Today is a big day for two reasons.  It is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (although the biblican name is Yom Teruah--the Day of Sounding the Shofar), AND today is the day the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2006 American Community Survey results.

Every year now, the Census Bureau puts out updated statistics for American communities.  No need to wait ten years for new information about your community, it's here every year, and it's only aged about 9 months when you get it.

IF you live in a community of more than 65,000 people.  If your town is smaller than that, you'll have to wait until about 2013 for any new information.

Oh, there are other sources, state surveys and information from the Economic Research Service at the Ag Dept. that update information on rural America more often, but when it comes to counting noses, you apparently need at least 65,000 noses to be worth counting.

It's just another occasion for those of us plugging away in the tens of thousands of churches in small towns, villages, and the countryside to ask, "Does this count?"

Yes, it does.  As Dave Roadcup pointed out at last week's ESCN Conference, it didn't matter how much the Master made the steward responsible for, it was the faithfulness of the steward that determined the reward.  Matthew 25:14-30.

Christ is counting your faithful service, even if the Census Bureau isn't.

Barney