Rockville MD English lecture feedback from church

We have so much fruitage that it’s hard to package it on this one form.

First, our Reading Room librarian reported that she had sales of $103 dollars from her table in the lobby after the lecture—a record sales day. A few days later, a woman who had been at the lecture came into our Rockville Reading Room looking for CDs. She listened to several and purchased some and was interested in other literature as well.

Since the theme of our lecture preparation was outreach to youth, our librarian was also inspired to approach some young people outside the Reading Room who were waiting for the bus on a school day. Rockville High School had been closed because of the swine flu, and she thought that perhaps they might like to hear something helpful. She mentioned that David had written the 91st Psalm to express his understanding of God’s protection and they said, wow, they hadn’t thought of it that way. (Note: Rockville high school was declared closed for two weeks the day after our lecture, but three school days later, it reopened. We attribute this turnaround to the
effect of prayer and the proactive messages of The Mother Church via Internet and e-mail.)

As we prepared for our lecture with youth in mind, we tried several times to invite youth from the Hearts and Homes shelters for at-risk youth, with no response. However, we did have young people at our lecture! One young boy, the son of a soloist, was eager to hear the lecture and he listened intently for the whole hour plus. Other members’ two teenage granddaughters, who are being raised in another religion, brought a friend of theirs who was feeling devastated about being eliminated during tryouts for a school musical production. This girl was captivated by the message of the lecture and felt for the first time that God loved her, no matter what. She was the first person to speak to the lecturer at the end of the talk.

Some members brought friends and neighbors who hadn’t been to our church before. They were all excited about what they heard. A member who hadn’t been to church for several years also came to this lecture. Another member said that this was the best lecture she had heard since her childhood.

One of our members e-mailed her entire neighborhood and one of the neighbors came to the lecture after having a conversation with our member about current popular spirituality trends and Christian Science. Another of the neighbors who got the e-mail happened to work with a different member and asked her if she knew about the talk. This member said she hadn’t thought of asking this person to the lecture and said she learned a lesson about being more proactive about inviting people to lectures!

Another guest at the lecture, who attends our church occasionally, brought her sister and daughter this time. Afterwards, she wrote: “We all enjoyed the lecture very much--I have to say the lecturer is awesome! I loved her attitude and down-to-earthness. I have been applying the thoughts out of the talk with more effectiveness than ever! I feel my daughter is, too--some of her remarks recently are reflecting the points laid out by the lecture.”

One of our guests had trouble finding her way to our church. She pulled over in downtown Rockville with her blinkers flashing. A police officer drove up and asked her if she needed help. She said she didn’t know how to get to our church. After he showed it to her on the map, she still was uncertain about how to drive there, so the officer led the way and she followed him and got to the lecture on time. The lecture chair wrote a note of gratitude from our church to the Rockville Police Chief. By return mail, she received a note from the chief thanking her for taking the time to write and tell him about our appreciation.

Approximately 100 people attended the lecture, among whom at least 12-15 were newcomers, although we didn’t identify absolutely everyone who was there. We did witness the results of prayer and members’ personally inviting people to this lecture!

-Lecture chairperson