I subscribe to Seth Godin’s blog, thanks to my friend Jim Griffith. He is right, the short and pithy insights cause me to think, and they always apply to my work in the church. Seth’s topic today was about how record sale figures were at one time manipulated over the years by Billboard, and how some authors have bought their way into the publishing market, thus inflating their sales and making their way onto best seller lists. You should read that post. When I read it, I was reminded of how we do that in the church, manipulating and inflating worship attendance figures to justify our work and our existence. In the 21st Century, some say that church growth is passe, but I disagree. There are things we must do to reach out. We want to touch lives, and an increase in attendance is a sign of fruit. But self-promotion, false representation about the figures, and focusing on the numbers do not serve us, or those who follow us. And God still knows the difference.