We're a "Comeback" Church!

Quite some time back I was interviewed by phone for a research project on "Comeback" Churches. The interview lasted for more than an hour and included detailed questions about "how" and "why" our church had been able to recover from a plateaued state. I heard nothing further following the interview and concluded that my responses had somehow missed the mark for the study. Ironically, earlier this morning, I was having coffee at Starbucks with our Director of Missions and we were talking about the convention in San Antonio. Our conversation moved to Ed Stetzer and I shared that I had been interviewed in the "Comback" study but that we evidently didn't measure up as a "Comeback" church. This afternoon I found a package in the mail from B&H Publishers. I expected some type of promotional material or perhaps someone's pet project that I would be asked to promote within the church. Inside the package I found a copy of "Comeback Churches" with an attached letter. Here is a quote from the letter:

Thank you so much for opening your church and your heart to us as part of the Comeback Churches project. We surveyed 324 churches like yours--those that had experienced substantial growth after a protracted period of decline. We are grateful for the time that you invested in this project. Please consider this book a gift from the authors and B&H Publishers. We appreciate you and consider it a privilege to help tell your story.