How Do We Measure "Success"?

One of our axioms is, “We will be ever-growing, ever-reaching this generation for Christ.”

I hope you were able to read last week’s blog about "ever-growing, ever-reaching". What is happening now is literally the answer to decades of praying. For years, my prayer has been, “Lord, increase our capacity to grow people!” The more God has answered that prayer, the more people have come.

 And as you have heard it said often at TMC . . . “Attendance is not the measurement of our success, it is the weight of our responsibility.”

So what is happening now?

A Significant Milestone Reached!
We have exceeded 1,000 in attendance for Easter and Christmas for years but, for the first time in the history of Thunder Mountain Church, we averaged more than 1,000 in a month.

Average Weekend Worship Attendance (“The Weight of Responsibility”)
Nov. 2025: 1,023 (26% increase)
Nov. 2024: 812 (14% increase)
Nov. 2023: 710 (31% increase)

I have always believed that the destiny of our church would reach this size even on the Sunday in 1989  when only 7 people were present, or the months that our average attendance was in the 30’s. First, God had to grow the people (especially me!) who would form the pipeline, and lead them through it. My legacy will not be my name, but the people who give their lives (as I have given mine) to reach out, touch lives, and grow people to know, love, and serve Jesus!

The focus of the leadership of TMC is NOT to strategize how we can increase our attendance, although we all work very hard to reach more people, and especially people no one else is reaching.

We also work hard at growing disciples who can make disciples who make disciples SO THAT the population of Heaven will increase and the population of Hell will decrease.
When you work hard at reaching people, AND you work hard at growing disciples (those people you have reached), attendance WILL increase (as a by-product of “successful” ministry).

If Not Attendance, How Do We Measure “Success”
“Success” is measured by people who are growing  through our “Discipleship Pipeline.”  We measure . . .
1.) # of people attending (and taking) “Next Steps”
2.) # of people completing Foundations (Discipleship 1.0 class)
3.) # of people completing Formations (Discipleship 2.0 class offered as an Equipped Class)
4.) # of new Ministry Partners (people complete Growth Track and begin engaging in the 5 Strategies of discipleship).
5.) # of new Leadership Partners (people completing the Ministry Leadership Course, the Leadership 1.0 class, and signing the Leadership Partner Covenant)

What Will Be YOUR Focus for 2026?
It’s my prayer that you will prioritize your spiritual growth in 2026 in a way that a foundation will be established on which future growth will be built.

Next week, let’s look at a big reason why we hit this milestone after 36 years!