MungerFest 2019: stats and pictures

[We are so blessed to be right across the street from Garrett Park—it’s like having a huge front porch.]

Like a narcissistic Hollywood celebrity, at Munger we throw ourselves our own birthday party the last Sunday in October every year, and we modestly name it after ourselves: MungerFest.

This past Sunday was our 9th birthday, and the whole day was PERFECT:

Sunny, clear, and cool. Thank you, Lord!
We had our biggest MungerFest turnout yet: 1,978 people! (Couldn’t our counters have found 22 more from somewhere?!)
We baptized 11 people and joined 69 new members.
After the service, our congregation stepped up & donated a total of $3,284 so that every single one of our homeless neighbors could eat for free from one of the food trucks!

At MungerFest we have one service in the park under the big tent at 10 AM and close the service with cardboard testimonies, which are always so moving. Then food trucks and trunk-or-treat afterwards. What’s not to love?

It’s been 9 years since members of Highland Park UMC donated $4.5 million to launch Munger and 9 years since the Rev. Paul Rasmussen invited me to be the Munger pastor. I will never stop being grateful. I can’t believe I get to be here!

[Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see some great pics.]

Munger Stats and Charts

I shared the following statistics at MungerFest, and when you see on paper what’s been happening, it is obvious to me that God is blessing Munger.

The question is, how can we be good stewards of all that God is giving us?

Our adult worship attendance is up 12% over last year. (We count noses in worship every week so we feel good about the accuracy of those numbers. The above stats are YTD through the 3rd quarter of each year.)

Our kids attendance (birth-5th grade) is up 20% over last year! (Again, these are YTD numbers through the 3rd quarter of each year. We had some IT issues with check-in in 2017, so we don’t have good numbers from that year.)

Our annual giving is up almost 14% over last year (13.7, to be exact). This is AMAZING, because it means that Munger is growing in generosity faster than we are growing in people. Thank you, Jesus! (Again, these are actual YTD 3rd quarter numbers, not projections.)

This is my favorite stat of all. 54% of our members (we don’t have data on our attenders who are not members) didn’t have a previous church affiliation before they become Mungarians. That means that 54% of our members either joined through baptism or through profession of faith. AMAZING. (These membership stats do not include the folks who joined at MungerFest 2019.)

Let me say it again: It is obvious to me that God is blessing Munger.

The question is, how can we be good stewards of all that God is giving us?

To All Mungarians

I feel like Munger is at an important inflection point. Are we going to push on for more, or are we going to accept the status quo? Remember what happened in the week before Pentecost:

“All the disciples with one passionate heart were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers”

And then, one week later: BOOM. The Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, and the world was never the same again.

I believe God is calling us to be united with one heart and to be praying with passionate intensity for MORE in the years to come.

Will you join me? Here’s our shorthand prayer:

“Today, Lord!”