It has been a long time since I wrote a blog post. Matter of fact, I haven’t really even thought about it in a while. But today I have been reflecting on where we have come from and where we are headed at Out of the Box.
When we started in January 2010, we started with a promise of 37 people who said they wanted to start a new place for new people to worship, a new place for people to discover who Jesus is and to begin a relationship with Him. Today we have more than 500 people who consider Out of the Box their church family. Our weekly average attendance today is over 300 in 3 worship services each week and we are growing out of our space once again.
God gets all the glory and a lot of thanks goes to the awesome team of volunteers and staff who work so hard each week to make things work at OOTBWC.
We currently have 2 services on Sunday mornings at 10am and 11:15am and a Recovery Service on Wednesday evenings with dinner at 6pm, worship at 7pm, and groups at 8:10pm. We are working diligently to make room for more people to attend Out of the Box. We should have news soon regarding added space for worship and other ministries.
We have become known for many things but just to name a few. We are a church where everyone really is welcome and wanted. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. We don’t even care who you voted for in the last election. You don’t have to believe like we do to attend our services. You have no need whatsoever to dress up to attend and shoes are optional. You can come with a Print Bible or you can come with your Bible on your cell phone or other digital device. You don’t have to bring a Bible at all because we will put the scripture up on the screen for you during the message.
We have had a few complaints.
#1. They don’t even have a Bible in that place.
Its not true. I preach from the Bible. I read the Bible from my IPad so to some it may appear that I don’t actually carry a bible with me.
#2. The pastor didn’t iron his shirt today.
Its true, I don’t always iron my shirts.
#3. They allow people to bring coffee into the services.
Its true. We even have people who make it in large quantities because so many people like it.
#4. They talk about money too much.
Its true that we say a lot about money but it’s because Jesus had so much to say about money. He said more about money than almost any other subject.
We tell our people every week. If you are a Christ follower you should give the FIRST 10% of all your increase to God through the local church. We make no apologies about this and if you want to know the Biblical basis for this, follow this link and listen to the 4 weeks series, “The Church Just Wants Your Money.” I dare you!
We also tell you, if you’re not a part of this church, if you’re our guest, if you’re just discovering what this is all about, then we do not expect you to put any money in the offering. Honest, we don’t want you to feel the need to put money in the plate.
#5. They talk a lot about numbers.
Its True!
You see, every number has a name, and every name is important to God. And get this, there are Numerous people all through our community who don’t go to church anywhere, and we want to change that. We are called to change that.
To say that it’s not important for a church to grow numerically is like saying we plant seeds in the garden but we don’t expect anything to produce fruit. That would just be crazy.
Ok, I think that is enough for my first day back on the blog. I hope that you will consider coming to see what is happening at Out of the Box in Downtown Hillsville. LIves really are being changed and the Kingdom of God is growing here.
Pastor Ronnie