The Links First Year

It is sometimes hard to believe that The Link has been having worship services for a whole year now. Time does fly! A year ago 9 adults (and 4 kids) set out to do the impossible… provide a powerful, weekly worship experience along with an excellent Children’s ministry, “Little Links.” That’s right, 9 people doing it all… greeters, music, teaching and kids. We each juggled a lot of balls and plunged ahead. That was twelve months ago now. That original 13 is now averaging over 80 people!   In fact, we have been flirting with breaking the 100 barrier a couple of times, and the last week of January, at our First Year Celebration Service, we finally did it, we broke it… 112! Who would have thought that 13 people could grow to 112! In a year! God is absolutely marvelous! There is no other explanation. 

As I look back now, there were many times in the process that it all seemed doomed. There were times when we questioned ourselves. “Why are we even here?” “Was this really God’s will?” And then there were the times when we questioned God. “Where are You?” A lot of people did not know it, but everything fell apart leading up to the launch last year. We lost more than half of our core team a couple of months before the launch. Our finances were in such desperate need the months before launch we had to secure a bridge loan from the Association just to survive. Plus, we still did not have a worship leader!  Then to make matters worse, we lost our launch location (Chick-fil-a) the week of the launch!  As we experienced these trials there were emergency meetings to talk about packing it in.  There were brainstorming sessions about how we could still make this thing work. There were emergency phone calls to coaches and advisors seeking wisdom. When all was said and done, we plunged ahead, refusing to undo in the dark what God had revealed in the light.  And God, He did His thing. When all was said and done, God always came through. What a great God!

Our plans this year are just a ludicrous and impossible. They already seem doomed based on the size of our church, but we remind ourselves it is not about the size of the church but the size of the church’s God that matters. So we are putting things in place to double in size this year… doubling our worship capacity and our small groups. Assuming that as we step out in faith, God will meet us there. We are again committed to our community and regular service, plus we decided to start a much needed ministry called, “Single Source.” Single Source is a support system for single parent families. We want to offer single parent families a single place that is linked to a broad range of partners that have things to offer single parent families.  We want to be there with mentors for the kids, finance training, parenting training, car seats, help with child care, employment helps, food stamps, oil changes. We want to be truly a Single Source for them, a single source that points them to Jesus, the real source. 

And thanks to the Association and everyone who has played a role in making The Link a reality. You are truly special to us.