Did you know that Montgomery County has been running an annual “Community Service Week” for the last 25 years? Here’s my embarrassing confession: I’ve lived in this county for 22 of those 25 years, and I only found out about it a few months ago.

You may be wondering why I thought this was worth writing about. Here’s why. The week of serving happens to coincide with our annual “Ignite Sunday,” when we serve our community because God served us! And this year we’ve decided to expand Ignite Sunday to an entire week. It will be Ignite Week. What’s more, since it’s the 25th year for the county’s program, they’re shooting for 25,000 people to volunteer and serve during the week of October 16 to 22.

In the last couple years we’ve had almost 500 people serve at Ignite Sunday. And that’s during a small, two hour window on Sunday morning. So I believe that since we have an entire week, we can double that. Our goal is to get 1,000 people volunteering to serve in the community during that week. You read that right. One church, one week, 1,000 people. 1 + 1 = 1,000. “But Mark, that’s bigger than our Sunday services combined!” I know that. But you know all those friends you’d like to invite to Seneca Creek, but they’re just not “into church?” Well, here’s your chance. Invite them to serve with you!

Why are we doing this? Because God calls us to serve in the name of Christ. And because when we do, not only do we ignite HOPE, but we experience God’s work in our own lives! We need to do this as much as the community needs people to serve.

We’re obviously going to need everyone’s help on this, including your ideas on where and how we can serve during that week. We’ll be talking more about it in the coming weeks, but start praying and looking for opportunities now. Opportunities to serve. Opportunities to invite. Opportunities to ignite HOPE! It’s gonna’ be a great week!

Footnote: I met with a group of county officials yesterday as they were planning this event. When I told them about our goal, they were ecstatic! They’re hoping that we can inspire other churches to get involved in serving this community as well. Let’s all work together and raise the bar for followers of Christ throughout the county!

Oh, and don’t miss the exciting Baptism Celebration this Sunday during both services! Come early, as seating will be near capacity. See you then.

-Pastor Mark