Common Ground Launch a Success!

    I am glad to report that after months of preparation, the launch of Common Ground was a success. It was a success on three levels regarding attendance, decisions, and new faces. The chart below shows the attendance from the preview service until August 28, 2016. The green line indicates the attendance of Common Ground; the Blue line is our 10:30 am worship service, and the yellow line shows the total between the two. The largest attended service for Common Ground was the launch. I thought we would have between 35 and 45 attendees, but we were blessed with 61 in attendance. The total capacity for the Oasis in this services is currently 87 worshipers, meaning that we saw the Oasis over 60% full on launch day! In addition, we have seen three decisions made over the course of the last month one for baptism and two for being apart of our church family.

    Also, we have seen many new faces since the launch of Common Ground. I would estimate at least twelve guests were visiting with us on launch day! This is incredible because the overall visitor flow of our church has increased, meeting one of our goals in laughing the new service. More visitors means more visitor retention, which in turn means more members become part of our church family! To say that in short, Common Ground is working in reaching new people. Our goal in beginning this was to widen our nets to reach more for the Glory of God! I am very excited for what the future holds at Grace Baptist Church.












Here are a few things that you can do to ensure that efficiently reach more people:

1. Pray- Pray for Great Commission Fulfillment at our Church. Pray that we will have God’s heart for the people in our area!
2. Carpool- Our parking can get a little tight at times. In fact, we need to free up about 30 more parking spots on campus. Will you give up your parking spot for a Great Commission fulfillment?
3. Invite your friends and family- Now with two options to encourage them towards, what prevents you from asking your unchurched family and friends to Grace Baptist!

Excitement Builds as Common Ground Worship Service Launch Approaches!

 Excitement continues to build this week as we prepare for the Common Ground Worship Service Launch Day on August 21. Launch a new ministry in August just as school starts back is an excellent time to begin a new ministry. The Sunday Morning Worship time exists as a front door to the church. Often a Sunday Morning worship service may be an individual’s first contact with a church.

As families begin to fall back into rhythm, what an excellent time to become part of our church family. We are seeking To Glorify God and targeting to reach unchurched families in a 2-mile radius who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. All are welcomed to join us!

In his book Surprising In sights from the Unchurched, Thom Rainer defines the unchurched as those who do not attend church at all. The unchurched may be dechurched, individuals who once attended church then stopped, or a person who is a second generation unchurched. In this book he looks as the formally unchurched, and amazingly the unchurched looked carefully at the doctrinal issues before they become Christians, and they were attracted to a church that held strong convictions about biblical matters. We are beginning this ministry with a faithful heritage to the gospel and doctrine. Our church has a rich heritage of Biblically faithful preachers and teachers.

The Common Ground Worship service will be praise band orientated and Gospel-centered. There are several ways that you can help in preparing for this service: Pray for us as we prepare, pray for those the service will reach, volunteer to help in the praise band, or in other needed areas of the service.  We are hoping to see a 10% increases in both services across the board in baptisms, attendance, ministries, and financial resources. Most importantly, we aim to see lives touched and transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for those who are far from God that God will use this Worship Service to draw them to Himself.