Follow French youth on my new blog

Here is a photo of the youth group from Colombes, France, visiting Effingham Christian School in Rincon.
You can follow the daily progress of the French youth group on my new blog at www.bobrogers.me

Saturday night French arrive

Photographs of the arrival of the French youth group on Saturday, October 22.

French youth arrived

The youth group from Centre Evangelique Protestant (CEP) in Colombes, France arrived tonight, Saturday, October 22. They are doing well, and excited to be with us for a week. They will be singing and performing in morning worship, on October 23, and Pastor Thierry Auguste will preach.
On Sunday night, October 23, we will have a special Lord's Supper service in English, French, and Spanish, as our Spanish-language mission church will join us in worship.
Follow this blog each day for photographs and updates.

New data on first-time guests

For the past two years, we have been asking our guests to fill out an anonymous feedback card, answering various questions about their experience in visiting First Baptist Church of Rincon.
Here are their answers.

"How did you first hear about our church?"
59% family/friend
30% saw the building/sign
4% newspaper
4% Internet
3% other

Did somebody greet you when you arrived?
96% yes
4% no

Were our people friendly?
89% yes
0% no
11% somewhat friendly

Was the sermon clear and understandable?
98% yes
0% no
2% it was okay

Was the music uplifting and inspiring?
82% yes
4% no
18% it was okay

Did you visit a Sunday School (Bible study) class?
32% yes
68% no

Observations:
It is normal for most visitors to come because of family and friends, but our church has a much higher number of first-time visitors who see the building and sign than most churches (30%). Our location is a wonderful blessing, as we are on the main highway in our county.
It is encouraging that the overwhelming majority of visitors report a pleasant experience when they come, feeling a friendly welcome and an inspiring worship service.
It is noteworthy that two-thirds do NOT attend Sunday School when they first visit. Instead, they check out the worship service, and then they may decide later to visit a class.

Church on fire

Our church has literally been "on fire" this week as the athletes from Team Impact have crushed concrete blocks on fire, broken baseball bats, and dealt the Devil a body blow with their gospel presentations. The crusade is still going on, but after the first three nights, we have counseled 95 people who said they were accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord!
UPDATE: In five nights, we counseled over 250 people, 177 of whom made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. We are now very busy following up on these individuals with personal contacts. We sent references to 71 different churches for them to follow up, and we are following up on about 100 people who live in our area and have no church home, or already attend our church.

Circle of Celebration

On Sunday, April 1, First Baptist Church of Rincon celebrated the final payment on the debt for our new worship center, by going outside, circling the building, joining hands and singing "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow." There were about 1,000 people in the circle.

This picture was taken by Jennifer Spence from a firetruck ladder. Thanks, Jennifer, for "going out on a limb" to record an historical day in the life of our church!