To defy all odds...

So, I was catching up with a great college friend of mine over the weekend and she was asking about my church.

She seemed mystified and amazing that our attendance and offerings had gone up during this summer. It really impressed her. (It is quite a rarity, but I am becoming more accustomed to this church defying all odds).

After I got off the phone with her I realized how long I have been out of "typical ministry talk". Where the stats of your church are shared, the ways you are growing, how many people you have in small groups, your monthly offering, etc. are swapped back and forth. How sad that we have created an entire dialogue amongst ministers that has nothing valuable to offer in the conversation of salvation.

If I had been able to share more with this friend I would have told her this story, and a woman named Faith.

She showed up at Creekside for the first time on Easter. She stayed for both services and offered to help with the kids during the second service. We found her a job, and she fell in love with our children's ministry. So, she joined one of our teams.

But you see, as we got to know Faith it was soon discovered she was not your typical children's volunteer. In fact, she probably wouldn't have been allowed to serve in most churches. She suffered from a long list of disorders, bipolar and depression being just a few. She had a horrible live-in boyfriend (who they were actually common law married, we think...) and had only stumbled upon our church as she called the nunber to see if anyone cared before she commited suicide.

At Creekside, none of that matters. Our people never knew, and even the tiny few that did only found out because they created relationship with her. They loved her. They welcomed her into our family, and she came smiling and happy every Sunday since easter.

She had only lived slightly longer than four decades before she went home, last week, to be with Jesus. And most of those decades she never felt loved. Most of those decades she was told and treated like she was worthless.

But for the last four months, she knew her worth. She knew her value.

And she will always be one of the pictures that pops in my head when I think about the miracle of Jesus and the power of the Cross to change, heal, and restore lives.