CELEBRATING 15 YEARS

“Then I thought, “Here is what gives me hope. For many years the Most High God showed how powerful he is. Lord, I will remember what you did. Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will spend time thinking about everything you have done. I will consider all your mighty acts.” ~ Psalm 77:10-12

Today we are celebrating what God has done to make himself known in and through Real Life Church for the past 15 years. There have been hard times and good times over those years. In the darkest moments it was hard not to quit. In the brightest it was hard not to burn out from excitement. In the space between it’s been tempting to let complacency and apathy overtake us. Through all those seasons God has faithfully been making himself known.

It is good that we take time today to remember all the ways God has revealed Himself in and through us. The most significant work God has done here, or anywhere for that mater, is to raise spiritually dead people to life. I don’t have any idea how many people have found their real life in Christ here over the years, but since 2015 we’ve baptized about 50 professing believers. In the early years we had far more baptisms, but we’ve misplaced those records. I’d guess the total since we started is at least 150. There were far more professions of faith than that. I don’t know where all those people are today, but I know many of them are serving God faithful as they reflect His image more clearly day by day.

In addition to the miracle of saved lives, which is absolutely the most amazing thing any church can witness God doing, we’ve seen multitudes of people called out from our fellowship to serve God in various roles and places across our community and state. We miss their presence among us, but we celebrate that they are expanding the circle of God’s light in the community around us.

God still desires to further expand His fame in and through RLC! I know we aren’t as many as we once were. We don’t have the ministries we once did. We can’t influence the local government the way we have in the past. But, we still have the Holy Spirit in us. When God established His church on Pentecost almost 2000 years ago, there were 12 apostles, but they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they turned the world upside down. Let’s commit to praying as they did and expecting as they did and watch how God shows off!