A 508 Average

A 508 Average: God’s Call to Engage the Energy
By Dr. Dock Hollingsworth, Senior Pastor
 
Thursday, January 19, at about 9 a.m., I was standing in the lobby of the North Bridge entrance, greeting guests who were arriving for a two-day conference on Baptist/Catholic relations. While standing there, I also greeted many Bible-toting women who were arriving for their weekly Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) that meets in our adult Sunday School area. The lobby would have been full had it been just these two groups colliding, but it also corresponded with the drop-off time for Respite Care Atlanta (RCA), so another group of adults was filing in and heading to the Youth Area for their day of activities. Not surprisingly, those who were late registering for the conference came in winded and harried and complaining of no place to park.
 
It struck me that, during the week, most churches have empty parking lots as they play host to kids on bikes and frustrated parents trying to teach a fifteen-year-old how to parallel park. Otherwise, most churches are vacant all week – and I was listening to complaints about no available parking!
 
At the next staff meeting, I asked the group, “Do you think we could get a reasonably accurate number of the people who are coming in and out of our buildings on a given day? I’m not talking about construction workers who park in our lot and take a shuttle to work. I’m curious to know how many people come into the buildings of our campus.” We went back to January 1 and counted with reasonable accuracy.
 
Here's the punchline–in the first quarter of 2023, Monday–Friday, we averaged 508 people a day walking through our doors. That’s right –not one day, but a 3-month average of 508 people a day who are guests on our campus.
 
This is a beautiful opportunity. We have an occasion to be gracious hosts in the name of Christ, and to enlarge our profile as a wholesome hub of ministry in Buckhead. As one of our members said, “We are the house in the neighborhood where all the kids want to go play.” I have convened an ad-hoc committee to think with me about what this opportunity means for us and how to leverage this gift into a more significant Kingdom impact. Join me in praying for this group’s creative discernment. And join me in spreading the news that SPdL is where the action is in Buckhead!