AVIS - Allowing Visitors Incredible Sundays
Well those of you who were there will know we had another quite an amazing Sunday last weekend. Thirty three people baptised, possibly our biggest ever morning and evening attendances for a 'normal' Sunday and a real buzz around the place, our first attempt at team preaching in the evening with Lee and I speaking and Ben doing the appeal and an incredible number of visitors.
But perhaps one of the most exciting aspects for me was how everyone responded to the request for people to park in the AVIS car park in order to make space in The Kerith Centre car parks for visitors. I must admit that I wasn't filled with hope as I walked up to church on Sunday morning in the cold and the snow (top Easter weather!) but the feedback has been that people reacted brilliantly. Rather than hear it from me I thought I'd let you all see an email Irene Mooney who oversees all our car parking sent me on Monday. As we grow we always want to have spaces in our car parks for visitors and to have achieved that on a weekend like the one we've just had is brilliant. Thank you if you were one of the ones who parked in AVIS - I'm proud of you!
Simon.
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From: irene mooney
To: penny lander
Cc: simon benham
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 11:30 PM
Subject: Parking on Sunday
hey guys....thought i would email you re the first sunday of car parking with new guidelines. and as i am still "high" after the amazing 2 meetings forgive me if i waffle on......
well...you can be justifiably proud of this body of Christ.!!!!
when i arrived for duty this morning at 8.45 ....amidst sub zero temps and snow....the kerith centre car park was completely empty......K2 was empty and only 3 cars were on the road....the docs surgery had 4 cars in it.....
it looked fab.....i know i am a sad woman to get sooooo excited about an empty car park...but i felt completely elated...esp when i came into the building and realised there were already so many folk in there serving and it was obvious that 99% of them had parked at Avis
at the end of my duty at 10.45...apart from being absolutely frozen... i entered the building knowing that we had parked EVERY visitor...everyone who was disabled /unable to walk from Avis and /or elderly and we still had 6 spaces at K2...the kerith centre had one space left and the surgery had 5 left.....and this was without double parking anyone
the evening meeting was much the same ...i think that 99% of the cars that were parked in kerith centre itself were ALL visitors......this meant that we were able to give them all a really personal welcome and time to chat with almost all of them and .....it was a real thrill to see carload after carload of visitors...and again we still had 1 space in kerith centre......
6 spaces at k2 and 1 space in docs surgery..
the two guys down at Avis said they hadnt ever seen so many cars there before...and many people parked at Avis for evening meeting too....
if i could i would ....give each and every one of those who were so generous in their spirit a heartfelt "thank you".... i do believe this was ONE of the keys to releasing the Holy Spirit to move in the way we witnessed at both our meetings today
and finally.....after tonights meeting i chatted to my life group leader and she captured how we feel ....she said..."after todays meetings if God wanted me to move on He will need to drag me away from this church..."...i wholeheartedly agree....in the words of a corny old song...."there is nowhere else i would rather be"
may God bless you guys.....love...irene m.
ps...i am aware that this is only the beginning of this car parking journey and much prayer and work will continue to be needed as the period of grace continues...but a great start...i am a happy woman.....albeit still frozen to the core.!!!!
so....you can be soooo proud of the way in which the folk who serve have taken it on board and walked in vicious weather esp those with little children
But perhaps one of the most exciting aspects for me was how everyone responded to the request for people to park in the AVIS car park in order to make space in The Kerith Centre car parks for visitors. I must admit that I wasn't filled with hope as I walked up to church on Sunday morning in the cold and the snow (top Easter weather!) but the feedback has been that people reacted brilliantly. Rather than hear it from me I thought I'd let you all see an email Irene Mooney who oversees all our car parking sent me on Monday. As we grow we always want to have spaces in our car parks for visitors and to have achieved that on a weekend like the one we've just had is brilliant. Thank you if you were one of the ones who parked in AVIS - I'm proud of you!
Simon.
-----------------------------------------------
From: irene mooney
To: penny lander
Cc: simon benham
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 11:30 PM
Subject: Parking on Sunday
hey guys....thought i would email you re the first sunday of car parking with new guidelines. and as i am still "high" after the amazing 2 meetings forgive me if i waffle on......
well...you can be justifiably proud of this body of Christ.!!!!
when i arrived for duty this morning at 8.45 ....amidst sub zero temps and snow....the kerith centre car park was completely empty......K2 was empty and only 3 cars were on the road....the docs surgery had 4 cars in it.....
it looked fab.....i know i am a sad woman to get sooooo excited about an empty car park...but i felt completely elated...esp when i came into the building and realised there were already so many folk in there serving and it was obvious that 99% of them had parked at Avis
at the end of my duty at 10.45...apart from being absolutely frozen... i entered the building knowing that we had parked EVERY visitor...everyone who was disabled /unable to walk from Avis and /or elderly and we still had 6 spaces at K2...the kerith centre had one space left and the surgery had 5 left.....and this was without double parking anyone
the evening meeting was much the same ...i think that 99% of the cars that were parked in kerith centre itself were ALL visitors......this meant that we were able to give them all a really personal welcome and time to chat with almost all of them and .....it was a real thrill to see carload after carload of visitors...and again we still had 1 space in kerith centre......
6 spaces at k2 and 1 space in docs surgery..
the two guys down at Avis said they hadnt ever seen so many cars there before...and many people parked at Avis for evening meeting too....
if i could i would ....give each and every one of those who were so generous in their spirit a heartfelt "thank you".... i do believe this was ONE of the keys to releasing the Holy Spirit to move in the way we witnessed at both our meetings today
and finally.....after tonights meeting i chatted to my life group leader and she captured how we feel ....she said..."after todays meetings if God wanted me to move on He will need to drag me away from this church..."...i wholeheartedly agree....in the words of a corny old song...."there is nowhere else i would rather be"
may God bless you guys.....love...irene m.
ps...i am aware that this is only the beginning of this car parking journey and much prayer and work will continue to be needed as the period of grace continues...but a great start...i am a happy woman.....albeit still frozen to the core.!!!!
so....you can be soooo proud of the way in which the folk who serve have taken it on board and walked in vicious weather esp those with little children