Turnaround Churches

Today I got to go to an all-day seminar followed by a couple evening sessions. By noon today (well now, yesterday, er Monday) I had taken 5 pages of notes, and that was just the morning. (You can ask my wife!) The session was "Turnaround Churches" and it was great! We got to hear Tim Harlow and Ben Merold speak about how to turn your church around and head in a Godly direction. There were well over 100 pastors and wives in the session with us. I got a lot of ideas, wisdom, and sound advice from guys who have been there done that. The most important thing I got though was that we are moving the right direction as a church. We're moving the right direction because we're moving God's direction. God cares about lost people. I heard it all day and even in the night sessions. It's nothing new. It's just that churches forget the great commission and get comfortable. Jesus seemed to come to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That's what we need to be about as God's children.

I could go on and on, but I won't. I'm going to hit the sack so I can stay awake tomorrow. My only complaint is that they cram a lot of stuff into each day. The day starts with teaching over breakfast at 7:30AM and goes till 9PM at night. You get breaks here and there, but they are teaching the whole time pretty much. It's excellent and I don't want to miss anything, but whew! Amy and I are busy. (And my hand is cramping!)

Praise the Lord for being here with us this week. We already have been blessed and had our spirits uplifted. We're learning a lot and are going to be excited to get back and share with the great church family at Oakwood.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! E-