– A.W. Tozer, in Keys to the Deeper Life

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/79102167@N00/12687461/

On the contrary, if your desire is half-hearted.  If you want God on your terms and on your schedule.  If He is only a small part of your life, then be prepared to live continue living a dry and and empty life.

2010 has been one record breaking high after another. Calvary concluded 2009 with an average attendance of 800.   In January, I wrote a blog post entitled “Record Breaking Weekend.”  That post highlighted a weekend in January where we had 986 in church, our highest attended non-Easter Sunday service to that date.  This past Sunday we had 1,094 in church, which was our highest attended Sunday ever…including previous Easters.

Being a bit of a geek I love to crunch numbers, and I know that having 1,094 people in church is way beyond where we should be statistically in 2010.  In fact, if average growth rates and stats held true, we should’t have 1,094 people in church for several more years.  But stats are not holding true, and there is something else going on. We have a little momentum.

Dave Ramsey says, “Focused intensity over time, multiplied by God, creates unstoppable momentum.”

Focused intensity – For over 20 years Calvary has been beating the same drum.  People, people, people, people…. Loving people, reaching out to people, including people,  ministering to people….  Calvary is laser focused on bringing people farther along in their relationship with Christ.  It is what we endeavor to do, everyday.  In fact, it is written into our core values, to “Love People.”

Multiplied by God – You can work your tail off, but if God isn’t behind your efforts, they won’t end up resulting in anything.  But when God is moving, get ready for a ride. And pray for it to continue, because one thing I have learned about momentum is that you do not take it for granted.  Without question, God is multiplying our efforts at Calvary.

Creates Unstoppable Momentum – I am praying that we are only seeing the beginning of what is going to happen in this season of our church’s life.  Although we have seen hundreds of new people come to Calvary in just a few months, I know that there are hundreds of thousands who are still without Christ is our surrounding neighborhoods.  I am praying that the momentum we are experiencing now allows us to reach more people in our community in the months. and years, ahead.