People - thousands of people - invest in the ministries of this church with their time, talent and money.   We as an eldership pray together each Monday morning before work, asking God for the faith and wisdom to steward well these investments.  And we prepare this report to show that we are seeking to be faithful in stewarding the investment you are making.

But this report goes far beyond mere accounting.  This is a cry of worship, a shout of praise because we know:

Every number has a name, every name has a destiny, and every destiny matters to God.  Numbers matter when we remember people matter.

This precious girl from Africa came in for a benevolence appointment. Her boyfriend had abandoned her, and her children and she needed help with a utility bill. After about 5 minutes in my office, I could tell she did not know Jesus. I explained the difference between relationship and religion and explained to her the urgency of the hour and laid out the full gospel.  But after explaining all of this, she was still just as hard as could be! She told me that she had many questions and I immediately discerned that she was angry with God. 

I asked her about her questions.  She had experienced many atrocities and could not understand a good God allowing those things to happen to her and in this world. I began to explain to her why it was not God’s fault, but the free will of men who were inherently evil.  She told me that she did NOT believe that JOY existed and would never be happy in her life. I shared with her that she was drinking the poison and holding on to all that unforgiveness. While sharing, the Holy Spirit just fell on her and she broke!!! She began to weep and told me she had cried out to God that previous night that if he was real, He would do something in her life that was different! 

Well, it happened in my office! She repented of all her unforgiveness, prayed the sinner’s prayer and gave her life completely to the Lord!  I gave her a Bible and invited her to church on Thursday evening in which she showed up and was extremely touched by the service. I commented, as she was leaving the church, that for someone who didn’t believe in joy, she sure had a lot of joy on her face for she was smiling ear to ear! She laughed and said now she knew joy existed!  She had also called her brother in Africa and shared her testimony with him for he was a believer and had been praying for her.

I don’t have words to adequately communicate how overwhelmed my heart is that we get to be part of stories like this, stories that number in the tens of thousands.

So let me encourage you to worship and give thanks as you look over this report.  And when you finish, would you ask God to do even more in us and through us in the days to come?