Pretty Pictures

I'm a statistics fanatic. I love tracking numbers and seeking to exceed the number each time I revisit it. For instance, look at my running agaenda to the right. I track my progress so I can see how I'm doing and try to do better the next day, week, month. Someone once said, "You get the results you track." So what are you measuring?

Recently our Missouri United Methodist Conference began asking pastors to track statistics on worship attendance, baptisms, professions of faith, and volunteers doing mission work. Each week I go online and enter the data. Currently those stats are not published for public (or even private) review. I expect that in the future. However, it outlines the fact that our conference is taking seriously our task of making disciples of Jesus Christ. While I don't think the stats they keep are complete, they are a start at indicating how a church is doing in accomplishing their mission. Some other time I'll write on measuring discipleship.

Any member of our finance team can tell you that our church's statistical data are no exception to the concept of achieving what you measure. Each month I produce some detailed graphs that give us a measure of how we're doing. I call them "pretty pictures." I use that term because, generally, we're on an upward curve. A year ago we weren't. It wasn't pretty. But now, having had a great first quarter of 2008, our pictures are prettier than usual. Below are some of those pictures for your review. Admittedly, these charts reflect many different ways to look at a small set of data. Yet they are an indication that people's lives are being changed and Christ is being made known.

To see more you can go to our website, select "News and Events" then "Business Report." There you'll find the most recent business report for your review.

Financial Charts






Attendance Charts









Sunday School Charts