The Sundays I care the most about...

        Every week at MLC we realize we are going to have people walking through our doors seeking to give God and the church one more shot. So we're always on our p's and q's. However, there are really just a FEW Sundays every year that I am willing to risk being accused of micromanagement with. My Team will tell you that there are a few Sunday's services every year that I am HIGHLY involved in and willing to fight for.  The reason is that there are about five Sundays per year that our church opens its doors the widest to unchurched people. To be honest with you, I think our church primarily grows through these few Sundays every year. Here they are, followed by the REASON they're so important.

• Christmas: more important than Easter, because this Holiday is not followed by Summer, and we have found that we actually have a greater chance at incorporating people into our family more effectively following this holiday.

• Second Sunday in January: We've got two things working for us here. One, we just had a bunch of new guests visit us on Christmas weekend, but were probably hung over the following weekend from New year's Celebrations! So if they've decided to give God and the church one more shot, this will be their first Sunday back with us. Second, you;ve got the whole New Year's Resolutions thing working for us. People have been promising God and each other for three months that "after the Holidays we're going to get in church..." This is their weekend, and we're ready for them!

• Easter: This one is a no-brainer. However, our goal every year on Easter is not to get everyone "saved" before they leave the service. Our goal is to get them to give us another chance the following week.  In fact, we've begun to evaluate our effectiveness on this day by the weeks attendance AFTER Easter. If NO ONE comes back the following weekend, we failed on Easter. A good goal is for us to be up in attendance by atleast 10% from the week before Easter. This means we TRULY reached new people who were disconnected from Christ on Easter Sunday! If we have, we believe God used us on Easter. Hope that all makes sense.

• Mother's Day: Mother's Day is the third largest attendance in our church every year. We program the services with that in mind. Every mean, cursing, drinking, nasty man will get cleaned up for Grandma, mom, or the wife, and come to church to keep the woman off his back. So on Mother's Day, we enter the service recognizing the fact that, not only do we need to bless MOMS, but realize there will be a lot of unchurched men in our service that might be giving God and the church one more shot. I can;t wait to watch that happen again this week!

• Back To School Weekend:  Alot of new families move during the summer, so as not to disrupt their kids' school years. Their summers are crazy, but come Fall, even unchurched people are looking for a way to make a new start in their new community and make new friends. Church, even in their minds, is a great place to do that. So the first weekend after school starts is a BIG week for our church. It always feel like our church grows 20% on this Sunday. So we are ready. We always seek to teach a series during this timer that will really connect with a family and what they're facing. This year, once again, we will kick off a community wide emphasis and teaching series on the family.