Petros Baptist Church

A nice time was had by all and photos of the happy event are available here.

A report in the North Carolina Biblical Recorder notes

The Barna Research Group says in the United States the average church attracts 89 adults on a typical weekend. Among churches affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, 55 percent have attendance of 100 or fewer on Sunday morning, according to their church profile reports.

Barna says only two percent of churches have more than 1,000 adults in a typical weekend.

…

In a culture where bigger is better and in a cultural theology that says growth is a mandatory sign of health, the small church and its leadership must often feel second-class.

In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Real growth is in depth as much as it is in width. In fact, depth is more important than width; as the roots of the tree are more important than the span of its branches.

Emergency prayer.  That’s the sort of prayer one offers to God when one is in real trouble.  It’s the equivalent of calling 911.  But calling 911 isn’t a real conversation any more than emergency prayer is real communion with God.  Communion with God takes time and effort and isn’t just talking but more than that, listening.  Which is why most prayers these days are emergency prayers and not real prayers at all.