I read an alarming statistic that’s stuck with me: 85% of churches in the U.S. are either plateaued or dying. There is no way I wanted to be a part of that stat. George Barna, wrote in The church Report this week that “the number of unchurched adults (in the US) continues to grow by nearly a million people a year.” It would seem that the Church (as the body of Christ) is losing the battle of what we were called to do, bring others into a relationship with Christ. I never wanted to be a part of the status quo, or the “let’s just hang on till Jesus comes crowd.” I believe Jesus’ statement that the Kingdom forcefully advances, and forceful men take hold of it. I want to make a difference, not only in this world, but in the lives of people, people in the area God has called me. Hence, the desire to turn a church around. As I read in many church growth books, and heard from so many church leaders, we had to get back on task, and the task was to make disciples of nations. It’s all about evangelism, winning people to Christ, and if we don’t have that as the priority, we’re not doing church right.

Next: What we did to get our priorities right.