Yesterday I had the chance to play in our church’s annual Turkey Bowl.  We had a great time and had more participants than years previous, 7 teams in all.  The events began at 8:30 in the morning, moving slowly through a double elimination tournament until one team stands in the end as this year’s Turkey Bowl Champions.  After the days festivities I knew that Sunday  was going to be a painful day!  And man was I a prophet!  Maybe it was that extra long run to start the day, or jumping through the air with no regard for the landing, or trying to chase down a 16 year old running the length of the field that left me so sore.  Whatever the motivation was…there is one thing that I am reminded of and that is that I am no longer 18!  Oh well, life is fun and this too shall pass!

Welcome and thanks for showing interest in Harvest Community Church.  We are extremely excited about the future and all that God has in store.  Throughout the process there has been one major question that I find myself asking:  Why does the world need another church, and specifically Mesa, Az?  In answering this, I continually find myself drawn back to Ephesians 5:22-33.  This passage reminds me of the faithful, passionate, and never ending love that Jesus showed towards the church.  A love that demanded his life.  Therefore, this love compels me to love the church more and more every day of my life.  

Statistics also give us a great glimpse of the future of the American church.  A Gallup pole draws our attention to the reality that over 3000 churches a year are closing their doors while only 3800 churches are successfully being started each year.  At first glance, the church seems to be ahead of the trend until you calculate our country’s population growth.  In order for the church to keep up with the population trends we must be planting over 10,000 churches a year.  

Personally, that is a statistic I can’t ignore.  It is by the grace of God and the generosity of our church (Red Mountain Community Church), our family, and friends that we set out on this wild and crazy journey.  Join us on this journey as we set out to reach the communities of East Mesa.