One of the many things I love about VALLEY Christian Church, the church I’ve been blessed to pastor for almost 25 years now, is the commitment of the people in the VALLEY Family to reach our community with innovative approaches that think “outside the box”. Recently, as a church staff, we began to read and discuss some of the issues people face attending church services on Sundays, given a number of cultural and even economic challenges. For instance, did you know:

1. A third of the American workforce works on the weekend?

2. At least 60% of families with children between the ages of 6 – 17 participate in organized sports, with many of those having weekend events?

Those are some pretty BIG numbers. After discovering these facts, we concluded, as a church staff, we are NOT okay with it being so difficult for so many people just to attend church on Sunday, so…

Beginning April 9th, we will pilot a *NEW* pre-weekend gathering at 7:00pm on Thursdays at our Hopewell Campus!!! Our Thursday gathering will be our first weekend gathering each weekend (with the same message shared on Sunday at both of our Hopewell & Poughkeepsie campuses). Our cafe will be open for Thursday nights, we will have LIVE worship, and we will also have our incredible VALLEY Kids Ministry, just like every Sunday morning!

The teaching will also be LIVE every Thursday night (in fact, that’s the message that will be recorded each week for our Poughkeepsie Campus on Sunday). We are doing all of this because we’re committed to “Reaching people with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ“. If that commitment means we need to innovate and think “outside the box”, then that is what we will do! So, go ahead and start spreading the word. If you work on the weekend or have other commitments on Sunday, check out our Thursday Night service kicking-off on Thursday April 9th.

I, for one, am really excited about this opportunity, and the chance to be more available on Thursday nights to the VALLEY Family than time allows me to be on Sundays. I cannot wait to see how The Lord will use Thursday Night to help us reach more people with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. On Thursday April 9th at 7:00pm we will also kick-off a brand new message series called “Four Cups”. Through “Four Cups” we’ll discover God’s timeless promises for a life of fulfillment. So make plans to attend, and bring a friend!