“We will have to put your son on the Waiting List.” This response came to a father trying to register his son for a sports ministry at a church in North Carolina. Not the first time this had happened. What was different this time is that this father and family lived next door to one of the staff members of the church, whose sports ministry they were trying to participate in, and a family this staff member had been trying to reach out to. He came to the next staff meeting and announced the dilemma. As they discussed this problem, the staff discovered from the newly hired sports minister that this family was one of 100 other families that got that same response. Something significant then took place. The staff unanimously recommended to the church leadership to build more fields for the sports ministry. This wasn’t the first time the ministry had a waiting list or the first time the staff heard about it. Far from it. However, now those statistics had faces, a relationship with those faces, and a personal desire for those faces to get the exposure to the gospel. Why such a different and forthright reaction, such a turnaround from just 16 months before when the church was questioning the validity of the sports ministry? The stat gained a face. The numbers became a reality. There are lots of ways to say it, all of which explain the movement of God to give vision. The point is we need both numbers and stories, not just one or the other, to spread that vision. Bottom line – collect your stats and your stories!!!!! Then share them – person to person, to groups of people, in writing, by video - in all the creative ways you can think of, as you pray that God would connect those stats and stories to the hearts of those who hear them. This is how vision is born and spreads.

Posted by Bob Schindler - Community Host at 2022-02-03 19:48:25 UTC