Thank God for more Paperwork

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As I was preparing for entering weekly statistics for my congregations, It must have been God, reminding me of the importance of the figures. I had just read Ephesians 2:1-10. But it took an ‘elbowing’ from God to refresh my memory of the meaning of it all. Besides financial figures, attendance, small group numbers, is a line with a blank to be filled in: How many professions of faith this week. In other words, because of the witness to who Jesus is, how many people have chosen to come to know Christ and his salvation? I must confess, when I learned that our churches would have not just yearly or periodically, but weekly more paperwork, thanksgiving was not an immediate response. But it is now. Accountability for being who we say we are in Christ, and loving others into the fellowship of believers is a core issue!  
I thank God for our denominations leadership, to get in our face and ask: How many people came to Christ because of you this week?
There isn’t a greater joy than knowing that a soul came to know Christ, and we have the privilege of being a bearer of this awesome story of salvation, available for the asking, and worthy of walking it out daily.
Not too long ago, I had the privilege of ‘filling in a blank.’ A lady who had been living in the small rural community surrounding one of my churches called me. She had been friends with one of our members all her 80-some years, and the decades of seeing the fruit of a life of one who consistently loved Jesus drew her to make a long-overdue decision. With more joy than I can express she professed her faith in our small church gathering, was baptized, and is now a member.  
I look forward to more ‘paperwork.’