For the Love of Numbers!

Like me, some of you may be fascinated by numbers. My love of math goes back to sixth grade and a before-school tutoring session with my teacher/principal, Mrs. Martha Ortegren. For several weeks, she gave up her prep-time to “catch me up” on some math skills so I could join the advanced group in our class. I will never forget her patience, encouragement, and how this built up my confidence as a student. Mrs. Ortegren believed in me and knew that I could do the work!

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While I never became a mathematician, I do think I passed some of my love of numbers off to one of our daughters, who is a math teacher today. Our eldest son, who is a public policy “wonk” also has an aptitude for math and recently took two challenging seminars in statistics from Harvard. A few years ago, one of our grandsons blew us away with a near perfect grade in his high school statistics class!

Do you have a favorite math fact? I still love to recite 8 lines of Chaucer in old English, especially during mic checks before preaching!! (Thank you, Mrs. Moreland!) Wait! Is that even math? 😊How about my “fav fact?” “Fifteen times fifteen equals two-hundred and twenty-five!” Our retired elementary educator and regular substitute still gets the class to giggle when she shares her favorite math fact of “six plus eight or eight plus six equals fourteen!” The kids love to hear her brag with enthusiasm about that one!

As I mentioned recently, I have surpassed a half-a-million total pageviews with my blog. I am totally surprised and grateful that these humble weekly offerings, now totaling 354 posts over the past seven years, are now drawing monthly pageviews of forty and fifty thousand. It’s all about the numbers and the phenomenon of what is called an “exponential snowball effect!” The statistics, generated by Google Analytics, show that the more articles I write, the more hits occur on the Serve by Design, mjkministries.com website!

In finances and saving, the experts can show how consistent investing and compounding, a small amount over time, can turn a modest amount into a substantial sum! This also applies to church ministry, and evangelism. Church leaders often challenge parishioners with catchy slogans like, “Each one reach one!” or “Pray for 5, Invite 3, and Bring 1.” If believers would consistently practice these strategies, it would impact all our numbers: attendance, baptisms, finances, and ministry outcomes. How? It is because of the “exponential snowball effect” of our collective efforts!

Was Jesus interested in numbers? I think of those three parables the Lord told in Luke 15 regarding the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. They teach us about “the love of numbers” and what that represents in God’s Kingdom calculations. In each story, you feel the emotion like the shepherd’s pursuit of the one lost sheep and how “he calls his friends and neighbors” to share in his joy! And especially, you hear heaven rejoicing “over one sinner who repents!”

Last Sunday, we took a day trip, to another community, to attend worship at one of its mega-churches. I like to do this occasionally. The youth pastor did an outstanding job of preaching the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. That woman was one of the best witnesses of a changed life! The Scriptures say, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony!” (John 4:39).

During the youth pastor’s message, he asked us this question, “How many of you came to the faith because someone invited you to church?” Monique and I both stood with a considerable number of others in that service. For me, I came to faith because a neighbor invited me to a children’s camp where I accepted Christ. Months later, I would join the local church because another neighbor invited me and gave me a ride to Sunday School. Do you see the impact of a collective work by God’s people of “praying, inviting, and bringing others to Christ?”

I have heard some complaints that all church folk ever talk about is numbers. Yes, we count a lot, but that’s not all we talk about! I want to say in our defense, we do count because those numbers represent people who need a relationship with Christ!

Let’s continue telling the gospel story and counting the outcomes “for the love of numbers!” There are precious family members and friends who are spiritually lost and need to be "found" by Jesus, our Lord and Savior!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
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