"How many people attend" is a horrible way to determine the success of a church.

If how many people attend is all that matters, then have a motivational talk and do whatever people like. Spend lots of money on production. Don't say anything confrontational. Don't say anything sad or difficult. Smile all the time. Hire professional musicians and make it a concert. Heck, have a real concert by paying popular artists your community listens to on the radio and then "preach" afterwards.

The only problem with this mindset is, well, the Bible.

Sometimes preaching the Bible makes people leave. The Bible is called "sharper than any two-edged sword" and is meant to "pierce" us. I don't know about you, but I don't like to touch sharp things. They hurt. Sometimes a lot.

Remember Isaiah? A prophet of God he was. He had a vision of the Lord and was "undone." He vowed to go wherever the Lord wanted him to go. The Lord sent him to pronounce judgment on millions. Isaiah obeyed and spoke what God told him to speak. Do you remember what the result was? The people hated him and rejected his message.

I wonder if Isaiah were a pastor in the Free Will Baptist denomination today, if we would think he was a horrible pastor because no one attended his church. I bet he'd never get invited to speak at the annual convention.

What this story tells me is our standard for the success of God's work can't necessarily be measured by how people repond! It must be measured by how faithful we are to God and His Word!

I wonder if the worst thing we can do in our churches is to count how many people attend and how much money they give. May we instead continually ask ourselves, "Was I faithful to God and His Word?"

After all, it's God's Word that will not return void. People come and people go, but the Word of the Lord abides forever (Psalm 119:89).

Jacob