3/6/07
March 6th, 2007
Dear Mandarin coworkers:
Last few weeks, I have emailed someone of you the weekly attendee records. I won’t be able to do that this month. Instead I plan to share with you some of my thoughts on a regular basis.
I’ll be out of town during the Sundays of 3/11 and 3/25. I’ll be away 3/9-14 and again 3/19-28. Thus, I decided not to take the record home because I won’t be able to put it back in the following Sunday. I was in a hurry to leave last Sunday and didn’t put the record into my computer. I noticed we had 48 people. I don’t know the details and don’t know which ones need special care from us. For four consecutive weeks, we have 44+ people. They are 47, 45, 44, and 48 respectively. This year, we have seen improvements in our service attendee. We have an average of 12 people increase since the low point of Nov., 2006. In average, we have one more person for each week and four people increase every month. step by step, we are heading towards the goal. One person per week seems so small but it can be accumulated to a big force.
The improvement is encouraging and it is a result of team effort. I noticed brothers and sisters stiffing together for the congregation (actually for the Lord not for our own) I believe there were more that escaped from my attention and I didn’t notice. However, Almighty God won’t ignore it even though people may not see it at all. There are people who needs our care. Even those who come to the service regularly need care and support too. Love is a wonderful thing. This is something that the more you use the more you have. Let’s give out more love from us and we will find we have more for our own.
We still have a long way to go. I anticipate moving up to the next level will be even more challenging. In church history, we tend to notice those great persons and forget that God actually used ordinary people like you and me to achieve great things. When we work together, we can write our own triumph chapter in Christian Church history at this place at this moment of time. An attendee goal of 50 is just the first step. Actually, it is not a goal first set by me. Recently, I learned when EFCSB planned for the Mandarin congregation, 50 was chosen as the goal. For many years, we forgot about that and failed to reach it. Let’s achieve it this year. I believe God has something bigger than that for us to experience.
Before I departed for my previous trip, I was kind of emotionally down. I am not better than you. We are all human that has up and down days. God wants us to learn how to support each other and encourage each others. Thanks to brothers and sisters. Your words of encouragement, prayers, and supports are precious to me.
I won’t see you this week. However, my heart will be with you.
Peter