April Faith Day (version 17) is now history.  It is hard to believe that this year’s offering marked our 17th April Faith Day offering.  Including the 2016 offering, over $2,280,000 has been sacrificially given over these past 16 years.  To God Be the Glory!

April Faith Day 2016

This year, we praise God for an April Faith Day (AFD) offering of over $173,000!  It is truly remarkable to consider what we have accomplished through the power of God.  This year’s offering is the largest one in a very long time.  Our 2011 offering was over $187,000, but nearly half of that was a large estate gift.  We have to go back all the way to 2004 to find an AFD offering that was larger than this year’s.  In the 2004, the AFD offering was over $177,000.

Each year I like to provide some ‘stats’ from our AFD offering.

• Almost 200 families participated in our AFD offering!
• The average gift was around $874.
• There were 24 gifts of exactly $500.
• There were 22 gifts of exactly $1,000.
• There were 31 gifts of an amount greater than $1,000.
• The vast majority of gifts (73%) were less than $1,000.
• The individual gifts (that we could track) ranged from $3 to $14,000.

What Can We Learn

What lessons can we learn from our 2016 April Faith Day Offering?  Let me share some with you.

1. God can use any gift – no matter how small.
2. God works through all of us.  The largest ‘check’ we received comprised less than 10% of the entire offering.  This offering was not dominated by a large donor.  It was the result of all of us working together for the glory of God.
3. It could have been bigger.  I am in a unique position.  I know who contributes and who doesn’t.  From what I see, there are many who never participate in our April Faith Day offering.

Since 2000

As I wrote above, since 2000, over $2,280,000 has been given through our AFD offerings.   Remarkably, well over$300,000 in gifts have been given out of these annual offerings.  The remainder of these offerings has been used to help our Building Fund and our Faith’s 100 Missions program.

It is simply amazing to consider what God has done through a little church in Polk County, Florida.  I don’t know about you but I am already excited to see what God will do in 2017 and the years to come.

To God Alone Be all the Glory and Honor.

Stephen

PS – If you have some time to spare, this link will take you to all of the articles we have ever written in regards to April Faith Day.  I found it very interesting to read through these and see what God did in the past.