We have averaged almost 200 people in attendance this summer.     Last summer we averaged 145.  That means we have grown by almost 45%.   This is all taking place in a building that was built in 1952, occupied by two churches on Sunday and located on a dead end street.

On Sunday, September 12 we will move to the new Faith Christian school facility located on Dallas Road in Grapevine.   We truly believe that this move will result in even greater growth due to our new facility and much higher visibility.  

On top of it all, I have never in my life experienced such a great sense of community and fellowship.  The people of FOTP Grapevine are a loving, caring group.

I am reading a book by a pastor in Tulsa, Ed Gungor.  The title of the book is “One Small Barking Dog – Living a life that is hard to ignore”.   Ed owns a small terrier named Frank.   He said that when other people are around Frank gets pretty excited and starts yelping.   Gungor  states that Frank is not big or ferocious but he is hard to ignore simply because he is there.   It is his ‘thereness’ that is hard to ignore.

It is the ‘thereness’  of the people of FOTP Grapevine that is hard to ignore.  The ‘thereness’ stems from their love, caring, and passion for the Lord and others.   The people of FOTP Grapvine are living lives that are hard to ignore.   Others are taking notice and wanting to know more.   They show up at our services on Sunday and eventually they too are living lives that are hard to ignore.

I read this book because I was getting ready to preach a message on prayer and Phillip Yancey is one of my favorite authors.   When I got the book, I doubted that I would finish it simply because it was longer than most books I read.  One of the things I have discovered about developing the habit of reading, is to know your limits – know what you will and will not read and stay within those boundaries.   Even with all of that in mind, I bought the book.

I was right.  I did not finish the book but what I read was well worth it.  As always, Yancey inspired me spiritually.   I can’t say that I learned anything about prayer I did not know but the way he presented some of the aspects of praying, helped remind me of what it is all about.  Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:

“Prayer allows me to admit my failures, weaknesses, and limitations to One who responds to human vulnerability with infinite mercy.”

“Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view.”

“I am overwhelmed by the vastness of God, the imbalance of any creature’s relationship to such a being.  Since it is God we are speaking of, you do not understand it.  If you understood it, it would not be God.”

For those of you who have a longer attention span than I do,  you will read the whole book and enjoy it.  For those of you like me, you will read part of it and say it was worth it.

Wow!   We had another all time high attendance day with 227 in attendance.   We baptized 5 adults and 1 child.   Tonight we have two teens who will be baptized at our Fellowship at the Waterpark.

God is doing amazing things at FOTP Grapevine and we haven't even moved to our new location yet.  

God is good!

In his book IT author and pastor Craig Groeshel, states that even though it is difficult to describe what IT is, you can tell when a church has IT and when they do not.    In a sense IT is God’s hand of favor.   You can just sense that God is moving.  People are being saved.  Lives are being transformed.  The church is energized.

I do not know why this is the case, but FOTP has IT.  I know this it is not because of me or anything I have done.   For reasons unknown, God has chosen to bless the work going on at FOTP Grapevine.

This summer has been amazing!   We had 206 in attendance Sunday compared to 140 the same time last year.   This Sunday we will baptize at least 7 people (mostly adults).   Each day this week I have had someone contact me about baptism so we may have more by the end of the week.

We are moving to the new Dallas Road location on September 12.  We fully expect God to take us to a new level this fall.

Things are progressing on the purchase of property.   We are praying that the city will give us a special use permit at their regularly scheduled meeting in September.

In the meantime, we want to pray that God will continue to bless FOTP Grapevine and FOTP in general.  Our new Haslett campus which just launched a few weeks ago had over 200 people this last Sunday as well.

All I know is that I am blessed to be a part of IT all.