Marc’s Musings

ARDA collects stats on religious involvement. Check out the Kennebec County stats. More than 74,000 folks in our fair county don’t claim to belong to any faith community–Christian, Jewish, or even Bahá’í.

In my close to 2 years here in Waterville, I’d feel confident in betting that a large majority of these folks would claim to be Christians. Whether living the “lone ranger” lie or just disenchanted with “church,” these are folks that need an alternative. And that leaves many, many more that don’t even know Jesus or His story.

I’m praying that we at the Vineyard Church of Waterville will be a place for them to come and encounter the Living God. But I know we’ll need more churches and church plants too. My rough and dirty demographics have shown that Waterville alone has around 13,000 adults that don’t have a church home!

And we’re in a rural area. I can’t imagine the stats for places with large populations! The harvest is ripe!

Explore your county at http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/counties/23011_2000.asp.
[The Somerset County stats are here. (Waterville is at the northernmost tip of Kennebec County, bordering Somerset.)]

 

 

I just never knew how famous he was!

Check out for yourself here.

How cool would it be to have this ad for the Alpha course showing in movie theaters in Central Maine?

For the page with low bandwidth and high bandwidth options and to download the ad, click here.

Next Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, is the 2 year anniversary of my first sermon in Waterville. It’s hard to believe I’ve been pastoring for two years!

Last night in a moment of reflection on the road from Lewiston to Waterville, I realized that I also turned 20 this past August. August 1986 is when I mark my becoming a Christian.

20 years as a follower of Jesus.
2 years as a pastor.

That means I’ve already spent 10% of my Christian life as a pastor!

We did the big switheroo after the service today. With 12-15 adults each Sunday, the 65+ seat sanctuary was feeling cavernous. Besides, most of us preferred to hang out in the multipurpose room that has the kitchen and the coffee. It’s all about the coffee!

We feel moving the kids to the brighter room will help upgrade their experience. And moving us to the cozier, smaller space will help upgrade ours. I’m pretty excited. It’s like God’s inviting us to do something that doesn’t seem to be being done in this area. (I may be wrong. I don’t get to check out other churches since I have a standing Sunday gig!)

In bringing the kids stuff into the brighter room that until-recently-was-the-sanctuary, we set up a handy little 4′ table I bought at Sam’s Club for Friday’s hot chocolate give away.

When I went out there a few minutes later, my four year old daughter was coloring at the table. “Look Daddy! It’s my reach!! I can’t wait to come here next Sunday!!”

I thought we had a good idea. Now I know we did.

Check out this post from Levite Chronicles. Here’s a quote:

The quality of a church doesn’t depend on the perceived quality of the stones but on the skill of the Builder.

There’s a cool picture too.

Today at 4 a.m., a group of VCW’ers went to Wal-mart and served hot chocolate to the folks standing in line. My wife was told by one line-stander that she looks forward to seeing us every year. This is only our second year.

Looks like we’re a tradition.

Lines were shorter but we served more hot chocolate than last year. Over 300 cups!

Heard this on NPR today.

95 and in her last semester of college.

That’s how I want to be!

I used our snazzy Google Checkout button to do my offering today! Quick, easy, and I didn’t forget to bring it to church.

Try it for yourself at the bottom of http://www.vcwaterville.org/resources.htm

I just love having a Starbucks Duetto Visa.

We just got another free half pound of coffee, this time their new “Pike’s Place Blend.” Just becuase they knew it was our third anniversary of having the card.

Isn’t that so cool.

Who’d of thought I’d be blogging about a Visa!?