I’m sitting here staring at my MS Word document, trying to figure out how the heck to communicate to you how phenomenal the Elevation Easter Experience was.

Here’s the breakdown, by the numbers:

2,048-the number of people who attended one of our 4 worship experiences at one of our two locations.
I am shocked and humbled that we reached 2000 in attendance in our 14th month of ministry.

501-the number of folks who showed up for the grand opening of our Union campus.
500 was a “wouldn’t it be crazy if” kind of number that we discussed once or twice.
Turns out God is a “wouldn’t it be crazy” kind of God. Wow.

96-the number of adults who received Christ as Savior today at Elevation.
Glory to God.

53-the number of children who accepted Jesus in E-Kidz today.
I know some of you will discount this number because you don’t think the salvation decisions made by children count.

Consider 3 things, and then repent for your wrong thinking:

1. Each of them was counseled privately about their decision to follow Christ, and the majority of them were 4th and 5th graders.

2. Late one evening D.L. Moody, the premier American evangelist of the 1800s, arrived home from speaking at a meeting. Emma, his wife, was already asleep. As her exhausted husband climbed into bed, she rolled over and murmured, “So how did it go tonight?”
“Pretty well,” he replied. “Two and a half converts.”
His wife lay silently for a moment pondering this response, then finally smiled. “That’s sweet,” she replied. “How old was the child?”
“No, no, no,” Moody answered. “It was two children and one adult! The children have their whole lives in front of them. The adult’s life is already half gone.”

3. My wife gave her life to Jesus when she was 9. She remembers it, she was changed, and she’s been living for Christ ever since.

Now, a not-so-good number:
18 minutes-the time at which the video sermon froze up at our Union Campus.
Yep. We had heard the horror stories, thought “surely that won’t happen to us,” and it did.
Video preacher apparently got tired and stopped about 18 minutes into his sermon.
However, since it was Easter Sunday, God resurrected him and he finished out the rest of his sermon in fine style.
And over 50 people ended up giving their lives to Christ at that campus this morning.
God is good.

Our wildest dreams were certainly exceeded in every area this weekend.

If you would have told me 2 years ago that on our 2nd Easter Sunday we would have over 2000 in attendance, 149 people would receive Christ, over 500 people would show up for the launch of our second campus on the other side of town, and 4200 people would participate in our Easter egg hunt on crack, I would have tried to confiscate your crazy pills.

But God is wonderful and His promise is powerful.
We give Him all the glory for what He’s doing through His body, the Church.
And we’re hanging on for dear life.

I’m exhausted in the most satisfying way.
I think me and video preacher are going to take a nap.