Showing posts with label billion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label billion. Show all posts

Have You Seen These Interesting Back-to-School Facts?

Grades K-12

54.7 million – Number of students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools, both public and private, in the U.S. in 2011.

3.7 million – Elementary and secondary school teachers working in U.S. schools in 2011.

$11,467 – The estimated average amount a typical public school will spend on each student in 2012-2013.

31.8 million – Number of children who received free or reduced price lunches through the National School Lunch Program in 2011.

3.4 million – Students expected to graduate from high school in the 2012-2013 school year.

11.8 milllion – Number of students who spoke a language other than English at home in 2010.

2.04 million – Number of homeschooled students in 2010.

$83.8 billion – Estimated amount to be spent on back-to-school shopping in the U.S. in 2012.

$688 – Average amount parents will spend on back-to-school items for kids in grades K-12.

Post-secondary

21.6 million – Number of students expected to be enrolled in colleges and universities in fall 2012.

12.3 million – Number of female students expected to be enrolled in colleges and universities in fall 2012.

16 – Percent of college students age 35 and older in 2010.

$20,100 – Total annual cost of attending a public college/university in 2010, paying in-state tuition.

$39,800 – Total annual cost of attending a private college/university in 2010.

The Number You Should Be Counting

 
Have you ever seen a church attendance board?  Back in the day, churches would put these at the front of the church.  Everybody would watch to see what number would be posted each week.

I believe the number we should focus on is not how many people are attending our church.  Instead, we should be focusing on the number of people who are not attending our church. 

The point is not how many people are currently attending your church.  Rather it's how many people in your community are still lost and need Jesus.  That's the number that matters!  It doesn't matter if you have 50, 500, or 5,000 people attending...take a look outside the walls of your church.  You are surrounded by people who need Jesus!
 
The current world population is over 7 billion.  That's over 7 billion people who will die in the next 100 years.  Jesus sees them. They are His focus. He is not willing that any should perish, but that everyone should come to Him.  He wants to have a life-changing relationship with every single one of those 7 billion people.
 
Let's keep our focus outward instead of inward.  Our motivation should not be to see how large our church can get.  Our motivation should be the people in our community who have no clue about Jesus.