What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field , God’s building. (NASB)

Fifteen months have passed since I last blogged. I have missed it. My blog up until now has been focused on the lessons I’ve learned and tried to apply to the role and concept of a Biblical shepherd. While that journey will never be complete, I am hoping to take this blog in a new direction, if only I can figure out how to do it. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, much has happened in those 15 months for me personally and publicly. I finished management training and am now an entry level manager with a national car company. My daughter finished her high school junior and senior years and will graduate this Thursday before attending university in the fall. My wife has been recognized as Nurse of the Year in her department. My son has completed EMT school. Both of my parents have been diagnosed with cancer and are undergoing treatment. We have moved to a larger home so we can host visitors to our congregation. And these are just the things that come to the top of my head. Many things have happened and God has been there every step of the way with us.

Something else that happened is both the numerical and spiritual growth in our congregation. We summarized the events of 2013 and published an annual report for the congregation so they too could see how they contributed to the work of the Kingdom. The report highlighted several accomplishments for Glorifying God over the year. Here are some examples.

Our Quilting Ministry distributed 20 quilts both locally and abroad. We revamped our Children’s Ministry to make it more like our VBS once a week. We established a milestone and involved entire families in our first Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) Convention. We held our bi-annual Teen-Elder Retreat, annual Youth Camping Trip, and a host of other fun and spiritually rewarding activities. We planned, prepared, and hosted our first area-wide Ladies’ Day in years. We spent the year becoming more deeply involved with God’s Word through our Book of the Year, the Gospel of Matthew, and more than half the congregation took advantage of our new House to House (H2H) Ministry (i.e. Small Groups) to grow closer together.

We participated in God’s mission to create disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20) in our local community and the community of believers abroad. We had friends join us in our annual “flag” football game and get muddy at our annual luau, handed out over 2,000 water bottles during the Douglas County Parade, distributed 777 scarves and thousands of glow sticks at our booth at the Castle Rock Starlighting, and began our unique Brothers in Arms outreach. We supported missions around the world and in our own country from Angola, Belize, Guatemala, Scotland, France, and Mexico to Arizona and Michigan.

I firmly believe because of we were faithful in a few things that God is blessing us with more. The details above are just a portion of the fruits of our labor. As a result, in a time when many congregations are stagnant or declining God has blessed us with numerical growth, as our attendance grew from an average of 190 to 240, including 13 new Christians. We are also financially healthy in a day when many of our fellow congregations have to slash budgets. He blessed us with financial growth and your offerings made us financially healthy. You can feel the excitement in our worship assemblies which are alive with a positive momentum you can feel.

All of this is for naught if we forget the verses above which remind us it is God who gives us the increase. 2013 was an exciting year. So far 2014 continues along the same lines and we are striving to fulfill God’s vision for His Church, our families, and our community. If you haven’t done so or even if you already did, I invite you to reflect on God’s blessings for you and I pray they have been better than what I have experienced.

May your blessings exceed mine today and every day.

-DEM