FBC growth under Wilkerson

[Twisted]

I don't know for sure, but I would almost stake my life...

Now that's extremism! I thought he's stake a loaf of Sunbeam, but his life?

I have my work cut out for me to reach those heights!

 

[prophet]

From my admittedly limited knowledge of the situation, I would question the validity of Schaap having 16k during his regime. And I have little doubt that the 17k is questionable.

I also wonder where CBS got their numbers? I doubt they made them up out of thin air.

Does FBH still run buses on Sunday AM?
If so, how many riders do they carry?
That might make some difference since they probably would not attend service in the auditorium.

There was real growth in the mid 2000's, when small groups were implemented.
16K isn't a stretch at all.

I wasn't privy to the counting ledger, but I maintained 20 buildings, most of which were former dept stores , with at least 4 auditoriums per bldg.

And we packed em out in 7 shifts.

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

 

[Walt]

If true, that's certainly impressive, but I wonder how they are counting... Jack Schaap used to count all of the (unscriptural) satellite churches as attending FBCH.

Maybe tracking attendance numbers is a sin, akin to David's numbering the people?

.....but maybe it is ok, akin to Jesus feeding the 5,000.

In the feeding of the 5000, the emphasis would seem to be on the feeding, not the people present.  Plus, we don't know that anyone counted - the crowd was split into groups of ~50 men each.

 

[16KJV11]

If true, that's certainly impressive, but I wonder how they are counting... Jack Schaap used to count all of the (unscriptural) satellite churches as attending FBCH.

Maybe tracking attendance numbers is a sin, akin to David's numbering the people?

.....but maybe it is ok, akin to Jesus feeding the 5,000.

In the feeding of the 5000, the emphasis would seem to be on the feeding, not the people present.  Plus, we don't know that anyone counted - the crowd was split into groups of ~50 men each.

I'm not against counting attendance, for various and sundry reasons. 
God did call one book "Numbers" and there was a lot of counting in that book.
However, for myself, counting only brings discouragement and can smack of pride if one is not careful.

 

[Walt]

If true, that's certainly impressive, but I wonder how they are counting... Jack Schaap used to count all of the (unscriptural) satellite churches as attending FBCH.

Maybe tracking attendance numbers is a sin, akin to David's numbering the people?

.....but maybe it is ok, akin to Jesus feeding the 5,000.

In the feeding of the 5000, the emphasis would seem to be on the feeding, not the people present.  Plus, we don't know that anyone counted - the crowd was split into groups of ~50 men each.

I'm not against counting attendance, for various and sundry reasons. 
God did call one book "Numbers" and there was a lot of counting in that book.
However, for myself, counting only brings discouragement and can smack of pride if one is not careful.

I agree, mostly, and in general.

So often, attendance counting is done to measure ourselves ("we averaged 10 more in the Sun AM service" last year -- is this necessary or useful or does it even have meaning?) or (commonly) to boast.  We average 120; you only average 90 - therefore, I am more spiritual than you.

There are times when one cannot avoid numbering: If you are having a banquet, you have to know if there are 50 coming or 300.

I've heard that saying about Numbers and don't know if people are clueless or trying to make a very worn-out joke.  That book is called "numbers" for the multiple numbering of the people that was (as I recall) done at God's command.

I maintain that the work of God cannot be broken down into statistics, and one is deceived if one thinks so.

I've heard pastors say "We get one visitor for every 50 visits we make, and for every 10 visitors, one is saved.  So, if we want to see 10 people saved, we need to set a goal of 5,000 visits." This kind of thinking reveals work done in the flesh. Salvation is a work of God; we only provide the witness to the truth.  To try to tie this down to mere numbers is wrong.