Easter Sunday was a great day at Union Chapel in so many ways!  We had nearly 500 in attendance from our two services and the Ada Family Center.

The number 500 started me thinking about numbers, baseball numbers.

A baseball player can make a LOT of money if he can hit the ball 3 out of 10 times (a .300 hitter).  The best batting average in baseball’s modern era is .406 (Ted Williams of the Boston Red Socks in 1941).  The best batting average ever belongs to Hugh Duffy who hit .440 in 1894 for the Boston Beaneaters (yes, that was the team name).  Hitting over .400 for a season is, in fact, nearly impossible and in our day, a player who hits between .260 and .290 is a REALLY fine hitter – but they are hitting the ball less than 3 times out of 10.

I see so much more in these baseball numbers than being successful ONLY 30% of the time!  I see faithfulness, discipline, commitment, recovery from injuries (sometimes very serious ones), changes in coaches or team members, bad and good weather, personal situations which affect focus, and a dozen other things.

In this sense, a church is a lot like a baseball team!  Pastors, families, leaders, churches, para-church ministries, missionaries all have one goal – not to have 500 or 2,000 or 10,000 people in attendance on Easter Sunday, but to be faithful through all the situations listed in the paragraph above.

Sunday we hit 500 and I am committed to faithful ministry and service if we hit 250 or 300 this coming Sunday!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark