by Scott Nelson, Lead Pastor
It has been an amazing summer at Covenant Grove Church. We have had almost 50 first-time visitors in the last six weeks. Many of those visitors have come back for a second visit, and some are already getting plugged in to ministry or a Life Group. Even though our attendance goes down in the summer – wait and see – in the fall it will feel like an explosion happened!
You see, we don’t slow down or do halfway ministry in the summer. We still go all out for Jesus, and every week we have fun and give our best to the Lord. New people are coming, connecting, and growing closer to God. When the summer ends, everyone will show up on the same Sundays, and people will ask, “Where did all of these new people come from?” Well, they have been here off an on in the summer, and we did the hard work to follow up, listen and pray, and get them connected. We don’t take the summer off. In fact, it is because of the hard work we all do in the summer that makes the fall feel so huge. God is on the move, and we are moving to keep in step with the Savior.
Of course for our church, this whole season is amazing for another reason: we are awaiting construction and moving in to expanded facilities. We are sacrificially giving and praying so that more people can have a church home. We are giving to church planting and a missions project. We know that we will probably have to rent and get on the move again as a church. This season that we’re in is a time to go deep in our faith with Christ, to strengthen our systems, and to grow leaders on new levels. This is a season to prepare for the next season.
In every season it will always be our goal to stay on the mission of God to reach new people. We will never stop living out His mission together. We will do anything other than sin to reach lost people with Jesus. This is an amazing season, and I am so glad to be on this adventure with an amazing church family. Keep praying for us, keep growing in your faith, and stay on fire for the mission with Christ.
