I didn’t fall down. One of my goals yesterday was to stay on my feet and not fall down. I accomplished that goal. It was a very good Sunday in many, many ways and I can’t wait to see what happens on Easter Sunday. As for my musings …

-There was a very good spirit in both churches yesterday with some powerful times of prayer.

-In my 10:30 church people moved to the altar during the music time and shortly before the scheduled prayer time. Then as we repeated a song more people came and the altar was nearly full. That is a great way to prepare to preach.

-As for not falling down, it was kind of a big deal. Some bug hit me early Saturday morning. It felt like the beginning of a routine cold at first. As the day went on I felt much worse and by the time I went to bed (before 9:00 during the NCAA tourney no less) I was miserable. When I got up early yesterday morning I felt even worse and had absolutely no energy. To conserve energy I didn’t do my normal Sunday morning prayer walking and I did not do a trial run of my sermon. I was very concerned when I got up to preach at my 9:00 church but I made it through while sitting on a stool for part of the message. At the 10:30 church I again made it through with a little bit of sitting.

-We had new people in attendance in both churches.

-We had a couple of families that returned for the 2^nd or 3^rd time in the 10:30 church.

-In an effort to conserve my energy and make it through the sermon in an upright position I sat a lot more than usual during the music part of our worship service. I think I get into it a lot more when I am standing.

-Whatever this junk is that is in me feels even worse this morning. I am not enjoying this, I have too much to do this week.

-I forgot to make 2 key announcements yesterday. I hate when that happens.

-I am very excited for our Good Friday service and to preach on Easter Sunday. I have been processing this message for a while and can’t wait to preach it.

-We got a new church sign up at my 9:00 church. It is a really big deal to get that done. If you aren’t connected to that church you probably don’t realize what a big deal having that new sign is to that congregation. We took down the old one, because none of the service times were correct with our changes and it was not in very good shape. We celebrated as a congregation.

-On Friday and Saturday I played around with some adjustments to the arrangement of our chairs in the worship center at my 10:30 church, my 9:00 church has fixed pews so no adjustments. This is in anticipation of needing a few more seats for Easter Sunday.

-Easter Sunday will be interesting for me. I love hanging out before and after the Worship service on Easter (actually, I love that any time) talking with people, meeting new people and just the joy of the fellowship. I will not be able to hang out much before the service at my 10:30 church and I cannot hang out for too long after the service at my 9:00 service.

Here’s hoping that you have the opportunity to hang out with some people this week and encourage them and that you feel much better than I do at the moment.

Dennis

The Sunday morning when you are forced to fast forward an hour always seems to mess with a lot of things at church. Yesterday was another illustration of that phenomenon. As for my musings …

-We definitely felt the impact of the time change yesterday. Both churches saw a dip in attendance.

-On Saturday evening we had another Community Concert of Prayer. It was a blessed and powerful time as people, and pastors from at least 6 different churches joined hearts and hands in prayer for our community and our churches. That always flows over into the Sunday worship time as well.

-We are having some significant technical issues at my 9:00 church and it is not sound system related. Some of it is just plain odd. Things are all set then they mess up as we move into the worship service. Praying and diagnosing.

-Had to make a trip back home after arriving at my 9:00 church had a couple of things we neglected to take with us. This getting things to another church is still a work in progress.

-I confess that I had to work on my emotions as I looked out at both churches and saw many people missing and assumed it was because of the time change. (I know not all of it was but that was the emotion.) That is my problem and I was able to get past it. I am not proud of that, but it was very real.

-In my 10:30 church there was a gentleman who visited last Sunday who returned yesterday with his wife. That was encouraging. We also have another family that we had sort of lost touch with who have been back in attendance for 3 or 4 weeks in a row.

-I survived all of the year end stuff for 2 churches. Well, I think I survived but will probably get an email and phone that I forgot to fill something out. I love being a pastor, but I confess I don’t love year end stuff.

-Tonight I have my first board meeting for the new church year. We have a couple of new board members. I am encouraged that as we are growing we have new people willing to step into leadership. We have had great leadership in the past and they are encouraged by the new people. How great is that? I love my congregations.

-Last weekend our 2 youngest grandkids were here for a visit and brought their parents. Last night 3 more grandkids arrived for a couple of days and they brought 1 of their parents along. So I am about to go have an adventure with them. That should be great preparation for my board meeting.

-I am very burdened, and excited, for my Easter Sunday message. The Lord has been marinating this one in me for quite a while.

-I had a blast on Saturday as I worked with a couple of high school and a couple of junior high girls with volleyball. I really miss coaching volleyball. But I also discovered that I am out of “coaching shape”. I was a little sore yesterday. I so much enjoy working with youth and helping them improve.

-Still trying to figure out a place go and a way to get away for 3 or 4 days of extra prayer and planning.

Gotta go get energized by my 4, almost 6 and 9 year old grandkids. Here’s hoping you find something to energize you this week.

Dennis

This was an extraordinary weekend. It had some extraordinarily awesome moments and it had some extraordinarily confusing ones as well. In many ways that sums up a pastor’s feelings most weeks. As for my musings …

-Saturday night at my 10:30 church we had 30 people experience the movie “War Room”. It is a powerful story of the impact of prayer. I had seen it before and I think it was more impacting to me the second time.

-My wife and I had a wonderful surprise as our 2 youngest grandkids decided to make a trip to stay with us for a couple of days, they brought their parents along too. These granddaughters are 16 months and 6 weeks old. This was the first time I had been with the 6 week old. It was great to hold them, read to them, watch them, listen to them and spend quality time with our daughter and son in law as well.

-Last week was one where I got to spend some time attempting to clear up misunderstandings with some people in the church and out of the church. Most of it turned out very well. Some of it has me still confused. Such is the life of most people, pastors included.

-My 9:00 church continues to do pretty well with the service time adjustments and dealing with having a pastor that also pastors another church.

-My 10:30 church had a huge day yesterday. We had a dozen precious young girl scouts who ministered to us. They served by being greeters, ushers and they gave us cookies following worship. It was so cool to see their joy in serving. Some of the girls brought their parents and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and minister to them. We also had a great meal following our worship service and our fellowship hall was full. There were people who responded to the sermon and our attendance was outstanding. In fact our attendance was larger than our attendance was on Easter Sunday last year.

-There was great energy in our worship time at my 10:30 service yesterday.

-I began an Easter series of sermons yesterday. The series is entitled “Seeing Easter Through the Eyes of …” Each week we will look at Easter through the eyes of a different person or group in the Easter story. I am really stoked about preaching this series.

-Have you ever felt like you really need to take a vacation but know it can’t happen for a while? This is not a whine, it is just one of those times and it won’t be the last time it happens.

-I am very excited as I am preparing to lead a new midweek Bible study on Spiritual Gifts.

-I have gone backwards a little on getting healthier in the past couple of weeks. The only reason is because I have not made good food or exercise choices. No excuses, it is all on me. Ouch, no one to blame it on.

-It is really exciting to be praying for and following the ministry of a couple of college students who gave up their spring break to go to another county and serve. One of them is from my 10:30 church and the other one is from the church where pastored for 8+ years before moving here.

-Had a great praise this past week as one of our vehicles was having major problems but the solution turned out to be minor.

-A 90+ year old lady in one of my churches gave me three cartoons or jokes yesterday. I had told her a couple of weeks ago that it had been a while since she had brought me a joke. So yesterday she gave me 3. They were great, but more than anything I loved seeing the smile on her face as she handed them to me. I love my job/ministry.

Here’s hoping you see joy around you this week. If you are facing something you don’t like this week try changing it, if you can’t change then commit it to Jesus.

Dennis

Sunday had many good things take place but it just felt off. Good thing that God is not dependent on how I feel. As for my musings …

-An illustration that I used in both churches fell flat. I hate it when that happens. The message was on serving and I had a paper towel on every seat in the worship center. The idea was that the paper towel would be a symbol of service and people could take them home and either use them or place them somewhere to remind them to serve others. Major fail. Major might not be a big enough word in this case. At least I tried something different, but that one will not be used again.

-We had the first, of what I hope will be an annual, Marriage Retreat on Friday evening and Saturday. My wife and I were the leaders for this first one. We had 6 other couples participate. It was a very good retreat. There were a lot of laughs, some “aha” moments and even a few tears. There was a special time at the end as each couple spent some time praying over each other. My prayer for the retreat was that each couple’s marriage would be strengthened and that they would seek to positively influence other couples.

-At my 10:30 church it was Volunteer Appreciation Day and we took some time to thank and honor everyone who serves in any area of the church. It was a great visual reminder of how many people serve. It was a real privilege to pray over all of them.

-At my 9:00 church our attendance was back up and at the 10:30 we were just below our average.

-I don’t know if it was because everyone was tired, or because I was tired, or because of my failed illustration or the fact that it was the end of February, but both services just felt flat. I felt like I really had to work hard to try and engage people in the service and the message.

-We are now at the end of our church year and that means I get to fill out a lot of forms and write some reports this week. The good news is that there are some great things to report. This is has been a very good year of ministry growth.

-I have had several reports of some outstanding praises in the past few days. That is fun and such a blessing to be a part of these stories.

-My Wednesday night men’s discipleship training group has really gotten serious about their walk with Christ. I am loving the things they are sharing in the group and the things they are sharing with me individually. These guys are growing in their faith and some of them are really starting to reach out to others.

-When it comes to personal things that frustrate me vehicle issues is at, or near, the top of my list.

-My wife did an awesome job of sharing and teaching at the Marriage Retreat. There were times when I just sat back in awe. I am a very blessed man.

-I am working with a church near here as their coach in their desire to improve the overall health of their church. Tonight I will meet for the first time with the group that will be leading the work they will be doing. I am very excited and burdened for this adventure.

Here’s hoping you find a reason to be excited about God’s work in your life and your community of faith this week.

Dennis

I experienced powerful times of worship this past weekend. Some of them took place on Sunday. As for my musings …

-Saturday was an incredible day that greatly influenced Sunday. My wife and I spent a few hours with a family from the community that does not go to church. We attended an event to support them and their family. We had a great time and were able to get to know them even better. Our car did not run well as we traveled to a nearby town and back to be with this family. We had to stop once each direction and tinker with the car to keep it running, but we made it there and back safely. Then while I was fine tuning my sermon for Sunday God just broke through and ministered to me in a very powerful way. I also had a great time of prayer for my congregations as I prayed for each person and for the Sunday services. Saturday certainly made Sunday an even better day.

-Both worship services were powerful times. The music really spoke and moved people. Our times of prayer were powerful and the giving was joyous and generous. The message was well received and there were people who came forward at both churches.

-I was moved while praying with a teen who came to the altar and was openly weeping. As I spoke with her she shared about how burdened she is for some of her classmates. How awesome is that? God is really up to something really powerful in our area.

-Attendance was down at the early service for the first time in the 3 weeks since I started pastoring 2 churches. But there was still great receptivity.

-Attendance was back to normal (which is nearly double where it was 2 years ago) in my other church. We had some new people who returned for the 2^nd or 3^rd time.

-Our “Give it all Away” offering ended up being over $2,000! I am so pleased and humbled by the giving. When you consider that our total giving a year ago was less than $1,400 a week and this church year we have averaged well over $1,700 a week, it is really awesome. The giving the week before the “Give it all Away” offering and the week after were both over $2,000. Our people are really understanding generosity and blessing others.

-Yesterday was a little difficult preaching at 2 places with my wife leading worship at both places because we only had 1 vehicle running.

-I am still adjusting to the new congregation and they are definitely still adjusting to me. Such as trying to figure out my humor and how to react to it. The two worship centers are very different and I am still figuring out how to move around the platform at the new place. (I can’t stand still while I preach.)

-I heard some great reports out of one of our small groups, about their study and discussion. I love it.

-We have at least 7 couples who are planning to attend our first Marriage Retreat this coming weekend. I am pleased with that number for the first one.

-I am really excited for this coming Sunday’s sermon.

-Pastoring 2 churches has really forced me to get a lot more done on Mondays. I really feel the pressure to get a lot of my sermon done on Mondays. That is a new thing for me.

-Praying a lot for several families that are grieving the death of loved ones recently.

-In a little over 5 months my son, daughter-in-law and 5 of my grandkids will be back in the states from 3 years of ministry in Kenya. We won’t get to spend too much time with them, but I am looking forward to every moment that we will get to be with them.

-Sometimes being the pastor is not fun, especially when you have to confront issues or people. But it comes with the territory and I learned the hard way that it is more painful in the long run when I don’t deal with issues.

-I had a very busy, but meaningful day as chaplain at our local hospital on Friday. I love serving in my community.

-I set a pretty big goal for myself in getting healthier this year and losing a significant amount of weight is part of that plan. Setting the goal is nothing unless I change some behaviors. Last year I set a weight loss goal, didn’t change anything and gained 20 pounds. As you can tell the goal didn’t change anything. This year I focused on some behavioral changes and doing more than losing weight. The early returns are encouraging. I have lost 15 pounds in the first 7 weeks and am making some other healthier choices. Now to make some of these changes a new habit and to move into some more healthy choices.

Here’s hoping that you are finding more of God and his presence in your life. Here’s hoping that you are seeking some ways to connect and serve in your community. Remember, God is with you and if I know you then I am praying for you. If I don’t know you I would still be happy to pray for you, just let me know how I can pray for you.

Dennis

Challenging, humorous, and interesting are all appropriate words to describe yesterday. It was a very unique day’ At least I hope it was unique and is not repeated any time soon. As for my musings …

-We have had a very mild winter but yesterday was a winter Sunday morning. It started snowing around 2 AM, but there was only a couple of inches on the ground by 8:30 when people would have started heading out for the 9:00 service. By 10:00 we had another couple of inches and it was blowing as people would be heading out to the 10:30 service. As a result my church with the 9:00 service had pretty good attendance, the one with the 10:30 service was just over half of our normal attendance.

-The electricity when off and on 2 or 3 times while I was preaching in the 9:00 service and when it stayed on we only had half of our power. That meant no projector, none of our furnaces and only about 2/3 of our lights. It also meant that the clock I keep an eye on stopped. The really bad news is I didn’t realize the clock had stopped until I was nearly finished. Fortunately I don’t preach real long (at least by my account) so we finished when I had planned to finish I just didn’t know.

-We had a new family at the 9:00 even on a snowy Sunday.

-We had words for our music at the 9:00 but my sermon points were not there. At the 10:30 we had my sermon points but no words for the music.

-When I went to my car to go from my 9:00 church to my 10:30 church I discovered I did not have my car keys. I went back in the church and searched. I remembered having them in my teeth as I unlocked the church and carried things inside. I remembered setting them down, but they were not in that place. I hitched a ride back to my other church and arrived 6 minutes before the service was to begin. Then discovered that my wife had picked up my keys and put them in her purse when she left the 9:00 service to head to the other church. I still love her.

-The great news is that God is not limited by our circumstances or technical failures. God still showed up in some special ways in both services.

-We received some new members in our 10:30 service. That is always fun.

-I am very encouraged by how many people are stepping up in ministry at both churches.

-My big disappointment in the weather-related low attendance is that my 10:30 church was receiving a “Give it all Away” offering. Everything that came in yesterday is being given away to help and bless other ministries. Half of it to 2 local organizations and half of it to 2 international ministries.

-I did not have to make a trip back home yesterday. We remembered everything we needed to take with us for the 9:00 church. We are making progress.

-Tonight my wife and I going for a Valentine’s evening. Nothing fancy, but it will be a couple of things we enjoy. I think that is how it should be, not trying to match some advertised image but spending quality time with those you love expressing that they mean the world to you.

-I am starting to get a little stressed as I realize that I will now be doing year-end reporting for 2 churches. Our church year closes at the end of February. What was I thinking? I should have waited until March to begin pastoring 2 churches. Oh well, my common sense has come into question many times before and will continue to be questioned in the future I am sure.

Here’s hoping you have a week filled with reminders that you are loved.

Dennis

Wow, what a great day we enjoyed yesterday. It was the first Sunday where I preached at both churches. I not only survived, but both services went very well. Here goes my first attempt at sharing my musings from 2 places …

-I only had to go back home one time to get something I forgot to take to the first church service. Not bad for the first time. This is definitely going to force me to get more organized for Sunday mornings.

-There was a lot of nervousness about the service for the church that moved worship up to 9:00 to allow me to preach at both churches. We were concerned that several people would not come, but we had very good attendance and a good mix of ages.

-The big struggle yesterday was with my voice. A cold hit me starting on Thursday and has gotten worse each day. When I woke up Sunday morning it felt like it had settled in my throat. I had trouble speaking more than 2 sentences without coughing when I attempted to run through my sermon before the first service. I was sucking on 1 or 2 cough drops at a time all morning. Between drinking lots of water, cough drops and many people praying I was able to get through both services. I even got some unexpected help from an awesome elementary boy who brought me a cough drop while I was struggling to preach in my first service.

-A big fear in most new situations is that you don’t know what you don’t know until you get started. I am glad to have the first service behind me and as far as I can tell I did not mess things up too much.

-I felt rushed in coming back for my second service and that has as much to do with not knowing how the timing was going to work as anything. Fortunately one of my prayer warrior retired pastors was still able to pray over me before the service. That always helps.

-Attendance was good at both places.

-We had some more new people attend and some others who returned for the second or third time. I love seeing that people are inviting people and taking serious the call to reach out in the community.

-My wife is a superstar. She led worship at both places and with different styles in each. Also, one of our dedicated ladies committed to helping at both places for a while. I am humbled by her servant’s heart.

-I am going to have to really focus during announcement times, since not all announcements are the same in the two churches. Better yet, maybe I don’t need to do announcements.

-I am excited that this coming Sunday we will be giving away our entire offering. Everything that comes in is going out to other ministries. Half of it will go to 2 local ministries, a pregnancy resource center and a ministry to help people overcome addictions and half will go to 2 international ministries, our denomination’s ministry against human trafficking and a feeding and education ministry in Kenya.

-I began a new sermon series entitled “I will … declarations for following Christ”. Yesterday was from Exodus 3 and 4. The declaration was “I will answer God’s call”. We looked at Moses and his call. The steps involved and how we need to answer when God calls.

-I missed being able to visit with people during the breakfast time at the church where I was already pastoring. In fact this schedule has me missing the Sunday School/Small Group time in both churches. That makes the small group times throughout the week even more important to me.

-I have a lot of evaluating to do this week so I better get going.

Here’s hoping you are saying yes to God’s call and that you are seeking opportunities to encourage someone else this week.

Dennis

Yesterday was somewhat of an ending and a beginning. Yesterday was my last Sunday pastoring just one church. Beginning today I am the pastor of 2 churches. With that in mind let’s get on with the musings …

-Yesterday I witnessed a couple of people begin their journey of following Christ. It doesn’t get any better than that.

-I had a couple of men share with me how they are connecting with some of the other men in our mid-week discipleship study. That gets me really pumped because that is one of the results I have been praying for from this group.

-Once again we had a very good spirit in our worship service and people sang out well. It was great having our children’s church kids in the service for the music time. They sang out, they clapped some and added a lot of energy. I loved it!

-Two of the families who visited last Sunday returned to worship with us yesterday and we had two more families visit. I love seeing people invite others and welcome the new people to our church. Only good things can come from those activities.

-The church board announced to the congregation that my 2 year pastoral review took place. It went very well and they extended a 4 year call to us which we accepted. Accepted isn’t a strong enough word, enthusiastically embraced would be a better description. We received a wonderful card with a gift card inside.

-Our attendance was good.

-It was odd to consider that this coming Sunday I will not be in this building during the breakfast time or during Sunday School/Small group time. Instead I will be worshiping and preaching at the other church. Today marks my first day as the pastor of 2 churches. Never thought I would be saying that.

-I am really excited to begin preaching a new series entitled “I Will …” this coming Sunday. We are looking at declarations we need to make in following Christ. The first will be from an examination of the call of Moses when he was watching sheep in the desert. Have you ever had a “desert time” in your life?

-In less than 6 months my kids and grandkids who are serving in Kenya will be back in the states for a little while.

-I really felt like I didn’t communicate very well yesterday. That always annoys me. God still came through and as I stated earlier there were a couple of people who made the decision to begin following Christ as their Savior. I love that God comes through even when I don’t.

-We are beginning to have people from the congregation share their faith journey and testimony during our worship service. Yesterday my wife shared part of her story as a part of my message. It went very well.

-I had my first board meeting with my other church on Saturday. It went well. That’s right, I will be having 2 board meeting every month.

-We are doing a Marriage Retreat at the end of this month. Pray for my wife and I as we share during this very important event.

-We had 37 adults in our mid-week Bible study and discipleship groups this past week. How cool is that?

-My prayer list is really getting long. I am so grateful that I can pray for others, I am encouraged to know that there are people praying for me.

-In two weeks we are having a “Give it all away” offering. Everything given that day will go to other ministries. Half will go to local ministries outside of our church and half will go to international ministries. I am really excited for our people to be a part of this because I know they are going to love being able to bless other people and their ministries.

Here’s hoping you will choose to encourage someone today. You won’t have to look very long to find someone who needs some encouragement. If you want to go ahead and encourage 2 people.

Dennis