I’m only posting this because some people have asked how they might help out…. The gracious and generous people of Community Church of the Hills supports 2/3 of my salary. The other third comes out of a “Designated Fund” at Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach which ends in July of 2018. My wife works as a
Q: What’s the size of U.S. churches? (From Thomas S. Rainer)
A: First, big is not necessarily better. A church with more people in attendance is not necessarily more faithful than a smaller church. Second, some churches are in very sparsely populated areas. There may not be 350 people in a five-mile radius (though every community still has people who need to be reached).
We are a nation and continent of smaller churches. And though we have far more small churches than large churches, there is a big migration of people from smaller to larger churches. In other words, many of the smaller churches are getting smaller, and many of the larger churches are getting larger.
Here is a simple depiction of the number of churches at three different levels:
Keep in mind that the upper 10% tend to include more of the growing churches, while the lower 90% tend to include more of the declining churches.
(Do numbers really matter? Spurgeon says yes and so do I. Read by clicking here.)
Attendance at Community Church of the Hills since I became pastor August 30, 2015 thru present:
FACEBOOK HAS AN APP called “On This Day” which shows you what you posted on this day, one year, three years, however many years ago it was.
June 28th is kinda special to me. How so? Take a look at what happened today:
After being finger-printed, having my driver’s record checked for the past five years, enduring a physical exam upon my person (including going to the restroom with a little cup), taking five written tests, a 20 hour certification course, memorizing every part of the bus including the engine components, exhaust system, air brakes etc., and two months of driver’s training…I passed my school bus driving test! What? A school bus driver? Yes. And in Dripping Springs of all places, the city where I first planted a church after leaving Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach nearly four years ago.
Circumstances have arisen where I have to take a 2nd job in addition to pastoring my current church, launching my eldest daughter to Baylor U., and taking care of my family. (Someone asked me what I’m doing for the summer. I laughed.)
Now, see what has happened on this day over the last four years.
AT THE RISK OF BEING OFFENSIVE I want to report on the biggest pastime here in the Hill Country of Texas, even bigger than football: It’s deer hunting. The majority of our congregation at Community Church of the Hills (CCH) in Johnson City owns a guns and uses them.
One of my friends, Aaron Wardlow, gave me permission to post his trophies from the first two opening weekends of 2016 (he’s allowed five white tail). The interesting thing is his philosophy about why he hunts deer. (These have all been shot with a bow and arrow, by the way). Here is his defense:
“That is all the meat that our family eats for the year, so this time of year I am stocking up until next season. We usually only eat all natural non-processed meats that I harvest. So it’s not taken lightly and done for the thrill, I give thanks to the animal and God every time for the food to nourish our bodies.
State of Our Church 2019
Every year we have an address detailing what we have done at Community Church of the Hills and where we are going. This year’s address was inspired by my friend Cher Guevera’s Facebook post. If you don’t know about Cher, he’s a radical, left-wing, communist, queer activist, as well as an anarcho-syndicalist, gender non-conforming, poet, journalist, performance artist and actor…and we’ve been friends for over five years on Social Media. Read a little more about him here.
He inspired my 2019 address with a—believe it or not—pro-abortion post! I then left him a skeptical appraisal in the comments section. This is how he responded:
“You know, Steve, here’s the rub, I would take the “pro-life” position a lot more seriously if the movement was interested in life. But by and large, it’s not. And we see that from politicians who endlessly promote themselves as “pro-life” on the campaign trail. These same politicians who tear their hair out over the unborn don’t seem to care about a fetus after they are born.
“You posted recently asking if people’s pastors preached a pro-life message and I ask you the same thing. Did you? Not an anti-abortion message, but a pro-life message, one that seeks a better life for poor children after they exit the birth canal?”
My Response: “We are committed to life in all forms. Our church supports a local Pregnancy Resource Center that sees moms and dads through the whole birthing process including educating them to be good parents and helping them with food and other items.
“This year we are committed to helping the needy in our area. We just recently handed out 72 bags of cookies door-to-door in a low-income housing apartment complex to introduce our church to them, and want our church to reach out to see how we can help the residents and their children in the future.
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