memorable, portable, motivational

All that was involved in the Holiday Club last week meant loads of different other things got largely overlooked.

Or at least put on hold.

This week is the catch-up time and it's kept me on the go.

There's the website, for one thing. Tasks I've been meaning to do for a while in that regard to keep the thing as up to date as I can.

The website's effectively our 'shop-window', the means by which all sorts of people can look in from the outside and see what we're about without having to take that massive step and cross the thresh-hold of our life.

So it merits a fair bit of work. But we try to keep it a pretty low-maintenance thing as well.

And getting that balance right is sometimes hard. If it ends up being a full-time job just keeping it up to date, we've gone too far.

Today's been a day for doing some 'maintenance' stuff.

It's also been a day for getting some admin done.

Making arrangements for meetings with different people over these next few weeks. Arranging for some cover when I plan to be away. Getting in touch with one or two folk to keep them updated on people who're no longer here.

One of the series of 'meetings' I've been working on relates to the leadership body that will come into place in a month or so's time. We've taken the step of cutting that back from a body of 60 (or so) to a much more stream-lined 16.

That's a fairly radical cut, of course. But it's one that's been agreed because we see the need for a rather different sort of leadership team.

A body of God-given leaders who'll be able first to figure out, and then hammer out for everyone else, the vision that God gives us for his work here and now.

That's what we want this leadership group to do. Vision. Get the vision. Define the vision. Communicate the vision.

Make sure that vision is "memorable, portable and motivational" (to borrow the words of a guy whose name I've forgotten).

Vision. That's what this leadership body is all about. The rest can be done by others (we have loads of gifted leaders).

So I thought it would be a good idea to do what Jesus did and share a meal together. A kind of 'first supper'. So that the first time we met together as a body would be round the table and over a meal.

I'm excited (and a bit daunted) by the prospect. And the excitement generates the energy to get it up and running.

I'm off for some days at the start of next week, so there's loads of preparation, too, requiring done. I come back to three services my first Sunday back, and there won't be a lot of time for preparation once I'm back. So I've been trying to get that done as well. Up front, as it were.

And then there's been prayer. A fair bit of that as well.

Specific needs arose. A young man who'd been hospitalised with a head injury. And a family who could do without this further sorry blow: they've enough in the way of crosses to carry as it is.

The young man's sister was in to see me anyway. We'd agreed to meet as there were things she wanted to air and talk about with me.

But this with her brother put all of that onto the back burner. The other 'stuff' could wait.

She was here for an hour and most of the hour was spent on the computer, trying to get some flights fixed up so she and her Mum could get themselves down to be by the side of the man.

So prayer has figured quite large today.

(There wasn't much else for me to do while she was here and bashing away at the laptop. It was kind of like the Lord just gave me no option: just pray, that's all I want you to do just now).

There was answered prayer as well - in another regard. Remarkable answered prayer, when really quite the opposite of what the person feared might be the case had actually transpired.

And there was a time of prayer at night as well. There aren't many out at that these days, and we're still trying to suss out just how best to work such prayer right into the very fabric of our congregational life.

But it doesn't need many, of course. And the three who were there were able to pray across a range of different needs.

And in such small ways a world gets slowly changed.