44? Really God?

During our trip in 2009, I spoke at length with Raoul about the progress Karazim Ministries was making. It wasn't very promising. In the 5 years that we had been going to the Bahamas, the number of groups had dropped from 15 to 5, with ours the largest at 21. This was not very encouraging news.

So what did I do? I opened my big mouth. Or God opened my big mouth. While we were at our Wednesday church service, I was asked to speak to the congregation. I promised that within 5 years we would triple the number of participants and I challenged each of the team members to spread the word outside of Woodside.

Last year, our team grew to 26 members, but we still didn't reach outside of our comfort zone. But last year something happened. Raoul inspired this group with some simple words - "Each one, reach one." And I challenged them to share more about the trip to others. Well, I guess what they said had a pretty big impact because this year we have reached a record of 44 members, with 22 of them first-timers. (Boy is initiation going to take a LONG time)

Not only has the number of Woodside members increased, but this year we have 6 members from Titusville Presbyterian Church, the first time we've partnered up with another church. Additionally, there are 5 more team members that do not attend Woodside.

My goal was to have 63 by the summer of 2014. At this rate, we'll be there next year. People often say, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." But to take a quote from Pastor Doug, "Of course God gives you more than you can handle - how else would you learn to depend on Him alone?"