5 Year Anniversary Pt. 2

1. The grand opening of People's Church was May 12, 2002. We had 65 people in attendance. We did a mail out to let people know that we were getting started. That was one of the most scary days of my life. I wondered if anybody would show up, besides our family members who made up a good portion of the crowd that first service. Some people did show up, and we were off and rolling!

2. The first year of People's Church was very busy and very demanding physically and emotionally. I traveled full-time around America and Canada speaking in churches, conventions and camps to provide financially for my family and to help underwrite the church plant. My wife was working full-time, and she was also over our children's ministry and taught the kids on Sundays. Needless to say, it was a grueling season of ministry for us. To be real honest, I don't miss those days of church planting. It was a breaking time in my life.

3. I'll NEVER forget the first Sunday of August 2002. That was our first Sunday to have over 100 people in attendance. We never fell under 100 people in attendance after that Sunday.

4. From day one, People's Church has always seen a lot of people make Christ the Lord of their life. Winning people to Christ and getting them connected to the local church and growing spiritually has always been a driving emphasis. Even though it took us 3 to 4 years to establish our identity and personality as a church, I knew we weren't called to be a church just for church people. I have to confess that I didn't always know exactly where we were going. In the early days, church people were telling me we needed to do this or do that to be a real church. I was confused a lot, and I was very insecure inwardly, but I stood my ground because I knew God called us to be a church that was focused on reaching people who didn't go to church. The decision not to cater to church people's wants and demands was a defining moment for my leadership and for the direction of People's Church. WOW, I'M GLAD I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION TO LISTEN TO GOD AND NOT TO ALL THE PEOPLE SCREAMING IN MY EAR!