February 22, 2011

Ten Things I Love About My Church

Top Ten {Tuesday}


Ten Things I Love About My Church

The Husband and I met over 16 years ago at our church.  Back then it was in a much smaller building with about 1/3 of the congregation.  We are so richly blessed by our church family.

We have a fantastic book store on site that provides great resources for everyone.  Every week the message is recorded so if you hear something you'd like to give to a friend or co-worker, you can purchase it right after the service.  It is also a cozy place to look through books!


Our atrium is full of tables and chairs for folks to gather between and after services each week.  Trust me, this area is jam packed with people every Sunday morning.  We love the sense of community, and it happens here each Sunday.  This area is even set to be expanded this Spring!
 

Our attendance is now around 4,400 each week.  I love to be among that many believers worshiping the King of Kings and growing together.  Yes, it is a large congregation, but when you get involved, it becomes much smaller very quickly!


We house a food pantry that is fully stocked and run by our congregation.  Thousands of families are blessed by this pantry every year. 

Our church believes strongly in Missions!  This year alone we will send about 12 different groups to various places around the globe.  We've had an ongoing relationship with a church in Haiti for over 10 years and have partnered with them to build a church and a christian school.  We are also heavily involved in the Dominican Republic.


I love that if you are struggling in any given area in your life, we have a group that can help you!  We offer many different support groups, as well as specific groups like single moms and seniors.


This guy is the heart and soul of our church.  Mike Baker is our Senior Pastor.  Husband and I have known Mike from even before he came to Eastview through retreats with CIY, where he worked previously.  You could not meet a more genuine guy who is on fire for God and for His church.  Mike preaches only from the Bible each and every week and he is an awesome speaker.  His wife?  She is awesome too!


Our kids are taught straight from the Bible as well each and every week.  Every two years they cover the entire Bible.  That means in their time in Kidsview they will have studied the Bible 3 times!  The teaching, love and encouragement found in our childrens department is TOP NOTCH!


Our girls have been involved with Upward Basketball at our church for several years and truly love it.  It brings in over 700 kids throughout our community every year.



We've been involved with a small group the entire time we have attended this church.  It is the great way that our large church can seem much smaller.  We have made some of the greatest friends through our small groups.  Our kids all grow up together and have created some terrific bonds.  We have been able to "do life" with many of these families that helps us through the day to day challenges of marriage and parenthood.  I consider them my dearest of friends.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, I love this and honestly I am taking a few notes. We found a very tiny country church after we moved here 4 yrs ago and I so wish the growing stage was further along because I would love to have some of the things your church has. My hubby loves this church....(some days a point of discussion) and I love a big church in the old city about 20 min away. I am trying so hard to love it as much as he does. I know it isn't the church or the opportunities but I sure miss all that. Our church as grown to about 300 and it is funny how the older members think this is huge. Of course I come from a Catholic heritage so that is tiny! Anyway, one thing we did start last year was small groups and we love that! Thank you for your post. Have a blessed day!

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  2. Wow! What a tremendous blessing! I can't even imagine 4400. We have 80-100.

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  3. Love this post! My husband and I met at our church about 10 years ago! :)

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  4. Your church looks like a wonderful place. I come from a large parish and we have two churches with a total of 6 Masses per weekend. We try to stick with the same Mass every weekend, but you are right, the groups do make it more personal. I came from a small country church myself, where everyone knew everyone else. It took me a while to get used to the larger congregation.

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  5. What a blessing to be part of a great church and feel like you belong.
    ((((hugs)))
    katia

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