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MORE Reformed Than Jesus

In 2011, from the Sunday after Labor Day through the Sunday before Christmas, we had an average attendance of 128. In the same period last fall (2012), because of our outreach initiative, we averaged 148.

We did it again for Easter. We did a big mailer, and handed out almost 5,000 invite cards. We begged God to do something amazing. We started a new, four-week series on Easter Sunday about how the truth of Easter can change your life.

On Easter Sunday, we had 281, which is a 20 percent larger gathering than the largest attendance we’ve had since I began four years ago (220 for Easter 2012). But, even more exciting, we had 228 people return this past Sunday the week after Easter.

Our goal isn’t just to get a lot of people coming to church. Our goal is the formation of fully faithful followers of Jesus.

I’m still going to preach expositionally 80 percent of the time. I’m still committed to biblical ecclesiology. I still believe that God is sovereign. And, thankfully, now I realize that a lot of outreach strategies I might have waved off flippantly can actually be tools in God’s hands to mobilize his people on his mission.

I’ve found that practical tools and theological rigor are compatible.

God has thousands of people in our cities that he has set aside for himself. He’s calling us to go and find them. Let’s stop arguing and get to work.