In 2017, the year we launched God Manifest, our attendance was sporadic and inconsistent. That year, we averaged only 5-10 people per week. At one service, only one young girl attended after averaging over 20 the previous two weeks. As the message started, I preached my heart out but secretly felt devastated by the lack of attendance. The one woman in attendance was a daughter who had just experienced the greatest tragedy of her young life, the suicide of her mother. After service, Olivia and I immediately tended to her, loving and counseling her the rest of the evening, listening to her, crying with her, and treating her to lunch, coffee, and dinner. She eventually left our house around midnight, approximately 14 hours after arriving. After she left, I turned to Olivia and asked her, “What happened at church today? Where was everyone? Did I do or say something wrong at last week’s service?” I felt defeated, and my confidence deflated. Olivia shared that she was wondering the same thing and asked me to ask the Lord, which I did. I asked Him, “Lord, what happened today? Where was everyone?” His response recalibrated my heart and my definition of ministry success. Rather than answer my question, God responded, asking me a profound question, “Did she encounter My love?”
God wasn’t worried about the numbers in attendance but rather if we had demonstrated His love. That young girl was the one lost sheep He was pursuing that day.
True success in God’s Kingdom is love.
🐑 🐑 🐑
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