Saturday, October 18, 2008

Did You Know...?

Tomorrow Anchor celebrates Anniversary #10! It's the last Sunday of our first decade; Sunday #521!

Did you know that there were about 120 people at Anchor on that first Sunday?
Did you know that there are about 20 people still at Anchor from those first couple Sundays?
Karen Lauer; Joanna Herrick; Jeff Jacobs; Laura, Brianna, Brandon Pence; Tim & Alice Bauman; Terry, Joe Leatherman, Steve & Pam Dennie, Wendy, Taylor, Tyler, Alyssa Vergon; Amy Saleh, Karen Johnson, Tim & Tara Hallman.
Did you know that there were about 20 people from Emmanuel Community Church that met for the first time in the Dennie's living room one month before our launch date? There are four of us left from that group. There were over fifty people that came over from ECC to help get Anchor going - there are six of us left from that group (thanks Amy and Karen!).
Did you know that the Leathermans had been attending ECC for a few months until they felt the Lord prompting them to start attending Third Street UB. A few months after that ECC began the process of planning out the restart there! Terry and Joe were ahead of the curve!

Did you know that Anchor has averaged almost 100 individuals a Sunday in the past decade?
Did you know that Anchor has baptized about 30 individuals unto Jesus Christ?
Did you know that Anchor has dedicated about 30 infants to the LORD?
Did you know that Anchor has supported five missionaries?

Did you know that Anchor has worked hard to bless our neighborhood?
We hosted a huge summer carnival the first four years; we've hosted a popular Halloween MAZE every year! We've walked the neighborhood picking up trash, we've landscaped homes, Christmas caroled! We opened up a youth center: had an after-school program, a youth cafe, a concert ministry, and a bible study. We've partnered with the other local churches, other local non-profits, and other neighbors to meet the needs of the community. We've helped families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, we've provided community service projects for juvenile's on probation, and visited those in prison.

Did you know that Anchor sponsored four mission trips: Laurel Mission (KY), Reynosa, Mexico, South Dakota, and the Bahamas! We even had some Anchorites go serve in New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our youth went to DC/LA 2000 and 2003; and the very first youth group in 1999 went white-water rafting! The youth have helped raise food for the hungry, school supplies for the needy, and raised money to buy Christmas gifts for kids going without. In 2000 we had over 70 kids and youth get together for a very fun night at LazerTag! In 2002 and 2003 we had over four hundred youth come for a concert-fundraiser at the church! One time Tony Biard had almost 700 youth at a concert at our church!

Did you know that Anchor and Emmanuel have joined together every year the past ten years to form a softball team for the summer? Anchor also had a indoor soccer team for a couple of years at Tahcumwah - with some friends from Fellowship Missionary (and some other churches too)! Anchor partnered with Grace Presbyterian, First Mennonite, and North Highlands Church of Christ for a VBS in 2006, and again in 2007 - this time with Trinity Presbyterian and Spring Street Wesleyan! In 2008 Trinity Lutheran joined the crew for a Walk-thru-the Bible event! Anchor's music team has played events at Union Chapel Church, Corruna UBC, and several other churches.

Did you know that there have been lots of kids, youth, and adults who have been a blessing to Anchor? They've also along the way been blessed by Anchor...may God continue to bless the world through Anchor...and all those who've been part of Anchor along the way.

5 comments:

AndrewHoffman said...

Such a great reflection. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Kratz said...

Congrats on 10 years!

Anonymous said...

10 years, wow! congrats!!
I still think about ACC every now & then :) good to see you're going strong!

ToddFetters.com said...

Congratulations on 10 years of ministry at Anchor. So many things to praise God for.

~Jamie said...

We want pictures!!!