And Now, Some Great News

Dear St. Andrew’s family,

Something special is happening at St. Andrew’s!

Last week I received the following email from a 29 year-old:

Dear Steve, I wanted to say “hi” and “thanks.”  I came to the Boone Hall Easter service and I’ve been at St. Andrew’s ever since.  I never knew church could be like this!  I quit going to church in High School because it was all so predictable and boring.  A couple of my friends had been encouraging me to come to St. Andrew’s for a while and I’m glad they did.  Each week I feel so many different feelings as I come to church.  I am always surprised at how the Lord “shows up” in such personal ways.  Anyway, I just really wanted you to know how much I love being here and how much I appreciate all the people who’ve become my spiritual family.

Stories like these make my day.  I love to see Jesus glorified.  I love to see people meet our Savior.  I love to hear about how Jesus continues to meet people and I especially love to hear about how Jesus meets people through you and our larger St. Andrew’s family! 

Consider also these traces of the Lord’s gracious hand in our common life:

• “Fishin’ for a Mission”, our benefit for International Missions, raised over $75,000!
• New Wine, a time for the St. Andrew’s family and friends to gather for a time of refreshment, had both our best attendance and 28 other churches involved in this year’s event!
• Mission teams – just this year – have gone to Uganda twice, Liberia, Rwanda, Honduras and Kenya.  A summer trip to Brazil is on the board for next month!
• Our Children’s and Youth Ministries continue to see amazing growth and increased outreach!
• St. Mary’s, our outreach into the Goose Creek community, has seen great growth and encouragement with the posting of Anthony Kowbeidu as the leader of that work!
• The traditional worship services and Life Groups associated with them are growing in both numbers and vitality!
• We have more people across the church involved in Life Groups than ever before, and, the inquires from people looking to connect are rising!
• Opportunities for prayer are increasing – both corporate prayer and healing prayer!
• St. Paul’s Theological Center was launched and is humming with 60 people this past fall and 70 people this past spring participating.  And, St. Andrew’s has been asked to host a national conference in the New Year!
• The Alpha Course continued to see increased participation – and more importantly – people coming into life-changing relationship with Jesus!
• Love Charleston and the handing over of home missions to individuals and LifeGroups (rather than being centrally controlled) has seen a blossoming of St. Andrew’s presence in the community!

These are just a few examples of the outpouring of grace that we’re experiencing at St. Andrew’s. 

As you know, we operate on a fiscal calendar.  This year has seen national and local economic challenges.  Some of you know this all to well, personally.  And in light of all this economic “bad news” comes this amazing news: our income for the Fiscal Year, which ended 30 June 2009, was $2,984,609.  Our expenses for the same Fiscal Year were: $2,945,079.  A net surplus of $39,520!  Is God faithful? – income covering expenses almost to the penny!

I found this tremendously encouraging as it represents to me our collective commitment to our Lord, to His ministry and to His command that we be generous with what we have.  Not one penny of your offering goes into an endowment fund or builds our earthly kingdom.  All of it is employed in the mission of the church.  Thank you for your faithful generosity and simply giving as the Lord enables you.

In response to what the Lord is doing at St. Andrew’s, and what we believe He is calling us do, the Vestry approved a new budget in the amount of $3,075,794 for the 2009-20010 Fiscal Year. 

What can you do?

Be prayerful.  Continue to intercede on behalf of your church asking the Lord’s guidance for those in leadership and His continued favor for the life and ministry of your church.

Be faithful.  Be faithful in worship participation.  Be faithful in Life Group participation.  Be faithful in ministry participation.

Be generous.  Scripture always paints a counter-culture picture of how followers of Jesus Christ are to handle of our resources.  Biblically, all giving is an expression of gratitude for what God has done your life.  And, our Lord desires us to give generously out of joy.  Will you grow with us as we continue to make disciples and reach out to our community demonstrating the love of Jesus? 

I also want you to know how grateful I am for your giving.  It truly makes a difference in the lives of literally thousands of people.  Thank you!  

With thanksgiving for the singular privilege of being your Priest and Rector,

Steve