But perhaps the most famous turnaround in corporate America was led by Lee Iacocca who was instrumental in turning around the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980’s.

Today, about 85 percent of the churches in America have either plateaued or are declining in attendance. These churches are desperately in need of turnaround.  But is turnaround ministry biblical?  Or is turnaround simply a concept borrowed from corporate America?

The specific term, turnaround, is not found in Scripture but the turnaround concept is prevalent throughout the Bible.  Biblical writers wrote of repentance rather than turnaround.  The basic meaning of the Hebrew word for repentance used in the Old Testament (shuv) is to turn or to return. It is used both negatively and positively, referring either to turning away from God or turning back to God.  In II Chronicles 7:14 we are instructed, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn (shuv) from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  Clearly God restores those who repent or turn back to Him. But repentance and subsequent restoration is not just a personal matter; it is also a corporate issue.  Turnaround applies to both individuals and churches today.

A brief survey of the Old Testament also illustrates the biblical concept of turnaround as evidenced in the history of Israel.  Consider the following three examples.

Judges – After Israel completed the conquest of Palestine, Joshua divided the land among the twelve tribes of Israel with specific directions to finish the task of driving the enemy out.  Rather than completing the conquest as instructed, the Israelites settled in the land and made peace with their enemies – the Canaanites, Philistines, Midianites, etc.  It was not long before Israel began to compromise its faith by turning to idolatry and doing “evil in the eyes of the Lord”   (Judges 3:7; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6, 13:1, etc.)  So God judged Israel’s rebellion by using its enemies to oppress the nation until they turned back to the Lord in repentance.  Once Israel repented God raised up a judge to deliver the nation form the hands of its enemies and restore Israel.  This cycle of rebellion, repression, repentance, rescue, and restoration is repeated several times in the book of Judges.  God used several turnaround leaders known as judges – Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and others – to lead the nation in their turnaround.

The book of Judges serves as a good picture of turnaround ministry in the church today.  In order for true turnaround to take place God’s people must repent of sinful attitudes and behaviors.  God will then raise up a turnaround leader to lead the church to victory over the enemies that have prevented growth (i.e. loss of vision, traditionalism, legalism, divisiveness, etc.).  Deliverance from these enemies leads to restoration and subsequent growth.

Prophets – Future generations tended to follow the same pattern as their forefathers.  During the Kingdom era, the common cry of the prophets was one of repentance.  The Hebrew word, “shuv,” is used throughout the prophetic writings.  For instance, it appears ten times in Isaiah, twenty-eight times in Jeremiah, twenty times in Ezekiel, seven times in Hosea, five times in Amos, and three times in Zechariah and Malachi.  Walter C. Kaiser summed up the prophet’s emphasis on repentance in his book, Quest for Revival:

…In every one of the 118 instances where the word, shuv, occurs with a religious significance, God was trying to give His people a shove in the right direction….  All the prophets, both in word and deed, referred to it and to the activity of repentance as the quintessence of their ministry.  Therefore, it is probably the one expression that summarizes the whole prophetic ministry.  (Walter Kaiser, Quest for Revival, p. 83)

One of the most popular stories in the Bible is a story of revival or turnaround in a nation other than Israel.  Jonah reluctantly prophesied against Nineveh, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).  But Nineveh’s repentance led to one of the most dramatic revivals recorded in Scripture and God spared the city from His judgment at that time.  Nineveh is a spectacular story of national revival or turnaround.

Chronicles –Israel also experienced occasional revivals in its history as recorded in the books of First and Second Chronicles.  As Ezra chronicled Israel’s history in these two books, he did so from a priestly perspective with an emphasis on national revivals under various kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah).  II Chronicles 7:14 serves as the paradigm of the book in which Ezra identified four prerequisites to revival:  humility, prayer, seeking God, and repentance.  Each revival recorded in II Chronicles highlights one of these four prerequisites.  Commenting on these revivals, Kaiser summarizes, “There must be a turning around.  That turning around is twofold:  it is a turning from sin, the first ninety degree turn, and a turning toward God, the second ninety degree turn, to make a complete about-face.” (Kaiser, p. 102) Repentance clearly encompasses the concept of turnaround.

While there are many turnaround strategies available for churches today, ultimately turnaround is a spiritual issue.  Many churches today would experience revival, turnaround, and subsequent growth if they simply met the four prerequisites of  (1) humility, (2) prayer, (3) seeking God, and (4) repentance.

Does the New Testament also teach the concept of turnaround?  Stay tuned for part 2 of “A Theology of Turnaround.”  In fact, this is the first in a series of articles on the subject of turnaround.  And remember:  turnaround is ultimately a spiritual issue!

The headlines are rampant with them. News of bullying-related issues in schools has increased exponentially over the past few years. The saddest of all is when those headlines connect teenage suicide to bullying. The documentary “Bully” recently released in theaters has drawn much needed attention to the issue and exposed its evil. Schools are stepping up and government has stepped in forcing mandated training and school wide policy. So the question is, what is the church doing about it? Could this be a place where the body of Christ can bring healing, love, grace and peace?

Prescott Pines Camp offers a bullying workshop in its Outdoor Education Program. With its effectiveness, the invitation came to bring the program to Hull Elementary, a public school in Chandler. Jalin, a sixth grade participant, said this of the workshop, “I’ve done things to other people that I didn’t even know it was bullying. All of the people I’ve insulted I’ve apologized to. If you wouldn’t have come, I would have still been being rude and harsh. Thank you for you really made an impact on my life.” Emily also shared, “I will always help stop bulling from happening from now on. I have learned a lot about respect and empathy. The bullying around sixth grade has mostly stopped. I am trying to help teach the younger kids now.”

At the end of this month, SWCC and Prescott Pines Camp will be putting on an initial training session for youth pastors and children’s ministers to equip them with the program. They will be taught how to facilitate the “Cross the Line -Taking Steps Towards Empathy and Self-Respect Workshop” and how to implement it in their youth groups and Sunday schools. The hope is that with God’s favor they will be able to then take the program into their local schools. This first training will take place on Saturday, May 19 at Palm Valley Church in Goodyear from 9am to noon followed by a pizza lunch. The special tuition is $10 paid at the door and covers the seminar, materials, and meal. If you are interested in attending, please call or email Heather at Prescott Pines Camp as you must pre-register, heather@prescottpines.org or 928-445-5225. This timely seminar at this introductory price will fill fast and registration will close at 20. With the success of this first training, we look to have more in other regions as well. We hope that through this program the church will be able to be His Light in such darkness.

“The anti-bully workshop was not only educational for our students, but also transformational. Our 6th grade students walked away with a better understanding of themselves and of their peers and were able to be more empathetic and understanding to one another. The presentation really connects with students on their level and is highly impactful. The tradition is one we hope to continue each year at science camp.” – Frank Hendricsen, Assistant Principal Gateway Pointe Elementary

Time:  9 am – Noon
Date: May 19, 2012

We had an interesting weekend last week when we discovered that our trailer was stolen off of the school property where we keep it. Yes, they used a plasma cutter to cut through the trailer hitch lock and cut off the cable that went through the tires on the side.
Amazing! It took them about 20 minutes to complete the job – and they did it at 7am Saturday morning… 30 minutes before we got there to set up for Sunday service. Amazing! (We have a video of the event because of the school’s video system – but not enough detail to catch the thieves.)

What was taken was all of our chairs, our outdoor signs, the drums and the pulpit. No sound equipment was on the trailer so we are blessed! We have insurance and it should be kicking in soon. We have numerous things to do to replace the items, and work through.
Numerous phone calls. Planning. Communication. Waiting. Inconvenience. On and on it goes. But I am not writing to complain. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. What I wanted to draw our attention to is how great our God is!

Look, we all have frustrations in life. We have areas that we aren’t happy about and we complain and grumble over a mountain of issues. For example, we complain about the traffic, gas prices, the government, we grumble about our kids teachers, the youth of today. We complain about our jobs and our bosses. We have a tendency to bring it into the church as well. We grumble about there being too many songs, not enough songs, it’s too loud, too quiet, bad song choice, sermons are too long. We complain about the people – they are not friendly, too “this” too “that”, what they wear. I had someone once tell me my shirts aren’t ironed well enough. Gesh! Really?

Frustrations. Challenges. Criticism. Personal preferences that become the “law”. It stems to our hearts. The root of these issues comes down, in many ways, to our hearts not being thankful – not looking unto the Lord.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Or how about Philippians 4:4-5a, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” (And I encourage you to read on…)

Let me close with some words from Matthew Henry who wrote this over 250 years ago after he was robbed of all the money he had in the world:

“Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, let me be thankful that although they took my all, it was not much; and forth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed.”

Thankfulness – it is a choice. Will we choose thankfulness over complaining and grumbling moment by moment? Oh that we would be thankful people – Rejoicing in the Lord! For He alone is good!

Summer is nigh! And with Summer (in my opinion, the greatest time of the year) comes Summer Camp. Our staff have been working like madmen to prepare the camp for this joyous season, and preparation will continue all the way up to the eve of our first campers’ arrival.

Our Building and Grounds department, headed by the venerable Paul Clark, has been laboring intensely on projects in every far-flung corner of our expansive grounds, from the construction of the all-new Hilltop 2 to the remodeling of our Frontier Village girls’ bathroom. Paul, our paragon of plywood, has been aided by an unprecedented number of volunteers, including dozens of SOWERS. Projects are being accomplished at an astonishing rate, and we are further along in our preparations for summer than we have ever been at this point in the year.

My summer staff recruiting has also proceeded at a record pace. We currently have nearly every spot filled, an occurrence I have not seen since my first summer as summer staff! Included in our roster are both battle-scarred veterans like Johnny Ringo, and fresh recruits, many from Arizona Christian University. Our recruiting program at ACU was a great success this year, and 6 of our counselors are ACU students.

This summer, our Frontier Village Program is entitled “Showdown: Will You be Able to Stand Up?” When a mysterious stranger comes to town with an offer that seems too good to pass up, will the townsfolk be able to do the right thing?
This exciting week-long story will use the setting of our Old West town, Serenity, to teach campers about temptation and how to defeat it. Parents will get a chance at a sneak preview this year, as we hold our first annual Frontier Village open house on May 26. Parents and future campers can come visit Frontier Village and meet the staff, play games, see the town, and enjoy a BBQ lunch, all for free!

Youth Camp this year will be held on two separate weeks, both in July. We’ll be revisiting the X-Men theme from Winter Camp, although the situation for our Characters Oracle and Pneuma
has become more dire. Titled, “X-Men: Avengers – Fighting to save a world that hates us,” Youth Camp 2012 will tackle the issue of persecution and the Great Commission. How should we, as followers of Christ, approach a world that wants to see our downfall and destruction? How do we show them Christ? Speakers Craig Barrack and Stephen Tunnicliff will lead the discussion each night, then we will split into church groups for youth pastors and leaders to go deeper with their campers. It will be awesome! Besides the teaching, we’ll have spectacular games, live-action skits, and the annual Summer Camp Great Race! It looks to be a great year.

On another note, many of you may realize that the cost of our camps, while much more affordable than other camps nearby, can still be prohibitive for the families of less-fortunate campers. This is why we established our Heart Partners Scholarship fund many years ago. It has been a blessing to hundreds of campers since it began, and this year, it will continue to be such. We have had several large donations to the fund this year, which will help bring to camp kids who may never have had the chance otherwise, and give them an opportunity to hear the Word of God, some for the first time. To those of you who support our Heart Partners fund, thank you! (If you are interested in contributing to this fund, you can contact our Director Jim Trail at Jim@prescottpines.org)

You can see how greatly God has blessed us this year, and I’m only speaking for the Program Department! I know that He will use this camp for great things this summer, so please be praying along with me, for all the children and youth who will be attending our camps. Pray for our Summer Staff, both returning and new, and give thanks for the gifts He has given us.

April 29, 2012

6:00 pm

Contact Mike Tucker for more information.  mike@faithchandler.org

Faith Community Church, Chandler for all the details