Spring Harvest 2011

Arrived home from Spring Harvest yesterday. It's been a couple of years since we've been, and it was good to get away again. We thought the worship was positive and done well. Overall we enjoyed ourselves even though we came home tired!

Might blog some more thoughts later!

GLS day two

For the first time I didn't stay to the end of the GLS. I think I was tired and wanted to get home in order to do some work. To be honest, I'd probably have spent much of the last session thinking more about what I should have been doing than what I was listening to for the last hour.

The GLS seems to have changed. There are now more talks, but some are shorter, two to a time slot, than before. This is helpful because you get a wider range of topics and themes, but the struggle is in the processing of the information. Maybe that wore me out!

Today we heard an excellent talk from Dan Pink about motivation. I blogged about an animated version of one of his talks sometime in June (here it is). It's a really interesting thing to think through, the whole issue of motivation. And what is really interesting to think about  is why people do things that fall outside of the typical expected motivations of pleasure and reward. Why is it, for example, that highly skilled computer software developers would spend their spare time creating an operating system? But if they didn't, we would not have Linux.

We also had a talk from someone whose name escapes me at the moment, and I could go and look at my notes, but I'm tired. Jeff Manion, or something like that. Anyway, he talked about the desert place and what can happen there. Positive stuff about transformation and discipline, but also some challenging stuff about complaining and grumbling.

I remember him describing a day when you've experienced some tough stuff, faced criticism etc., and you come home to discover "Complaint" has moved into the guest room and used up all the drawer space. It's easy to give space to Complaint, and Complaint resists eviction. It sneaks back in. The only way to get Complaint out is to let Trust in. They don't make good room-mates. Trusting God that he knows and understands, that he is working out his purpose in his time.

Then we had a session with two talks, actually two interviews. One with the man who started Toms shoes. If you don't know, and I didn't, Toms shoes gives away a pair of shoes to a shoeless person in the disadvantaged world for every pair of shoes they sell in our advantaged part of the world. The second interview was with Jack Welch, the one time CEO of GE. Very interesting.

What touched my heart most about the second interview was the way Bill Hybels was able, in a non cringe-worthy way, to have a spiritual conversation with Jack Welch. I would say I wish I could do that, but I won't. Instead I'm going to pray that God would give me the gifts I need in order to do that.

And then I snuck out and came home. I bought the DVD set, so I can watch these and other sessions later. But for now, once again I've learned a lot from the two days and there is much to process and apply.

Seminars and conferences

I'm a bit conferenced out at the moment. You see I spent Friday at a seminar, Saturday doing Child Protection training and the last two days at Holy Trinity Brompton at a Leadership event. It is the proverbial bus syndrome.

Friday was probably the best overall event, but that had a lot to do with the topic and the focused nature of the day. HTB' s conference was much broader, but no less valuable. The mornings were worth the time to attend by themselves.

Have I learnt anything? Well yes I have. Quite a lot actually, but it all needs processing and I just hope I get the time to do that. Okay, so I intend to make time to do that, honest I do! A good conference or seminar should inspire and I think I've been inspired.

I was wondering this morning if some of the things that we think should be our focus as church are in fact the by-product of where we ought to be focusing. For example, if we think that mission ought to be our focus, and why wouldn't we think that, might it be that mission is actually the result of focusing on say spiritual development? When I read Acts one thing strikes. Almost everything the early church did resulted in mission. And that included a church meeting!

So I wonder what really are the core things to which we should give our fullest attention? I have a few ideas but they need work.

A chance to talk misisonal?

Is anyone interested in having this kind of conversation here in the UK?

If you have a look at the website you will see that there are book discussions and panel discussions and other conversations, all of which look quite interesting.

My friend Andy White organised a "round table" event a few years ago now to talk about servant evangelism, and this could follow a similar format. Nothing fancy or flash, just a gathering of people willing to encourage each other in the formation of deeper, missional communities.

It's just a thought.

Missing the GLS

This must be the first time in 3 or 4 years that I've missed the Global Leadership Summit, and I know I'm missing it! What with the induction and moving, it just wasn't really practical to disappear off for two days, so I will have to console myself with getting the DVD's and having my own summit at home.

I've blogged before about the significance of the GLS for me personally. I've always had a profound sense of meeting with God through the summit and I don't expect that not to be the case even if I have to sit alone to do it.

So here's looking forward to the release of the DVD's and the discipline of setting aside the time to watch, learn, reflect and pray. If you've never been to the GLS, and you want to know about it, watch a taster or snippet, then try the WCA website for more information.

Spring Harvest 2009 (2)

So, Day Two began with a walk around the perimeter of the Butlins site. Saw a lot of runners, don't expect to see so many tomorrow! I don't run anymore, the knees can't take it.

We watched the Big Start in the chalet together and then set off to the Bible Reading. They have a different title these days, but it's an extended bible Study and usually it's a good place to start. This year the readings are from Acts and we began today with Acts 2.

Apart from being taken by surprise by the speaker's authoritative assertion that Luke was a Jew who knew the family of Jesus, it all went pretty much to type. Clearly I'd missed something in the world of New Testament studies, but a quick internet search found a number of articles exploring Luke's Jewishness. I thin I'm still of the opinion that he was a Gentile who travelled with Paul and wrote his gospel after careful research rather than first hand knowledge. But that's not terribly important.

In talking about Acts 2, we were pointed back to Acts 1 and a nice 3 point outline:

• Trust God
  
• Receive the Spirit
  
• Tell the story of Jesus.
  

In the afternoon I went to a seminar about whole-life discipleship in the church which was very interesting. Some good ideas and thoughts.

We talked about the sacred/secular divide and about how we do church tends to reinforce this concept. And it's not just the fault of pastors (hurray) but the way people see their spiritual lives as separate from their everyday lives. There were some useful ideas about how to begin to break down this divide and I'll be giving it some thought when we get home.

We ended the day by going to the Cafe Church event. I think they struggled with the number of people who turned up and it didn't really work for me, but I think that might have been the setting, the distance between where we were sitting and the focus of the "stage", plus a few other factors. it did give me and idea for the dedication that's coming up in a couple of weeks time.

Spring Harvest 2009

We've arrived at Spring Harvest 2009 and settled into our luxurious accommodation! Looking at the programme there are one or two interesting things to take in, but other than that it's business as usual. And I don't mean that in a negative way, just in case you misunderstood me!

I'm looking forward to a rest and the opportunity to get a little refreshed.

I'm also trying out a mobile broadband connection. It's working okay, but I'm struggling to send emails at the moment. Maybe that will resolve itself in the next few days. We will see.

Tools For Growth

No, not a review of gardening equipment but a one-day seminar about discipleship, mentoring and coaching. 

This was an overview of three techniques that can be used together or discreetly to help promote spiritual growth in the local church. Discipleship, mentoring and coaching were given specific definitions that may not align with how these terms are used generally in church and almost certainly not in other contexts. I say this partly because I've yet to come across a widely accepted definition of mentoring and coaching certainly means different things in different circles. 

The definitions we were provided with were:

Discipleship: An older believer who is committed to following Jesus helps another believer move forward in their growth on Christ.

Mentoring: someone more experienced in the faith imparts specific skills and knowledge of their faith to a less experienced person.

Coaching: someone facilitates another to take the action they require to produce desired growth.

After exploring some myths about spiritual growth we were presented with three vital steps for spiritual growth.

Step one: Develop a vision (a personal vision for one's own growth)

Step two: Decide that you want to change

Step three: Diarise regular spiritual practices

I thought that this really needed a fourth step which I suggested could be Determine measurable outcomes. Whilst I recognise that somethings are difficult to measure, I do feel that there are times when our failure at least to try to measure our growth leaves us assuming we are growing when in fact we might not be growing.

We did some work on a series of scenarios, looking at what approach we might take and how we might do things in a range of situations.

Overall it was a helpful day. The framework was useful as was some of the Biblical context. Reflecting a little on how Jesus did things and hearing the perspectives of others is always valuable.

Next up is a seminar about self-esteem and a leaders event.