transition which will become effective on promotion Sunday, June 4th. As for this Sunday, I look forward to unpacking this 4th core value with your further at 9am or 11:11am. Let your light shine this week, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
Onward and upward,
Jonathan Spencer
www.jonathanspencer.org 