[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-y2k-to-w53":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-y2k-to-w53-surround":63},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":11,"columnName":46,"date":47,"description":17,"extension":48,"image":49,"meta":50,"minRead":51,"navigation":52,"path":53,"postType":54,"publication":55,"publicationUrl":49,"seo":56,"stem":57,"topics":58,"__hash__":62},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-y2k-to-w53.md","From Y2K to W53",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10],"Isaiah","Hebrews",{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":42},"minimark",[14,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39],[15,16,17],"p",{},"Amid all the hoopla over the Y2K problem, one small detail about the year 2000 has gone unnoticed. This upcoming turn-of-the-millennium year contains 53 Sundays!",[15,19,20],{},"Now, this little quirk of the calendar may not matter much to most people, but to some of us it will mean a lot. Preachers and Sunday school teachers will have extra sermons and lessons to prepare. Church treasurers will have an extra offering to count. And of course, weekly magazines like The Lookout will publish an extra issue—in our case, at no extra cost to our bulk subscribers!",[15,22,23],{},"When I first noticed that 2000 will contain 53 Sundays, I began joking with my coworkers about the \"W53 problem\"—53 weeks of magazines to produce. My boss laughed too, especially when I suggested we deserved a raise because of the extra work.",[15,25,26],{},"But before long, I started seeing some wonderful possibilities for next year's 53rd Sunday. Isn't it great that the long-anticipated year 2000 will end on the Lord's Day? When God gives us something extra, we need to use it well. If he gives us an extra Lord's Day in 2000, why not devote it to him in some special way?",[15,28,29],{},"Instead of the usual New Year's Eve nonsense, why don't we designate December 31, 2000, as a great Day of Spiritual Awakening? What if churches all over America and around the world make it a day of prayer and fasting instead of partying and feasting? Why couldn't we make the final day of 2000 a time of national repentance and revival—a day for believers all over the globe to spend time on our knees in consecration to God? What if, from morning worship services until after midnight as the new year begins, we spend the day preaching, praising, and praying to the one who is Lord over time and eternity?",[15,31,32],{},"And think of the financial possibilities. What if churches decide to give their entire 53rd offering of the year to support global missions or plant new churches across America? Or what if churches volunteer to pool their extra week's income to help fund some needed project in their region—a Christian college, an urban mission, a Christian service camp? What if every Christian in America determined to give this 53rd Sunday back to God by giving an extra $53, or $5,300, or even 53 cents to feed the hungry and take the gospel to every creature?",[15,34,35],{},"None of us are guaranteed we'll even be here tomorrow, let alone a year from now. But \"the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands\" (Isaiah 32:8). We have a year to make noble plans and accomplish some noble deeds that can change the course of our world in the next millennium.",[15,37,38],{},"How will you and your church plan to use your extra Lord's Day in 2000?",[15,40,41],{},"Will you enter the new year with faith in the Lord Jesus who \"is the same yesterday and today and forever\" (Hebrews 13:8)?",{"title":43,"searchDepth":44,"depth":44,"links":45},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1999-12-26","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-y2k-to-w53","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":17},"articles\u002Ffrom-y2k-to-w53",[59,60,61],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Spiritual Formation","sTxzHuLIw17_mshukq0glhd9lK2Nt4eYPMhPc-x8OFw",[64,69],{"title":65,"path":66,"stem":67,"description":68,"children":-1},"Fresh Bread and Core Values","\u002Farticles\u002Ffresh-bread-and-core-values","articles\u002Ffresh-bread-and-core-values","Has your church identified a mission statement and a list of core values—principles and beliefs you consider of central importance? Many organizations have statements like these; but unless they actually shape our behavior, they are little more than clever-sounding slogans posted on a wall.",{"title":70,"path":71,"stem":72,"description":73,"children":-1},"Gather Around the Hearth","\u002Farticles\u002Fgather-around-the-hearth","articles\u002Fgather-around-the-hearth","Christmasy curiosities abound this time of year. Reindeer can fly and a chubby man can slide swiftly down a narrow chimney (while wearing a thick fur-lined coat and smoking a pipe). We sing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire even though most of us wouldn't recognize a chestnut if it were floating in our eggnog. In balmy southern climates, residents clad in shorts and lathered with sunscreen decorate their homes with fake snow and hum tunes about sledding in a winter wonderland. Kids who most days can't find two socks that match hang their stockings by the chimney with care."]