Just found out we had the largest offering in the history of National Community Church this weekend. And attendance was way down–the August effect.

It’s so apropos that Zeb Mengistu was speaking. Zeb pastors Beza International Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. NCC helped plant Beza. And I spoke there a couple months ago. I came home from that trip with a “mantra” echoing in my spirit: grow to give, grow to give, grow to give.

My primary motivation for the growth of NCC is seeing people cross the line of faith and follow Christ. But my ulterior motive is missions! We need to keep growing so we can keep giving. We need to grow more so we can give more. We need to be giving millions of dollars to missions every year. And the only way to get there is to keep growing!

Our A18 series was all about missions. What’s cool is that we really focused the challenge on going instead of giving. In fact, we had 200+ people sign an A18 card saying they wanted to go on a short-term trip.

I think this series and this offering is a harbinger of things to come. If we keep giving to missions, God will keep growing NCC!