For those of you who don't know, Good News will be turning two years old at the end of the summer. Earlier this week, I looked back at the first newsletter that I sent out to the congregation back then. Here are some excerpts:

"In the first newsletter I wanted to answer the following question: 'Is Good News Church going to be simply a Sunday morning service, or will we be a full-service church one day - The official answer is: Neither.'"

I then went on to explain that our mission as a church involves loving God and people in a way that can't be accomplished solely by a once-a-week meeting, but that we also didn't plan to start a ton of new programs either.

I talked about the need for us to have small groups eventually. It's cool to look back now because we did have several small groups that met during this past semester (Feb — May) and we are intending on starting up small groups again in the fall.

That first newsletter also said:

"We also value simplicity. This means we do not intend on being some sort of religious buffet with 29 different options to please every taste and meet every need. As our church grows we will have lots of preferences, good ideas, and potential directions to go in. The only problem is that it is very difficult to do lots of things excellently at the same time. So, our long-range plan is to be a 'simple church' that chooses a few things to do, and then does those things very well."

So far, I have had no regrets about sticking to this philosophy. Personally, I love our worship services, enjoyed my small group this past semester, and am happy I got to be a part of Royal Family Kids Camp.

Additionally, I have enjoyed seeing the people of Good News Church worshiping God together on Sunday mornings, and learning more about Him, so that they can honor Him throughout the week as individuals. I've also enjoyed seeing relationships cultivated between Christians as people are learning to love one another and help each other out during the week. And I'm always happy to hear about people sharing the gospel with their non-church friends, and/or inviting them along on Sundays so they can learn more about God and His great news.

And on top of all that, even though we've only chosen one ministry at this time to truly partner with as a church (that partner ministry is Royal Family Kids Camp - however, we do support several other ministries financially) it has been cool to hear stories of how Christians in our church have gotten involved in other ministries around Marion County and beyond. I've heard of Good News people being involved in Youth With a Mission, Love Inc, Choose Life, Ocala Women's Pregnancy Center, Compassion International, Servants in Fellowship, Good News Bible Clubs, Crossroads Bible Institute, Interfaith Emergency Services, and even some people just informally doing things like helping to feed homeless people without being under the banner of any particular organization. Good job, Good News! I am happy about what this says about you!

Also, because our people have gotten involved individually, without us having to attempt to make an official church program out of all of these causes, it has helped us to stay 'simple' just like our original intention was. And it's been wonderful to see the results. We now have hundreds of people involved at Good News, still only have one full-time paid staff member (me), and he's not even stressed out!

So, thank you, Good News, for working hard and keeping it simple.