What a Weekend!

If you weren’t here last weekend, you missed a memorable event! I was blown away by the excitement I beheld at Covenant Church on our First Fruits Weekend.

First, there was “the number.” As you know, I did not announce the total amount of our commitments together, mostly because everyone had not had the opportunity to turn in a card. Over the last three weeks, we’ve had another 100+ families join in the task of “finishing what we had started” three and years ago when we began our expansion. When I announced the number this past weekend, the worship center was electric.

Just imagine: We said we needed $1.4 million. Then, all of us went to the Lord individually and asked him what we should give. And- the total came out to $1.43 million!

One Covenant worshiper told me after she heard the announcement that she was absolutely floored as she realized that God had given us exactly what we needed…plus a little! The expectation was exactly where it should be, as we realized that it really wasn’t about us, or about what we were doing individually. We were excited instead to hear what God had chosen to do through us.

Then, there was the offering itself. How fun was that? I was thrilled to be among hundreds of Covenant families that placed envelopes in one of our baskets down front. What a unifying event it was to stand and sing about the goodness of God and to be living it out together in that moment. The offering was so exciting that we had over $19,000 in IOU’s from people who wanted to bring their gift in this week! Now, that is cool! In the end, we gave over $190,000 together toward our commitments in one day (about 14% of the whole thing)!

What a journey we’ve been on, studying scripture together and discerning what God wants for each of us individually and as a church body in crossing our own “Jordan River” as a whole! Through the stories and the events that have unfolded, it has been increasingly apparent that God is completely in control of our Crossing Together. I am proud of the great enthusiasm with which we have forged ahead together. When God’s people identify a goal, work through the issues together and prayerfully discern individual involvement, the results are beautiful. The hard work is worth it, and this spring’s initiative has been no different.

It will be hard to follow such a grand moment of celebration like the one we experienced this weekend. My hope, though, is that we will be able to celebrate many milestones in Crossing Together all year long. Just this weekend, we had quite a few families get excited and turn in their own commitment cards, now promising their presence and commitment as well. Now, we are a few stronger in our Crossing Together journey.

Again, I am so proud of our dedication as a church body to discern and follow through with God’s calling. Isn’t it amazing what can be accomplished when we truly and intentionally follow Jesus together?

See you this weekend!
Branson