Yesterday was winter at its finest. We got about 5 inches of very wet and heavy snow by the time our services began and it was still snowing. We had church because it was so warm that the snow was no longer accumulating and our parking lot was plowed and the city was doing a good job on the streets. So it was a very different kind of Sunday, which leads to different kinds of musings …

-The weather kept many people at home. Our attendance was about 40% of our normal worship attendance.

-The low numbers gave the service a very different feel.

-We had a great time of worship during the music and prayer time. Maybe the lower numbers made some people feel like that had to participate a little more passionately. If that is true then I need to find a way to get them to feel that way on more normal Sundays.

-Our worship team was only half of its regular size but they did a marvelous job of leading us as they worshiped.

-The difficulty on days like yesterday is that many people who do not venture out in the weather assume you know they are not coming and don’t bother to let us know they are not attending. Which leads to some scrambling and adjusting on the fly. That really bothers me and I will leave it at that for now.

-I believe that those who do attend on Sundays like yesterday have a memorable experience and it is something that they bond over with the others who attended.

-I believe people were engaged during the sermon. One nice thing for a pastor on a day like yesterday is that with the smaller number people can’t hide behind other people. We attempted to video the sermon but I haven’t put myself through the pain of watching it yet.

-I did have a hospital visit yesterday with a dear lady from our church. It is difficult to watch ones who have been so active and vital in a church as age and disease limit their ability to serve. I love being able to minister to them at times like this, but I hurt for them.

-Our small group gathered to watch the Super Bowl last evening. The outcome of the game was not what I wanted, but then I would have said that if the other team had won. I was wishing that somehow they could both lose. It was an entertaining game and I had great company as I watched the game. Love our small group.

-This is shaping up to be a very busy week with many different tasks and a lot of emotion involved.

-Very grateful for people who came early yesterday to make sure those who ventured out would have a great experience when they arrived. I love seeing people serve with such passion and love.

Here’s hoping you are safe and relatively warm today. Take some time to be thankful for the blessings you have and pray for those who are struggling today.

Dennis

What a difference a year makes. This past weekend marked one year since I moved in to our current location. When we unloaded our trailer a year ago the temperature was about 30 degrees colder and there was several more inches of snow on the ground. This year was so mild it was hard to believe it was January. Now to the musings…

-The mild weather didn’t help our attendance at all. We were down considerably from the week before, however it was still 10 more than we were averaging at this time a year ago.

-We had a few sound issues yesterday, nothing dramatic. Just enough to remind me that we can’t go too much longer without doing some major work on our sound system.

-We had a very emotional time of prayer. We have a few people in our congregation going through some major issues at this time. These are life-changing issues. I love the concern that our congregation is showing and that they are reaching out to these people to help in tangible ways.

-My wife was out of town yesterday caring for some of our grandkids so their parents could go minister with a group for the weekend. Things are never the same when she is gone. I draw great strength from her support and she helps me with details, since I can be a big picture person and miss details at times. I was also missing her observations as I was reviewing the service last night. The good news is she is supposed to get back home today.

-Illness is still wreaking havoc among our people. This stuff just doesn’t want to go away.

-I felt good about the sermon ahead of time, but I did not like how it went during the service. I was struggling all the way through and as a result it didn’t seem that the people were very engaged during the message. I will beat myself up for a few days over that one.

-I had a great conversation with one of our newer families after the service yesterday. I was greatly encouraged by that conversation.

-I headed to hospital right after the service. This hospital is about 40 minutes away. The good news is that the person I visited is doing much better (not because of my visit).

-Our small group was very small last night. We still had some good discussion and it was great to spend time with them.

-My Sunday morning small group had a very meaningful lesson and discussion. The lesson was exactly what a few of them are dealing with at this time. I love those lessons that are right on time.

-The day ended poorly when my NFL team suffered a crushing defeat, ouch!

I am looking forward to my wife getting home today. What are you looking forward to today?

Dennis

Winter is in full force around here. Sub-zero temps several days last week. 5 inches of snow on Tuesday and another 3 or 4 inches overnight on top of some freezing rain. We are still much better off than last year at this time, but we are certainly being reminded that we are in the middle of winter. We got a bit spoiled in December. As for the musings …

-Yesterday was a great picture of the growth we have experienced. The day felt like just a so-so day as far as attendance, but we actually had 25 more than we were averaging at this time last year. We had no first time visitors and we had 10 or 12 very regular attenders who were absent.

-One of our college students, from Olivet Nazarene University, shared about his upcoming mission trip. I love that we get to be a part of sending him on this trip. I love that he is willing to go. I love that people are giving and praying for him and his team. Hoping to use this as a springboard for others to go on mission trips.

-I began teaching an 8 week elective small group during our Sunday School hour. It has been a while since I did a weekly group on Sunday mornings. I love doing it but I have to be very prepared for the day and it takes some shifting of mindsets to go from teaching a small group directly into worship and preaching. It was a great start with this new group. They are going to be fun to teach.

-We made it through worship with no issues with our technology. That is a great praise. It has been a while since we were issue free on a Sunday with our technology.

-This was the 2nd message in my series “Directions”. I am burdened, and excited, to see people really dig into this series and apply it to their lives and to the life our church. People seemed engaged during the message and in conversations following the service I know there are people looking to apply the message.

-Our small group cancelled last night due to icy roads. We still had a new person show up, so my wife and I sat and talked with her for an hour. It was a great time to get to know her much better. We now have her on our list of contacts when anything changes in the group.

-It was good to see a few people back in church who have missed recently due to illness. The junk going around is still impacting a lot of people and some were still absent yesterday.

-I am excited that our Men’s group is going to start meeting again this week after a couple of months off. It is a group that meets at a local restaurant for fellowship. I love meeting with those guys. This time around we are going to have 1 question we deal with each time we meet. I am smiling as I type this in anticipation of the discussion we are likely to experience.

My back is yelling at me from the hour of shoveling this morning and I have a couple who are due to meet with me any minute, so I need to stop musing. Looking forward to a great week of ministry. What are you looking forward to this week?

Dennis

Here I am facing my computer on the first Monday of the year. It is not only the first Monday of the year it is the first Monday in which we are facing real winter weather. December was incredibly mild in temperature and precipitation. So here we go with some musings …

-I made another major goof yesterday. I got the correct outline in the bulletin but I was watching the wrong clock. Just before the worship service began my wife pointed out that the clock at the back of the sanctuary was about 8 minutes slow. We didn’t have time to get a ladder out and correct the clock. So we just reminded ourselves and others that the clock was off and not to count on it. I got into my message and completely forgot that the clock was wrong. I finished at our normal time, only it wasn’t. It was actually 7 minutes past our regular. I felt terrible. People didn’t seem to notice and they weren’t staring at their watches. But I didn’t need those extra 7 minutes, so I felt terrible.

-We had a great time of worship during the music and prayer times. It was a great way to begin a new year.

-We had a lot of people out with illness and I am guessing a few of our older people stayed home because the roads were a little slick. It was the first Sunday with any winter weather.

-Even with all the illness and the condition of the roads our attendance was well above a year ago.

-Our small group met last night for the time in 3 weeks. It was great to be back together. We had some fun conversations, some great laughs and some very deep sharing as well. That is a definition of a great small group meeting.

-The message series that I began yesterday is entitled “Directions” Finding your place in God’s plan. I am very excited, and burdened, for this series of messages. I am convinced that this is critical for how our church will impact our community this year.

-I am approaching my one year anniversary at this church later this month. As I look back I am humbled to see how God has worked in our church this past year.

-We are beginning to pray for our Revival services that will begin in 2 months.

-I am encouraged as I hear that several people in my church are seeking to read the Bible a lot more this year. Getting the Word in people is always a positive thing.

Here’s hoping that you are looking forward to this week and that you can find a few people to encourage.

Dennis

Oops! I had a big oops yesterday, but I did not know it until it was mentioned at lunch. I usually put an outline of my sermon in the bulletin. It has the title, scripture, key points and some blanks you can choose to fill in. It goes along with the power point on the screens. Yesterday I inadvertently submitted my outline from the week before. I don’t look at the outline in the bulletin on Sundays because I don’t need it. I noticed some people looking more intently than normal at the screens when the sermon began, but I didn’t think much of it. I got no clues from people, including my wife, that the printed outline didn’t match what I was saying or what was on the screens. My wife said she assumed that she had somehow picked up a leftover bulletin from last week. I don’t like that it is possible to pick up a bulletin from the week before. (Note to self: besides getting the correct outline in the bulletin, make sure the ones from the week before are no longer available.) The good people in my church didn’t even mention it as they spoke with me following the service. Oops!

Now for some musings from the last Sunday of the calendar year …

-Even with my big goof on the sermon outline people seemed very engaged during the message. Maybe they were having to focus a lot more without the correct outline.

-We did much better with our tech issues this week and my mic even worked. It helps when no one messes with every knob, button and slider on your sound equipment during the week.

-I loved hearing the congregation participating as we sang.

-We had a very good prayer time.

-Attendance was down again as illness and travel continued to have an impact. Even with the lower attendance we still had some new people.

-We have several people going through some very difficult situations. It is a wonderful time for the church to be the church to these people.

-I am beginning a new message series this coming Sunday entitled “Directions”. It is studying and finding God’s direction for each individual. I am really excited for this series. I outlined the series a few weeks ago when I was awakened in the middle of the night.

-It is difficult to see some of our older members going through tough physical issues.

-We had a very positive night on Christmas Eve as individuals and families came to take communion. It was so moving to share with these small groups and reflect on what God is doing in their lives at this time.

-We have been very fortunate with the early winter weather. I don’t expect it to continue, but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Here’s hoping that you have a great time of reflection on this past year and an encouraging time of looking forward to the New Year.

Dennis

I want to start off today with a Happy Birthday wish to my daughter in law. It is actually a slightly belated birthday wish, as her birthday was yesterday. She loves Jesus, she loves my son, she loves my grandkids and she politely endures me. It was so wonderful to spend about 10 days with her and the family recently. Happy Birthday Nicki, sorry it is a few hours late, love you.

Yesterday was a day with some tremendous highs and several low moments as well. Here’s some musings …

-My wife and I cooked breakfast for the church yesterday. We, meaning my wife, went all out. There were special decorating touches on the serving table and there was a wide variety of food choices. There was 3 kinds of egg caseroles, there were sausage links, there was banana bread, there was also pancakes with 3 kinds of fruit toppings, with choices of syrup, peanut butter or chocolate chips as well. I helped her with some of the set up and I made and cooked pancakes for an hour.

-It was fun to let people know that this was our Christmas present to the church and a way of saying thank you for their help in getting us to, and supporting us on our trip to Kenya.

-Someone had messed with our sound system and it took more than 30 minutes to figure out what all had been done to the system before we could do sound checks and have a little practice time. The system was all set and working fine on Thursday evening. This was very frustrating.

-I also had to spend several minutes yesterday morning doing some cleaning and straightening up from someone coming in and allowing kids to mess up the nursery and toddler rooms. I have had to do something similar many times in my years of ministry but for some reason it really bothered me yesterday.

-It was encouraging to see our people sitting around talking, getting to know each other better and having real fellowship during the breakfast.

-We had several people not present due to illness and some family situations. As a result we were going to have the children stay in worship for the full hour. When the children heard that they were going to have listen to me instead of their regular children’s workers they begged to have their full children’s church time. I loved hearing that they love their workers and their ministry that much. I choose not to focus on the fact that they didn’t want to be with me. We have great children’s workers and the kids are loving the changes we made several weeks ago.

-On top of our sound system woes my headset microphone chose yesterday morning to not work. Don’t know if it was related to whoever messed up the system or if it was something else. Whatever it was I had to preach holding a mic. I can’t preach with a mic on a stand because I walk around too much.

-In spite of all the sound system stuff the worship service went well. People were engaged during the message and we had a good spirit throughout the service.

-I think the effects of the jet lag from the t Kenyan trip has finally ended. I am very grateful for that fact.

-Our attendance was way down. It appears that illness and some Christmas travel took its toll on the numbers.

-My wife and I enjoyed a great time with one of our Sunday School classes at their Christmas dinner and party yesterday. It was a great cap on the day.

Here’s hoping you are reflecting on the birth of the Savior today. Take time to remember the Christmas season is about life and hope. Smile at someone today who isn’t smiling.

Dennis