This Sunday we celebrated our ten-year anniversary at Strong Tower Church. As amazing as the last ten years have been, I believe that the next ten are going to be even greater.

In the fall of 2007, my pastor invited me into his home to share his dream of creating a church that would attract those who had given up on church. We had no idea how to accomplish it, but we were young and naïve enough to try anything.

There was one big problem among many smaller ones. Strong Tower Church had already existed for almost two years, and it wasn’t doing a great job of attracting people. The average attendance in 2007 was just over one hundred people. Not bad for a town with one red light, but far from the dream God had birthed in my pastor’s heart.

Fast-forward eight years and as we get ready to celebrate ten years as a church, we’re also getting ready to launch our second location. Who knew 100 attenders could turn into 150, then 250, then 400, then 600, then 700+, and who knows maybe even 1,000 by the end of 2016?

Yet, those aren’t the most important numbers. The most important numbers are the hundreds of people that we’ve seen give their lives to Christ and go public with their faith through baptism. Those are the numbers we really care about.

So, how do you go about achieving your dreams? Here are a few things I’ve learned.

• It’s Harder than You can Imagine – Every dream has a cost attached to it. The bigger the dream, the bigger the cost. It’ll cost you friends, it’ll cost you money, and it’ll cost you sleep.

• It’s More Work than You Thought – I’m convinced that God blesses those who work the hardest and the smartest. If you’re not willing to work harder than you ever have before, your dream will never be a reality.

• It’s More Worth It than You Realize – As hard as it is, and as much work as it takes, it’s so worth it. I am reminded of that over and over again each and every week as I see this dream come to life.

I’ve been so fortunate to see this dream realized at Strong Tower Church, and I can’t wait to take this dream to a brand new community.

What goals and dreams do you have? How are you accomplishing them? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.