There is a really old song titled “If It Keeps Getting’ Better” and some of the lyrics describe how I feel this morning. “If he keeps on blessing and blessing, If he keeps on pouring it on, … If it keeps getting better and better, Oh Lord, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” Let me explain with my musings …

-The spirit in our worship service was powerful from beginning to end. It was obvious that God was moving in people’s hearts and minds from the very first song through the last amen. Man that was fun.

-At least a dozen people responded by choosing to quit living under guilt and instead live in Grace! How awesome is that?

-We had some of our usual sound glitches. Good news, we got a final quote on what we need to do bring our system up to a reasonable level. Bad news, it is over $7,000. Good news, I believe we will be able to do this soon.

-We have at least 15 people already working hard on our children’s Christmas musical. We have at least 30 children who are expected to participate in that Children’s Christmas program.

-The congregation was very engaged in the message yesterday. That always makes it easier to preach. There were even several “Amens” heard throughout the message. That is huge in our congregation.

-Several us went to a sister Church in the afternoon to celebrate with them as they burned the mortgage to their property. That was fun, I am so proud of them as they have overcome much to reach this milestone.

-Our attendance was good again yesterday. It was our 5^th Sunday in a row over 100. Pretty good considering we were running 65 less than 2 years ago.

-My sermon was entitled “Guilt vs. Grace, which is winning in your life?”

-I was very encouraged by some after service conversations. People talking about how they are making choices to be obedient. They shared how they recognized that they were not living in obedience and now are making changes to follow Christ obediently. I love how the honestly and realness (is that a word?) of those people.

-My heart is breaking over the burdens many of my congregation is carrying.

-I am more convinced than ever that God is up to something really good here in Canton. I am humbled to be a part of what He is doing and is about to do here.

-Heading to a conference this week about church planting. Part of our vision for the next 5 years is to begin a work in one or two other communities near us. Praying that God will speak clearly and powerfully to me this week.

Here’s hoping you are sensing God’s blessing wherever you are serving.

Dennis

The church I currently pastor sits on the edge of our city, just past the last crossing street in town. As a result of our location many vehicles use our driveways as a place to turnaround. They went past where they intended to go and want a place to get turned around and go the other direction. We recently put this message on our church sign, “This is a great place to turnaround”. It caught a lot of attention. I doubt if everyone who read it considered the double meaning of the message.

Turnarounds in life, or in a church, or in a group are rarely simple. But after pastoring a few churches who were in need of a turnaround I have realized some keys to leading and experiencing a turnaround.

1. Celebrate everything – focus on anything that goes well and celebrate it. Celebrate it publicly and be a cheerleader with yourself and your people. This must be sincere. It might be a little difficult at first but it will get easier and you will begin to have bigger and better things to celebrate. People love a celebration. Disaster might work for a TV news show, but people do not want to repeatedly come to negative gatherings. You don’t need to manufacture this, just become very observant of anything positive and celebrate it.
2. Connect with your community – if you are in a church then make sure you get connected to your community outside of your church building. You can get involved in a service club. They are always looking to recruit new people, especially people who are willing to be involved in some of their projects. This connects you to people outside of your church or group and it exposes them to you and your church or group. If you are a pastor make sure you have personally spoken with your local funeral home(s) and let them know that you are available to help with families who have no church connection. Go to school. I am not talking about going back to college, I mean go to your local public school and let them know that you support education. You don’t need to agree with everything the school is doing to get connected. Then go to school events. Volunteer to help at some school events and especially let key people at the school know that you, and your church or group, are available to help families in need. Pay attention to what is going on in social media in your community. There are many other ways to connect but the fact is that you need to connect to the community you are in to make an impact in that community. People do not respond, at least not positively, to those who stand outside of the community and lob suggestions or criticisms. They respond to those who are standing with them.
3. Love your people – the people around you in your church, group or family must know that you love them. Say it and show it. You cannot lead any church or group in a turnaround if they don’t know that you love them and want what’s best for them. Too many pastors and group leaders try to change their people without loving their people. It won’t work! People may do the basic things for you because they care about their church or group but they will not sacrifice if they don’t know that they are loved. So love them and let them know that you love them.
4. Pray, a lot and get others praying – this is critical. Any real turnaround that lasts must have a foundation of prayer. You need this close communion with Christ, you need the direction you will receive as the Lord moves you through these times of prayer and there is something incredibly powerful when a group of people gather and pray.
5. What if – you need to begin asking a lot of “what if” questions with yourself and your people. What if we tried that and it worked? What if we don’t try it, will anything change? What if … you get the idea. This is a part of sharing vision, but this is not so much about your presentation as it is about getting started and getting your people involved. What if discussions are a great way to gauge where your people are in regard to turning around your organization. I agree with Lyle Schaller who said “In the church we are not as afraid of failure as we are of success. If we fail at some new endeavor things will likely go back to what is familiar, but if we try something and it works, then things will never be the same again. And that scares us.” What if discussions helps people begin to adjust to changes before they are hit with them.

There are many other factors in leading a turnaround, but this is my launching place for every church or group that I have ever led. The list is not in order of significance. All of these are important. With that in mind where are you on this list? What could you begin to work on this week? If I can help you in any way please let me know.

Here’s hoping you begin to see movement in your turnaround.

Dennis

What a joy to worship when people are engaged and seeking to hear from God and obey. Yesterday was another day of blessing. Such as …

-We were blessed by a special song sung by a mother and daughter. The song was on God’s amazing grace and the fact that because of this grace we have been set free, our chains are gone. The song is great, but the spirit of the two singing is what made it so special for all of us who were worshiping with them.

-Once again we had a great time of singing and a beautiful spirit in the whole worship service.

-Our attendance was outstanding for the middle of July.

-We keep seeing more people step up to serve in many areas of ministry. We still have needs, but I am humbled, and encouraged as I see more people responding.

-My message was entitled “If I could, I would _____________________” I asked everyone to fill in the blank for themselves. What do you sense God is prompting you to do that you are hesitating with some type of “if” excuse? What is your go to excuse? What is the “if” that you claim is keeping you from doing something you know you should do? Remember that God is still God and will provide what it needed for whatever he guides you toward.

-My wife and I had lunch with a wonderful servant from our church. I love spending time with people who give of themselves in service to others. I am always encouraged being around servant-minded people.

-I then went to visit a precious older lady from our church who had to go into the hospital on Saturday evening. She encouraged me, even though I went there to encourage her she managed to turn it around and make me feel wonderful. I want to follow that example.

-After that I spent some time working on church board reports for a meeting tonight and my wife had a women’s ministry meeting. Then we headed out of town to watch one of the kids from our church play in a championship softball game. It was a full and very rewarding day.

-We have many people who arrive at church long before the first scheduled ministry. They come to prepare the place and themselves for the day. Yesterday the first of those lay people arrived about 2 hours before our Sunday morning small groups (Sunday School classes). There are usually 15+ people in the building well before our breakfast begins at 9.

-We are finally getting summer heat in our weather. I am not happy about that since neither of our vehicles has working A/C.

-I am excited as I hear more from people who are desiring to be involved with discipleship, both learning and sharing. That is awesome!

Here’s hoping that you move past any “if” excuses in your life and enjoy what God is doing in your life.

Dennis

I am a reader. I read books, blogs, online articles, graffiti, and … well you get the picture. In the midst of my reading I love pulling out quotes that hit me. Some reinforce my beliefs and practices, some challenge my thinking, some start a conversation and some just make me pause. So here are a few of my favorite quotes from the past week or two.

“Insight without action is worthless.” – Marie Forleo – I love this quote because it is often easy to just state a belief but do nothing about it. Without putting the belief, or insight, into my living then that belief must not be that important.

“The leaders who make the most progress make the fewest excuses. And the leaders who make the most excuses make the least progress.” – Carey Nieuwhof – When things don’t go as we hope it is so easy to just make an excuse to justify our lack of progress. This quote is a stark reminder that as a leader my role is not to make excuses but to make progress.

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” – Woody Guthrie – I am not sure about the “genius” part of this quote but I wholeheartedly agree with the meaning of this quote. It is often tempting to makes things sound complicated to make me sound like more of an expert. But the truth is that a true expert, and a good leader, will figure out a way to make things sound simple, or to break them down into simple steps. Note to self, make sure anything I am leading can be understood.

“Lost in debt, but your love came to find me.” – Brent Younker from his song “The Way”. I love the truth and power of these words.

“Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.” – Timothy Ferriss – Setting priorities is vital for anyone who is attempting to make an impact. In this process I must fight the urge to spend too much time on something just because it is time consuming and to spend my time on what matters most. It is easy to get off track by spending too much time on the wrong things.

“Acting on the plan may not always bring success, but there is no success without some action.” – Me – This goes well with the first quote in this post. I must guard against just being busy, but I need to act to succeed.

“The only thing you need to do is the next right thing.” – Glennon Doyle Melton – I love this quote. I used in a sermon a couple of weeks ago. It is so easy to get all tied up in looking at a long list of things we need to do and then becoming paralyzed by the choices. This brings us back to the basics. Just figure out what is the next thing, the next right thing, then do it. Then the results will take care of themselves.

Here’s hoping some of these will resonate with you and that you have your own quotes that made an impact on you this week. I would love to read the quotes that have impacted you recently, leave them for me in the comments.

Dennis

Yesterday was another very good day and another reminder that God is still God and he is working ways that we can’t always see. As for my musings …

-There was a very good spirit the whole day in our church. From breakfast, through the Sunday School hour, Worship service, volunteer lunch and small groups the spirit was outstanding.

-There were a few people who really dealt with some relational issues and their need to love those people anyway.

-There were good reports from a prayer group and from some who attended our District’s Convention and workshops on Saturday.

-There were some who came to the altar in response to the Lord’s moving during worship.

-People seemed very engaged throughout the whole worship service including the sermon.

-We didn’t have any first time visitors. I know we have people inviting people to Christ and to church. I keep praying for the opportunities as I, and others, share the love of Christ with people we meet.

-Our attendance continues to climb, though not rapidly. I sometimes get impatient, my wife might say more than sometimes.

-There is a growing number of people who are really praying. Part of our vision to become praying people, not just be people who sometimes pray. I am experiencing some great things in me as I am becoming more consistent and passionate in prayer.

-We are seeing more people get involved in ministry and many who are already involved are excited about what is taking place in their area of ministry. This can only lead to good things.

-We are beginning to really look beyond our walls and get involved in the lives of people around us and around the world.

-Our small group was very small again. We had a very good time of discussion and sharing how God is working in our individual lives. It may be time to try something new with our group.

-I have made a lot of hospital visits recently. I love being able to minister to these people during some difficult times. The miles on the vehicles are climbing. I am so grateful to have vehicles that can get me to these ministry opportunities.

-I am already excited about the sermon for this coming Sunday. God is really up to some great things in our community.

Here’s hoping you are able to see God’s fingerprints on your life this week.

Dennis

Good morning, I hope you are excited for this new week. God is definitely up to great things, at least that is what I am seeing around here. Yesterday marked my 1 year anniversary here in Canton. I am more excited about the future now than I was when I arrived a year ago. Let’s get to the musings …

-Yesterday showcased some great things happening in our church.

-We had a great time of worship in music, even with some major technical issues. Those technical issues reminded me that we really can’t wait to start some major changes with our sound system. I have been trying to buy some time and delay it because I know it won’t be cheap, but we have to do something soon.

-I was struggling physically yesterday before our worship service began. My stomach was threatening to take me out until a few minutes into the service. In fact I had told my wife, who was leading worship, to just keep going in worship if I made a sudden exit during the music. Fortunately things settled down and I had no problems the rest of the day.

-It was very encouraging to participate in an appreciation lunch yesterday for our Sunday School and Children’s Church servants. Then to hear those people share ideas to make their areas of ministry even better. We have some quality people serving.

-My wife and I had a great time yesterday afternoon talking and praying with a lady who is having surgery today. To hear how God is working in her life was exciting and encouraging. To hear of her relationship with Christ and how she is sharing her testimony with others fired me up.

-Our worship attendance was a little below average. We did have a little winter weather yesterday, not as bad as was predicted, but it was more winter than we have had for a couple of weeks.

-It is great to see, and hear that many of our people are surrounding others in our church family who are going through some very difficult situations.

-Our small group was good last night. We were back up in attendance and the fellowship was great, as evidenced by people staying a long time after the study was finished.

-God is doing great things in our church and in some other churches in our community. I am encouraged by this and excited to be a part of a great move of God.

Here’s hoping you are excited to see what God is about to do where you are serving.

Dennis