Ministry Update
Pastor Casey
New Lifers,
I’m sometimes asked an important ministry update question: “Pastor, when are we bringing back the 8 am service at the park?”
Let me first tell you the answer and then tell you the reasoning behind the answer. After careful consideration, our Leadership Team has agreed not to resume the 8 am service this spring. Instead, we’ll research if, why, and how to potentially resume an 8 am service in the fall.
I know that will disappoint some of our worshipers, so let me explain our thinking. Personally, I have no problem adding another service to my own Sunday morning. It’s one more chance to preach the gospel and lead people into God’s presence! Another worship service can often be an opportunity for a church to reach more people simply by giving people more possible times to choose from.
But as your Leadership Team (our church board) weighed this, we realized that there are other factors to consider. First, there are other staff and volunteers needed to staff another service. This is a planning and logistics issue. Second, we need to determine why to add another service. Some like the time but others have enjoyed the location at the park. Some like the park because of the (sometimes) pleasant environment, while others see it as an outreach opportunity to those outside the church. If we host a service on the church campus, we’ll also have to consider parking. Finally, we need to account for all the additional resources we might need for another service, which depends on staff/volunteers and location (see above).
If the steady attendance and growth we’ve seen this first quarter of 2025 continue into the fall, we’ll absolutely have to consider another worship service - which is a great problem to have! Our 9:15 service has been full most Sundays this year. Praise God!
By the way, here’s our average worship attendance so far this year. We’ve averaged 223 during our 9:15 service and 267 at our 10:45 service, for a total average of 490 on Sunday mornings. Our total average during the same period of 2024 was 513. That’s pretty consistent with our worship attendance the last two years, however, we had major disruptions to our worship patterns last fall thanks to the hurricanes.
If you’ve been an 8 am worshiper, or someone sitting a little closer to others at 9:15 am, THANK YOU for your patience and understanding. If you’ve got helpful feedback that might help us as we decide our worship options, please let me or one of our Leadership Team members know. I’m grateful to worship with each of you every Sunday!
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