So GLS 2009 then....

Well, once again it was all incredibly good. The standard was the same but there was a noticeable shift; there were no 'creative' elements.

Bill Hybels explained at the start of the Summit, that one of their responses to the current economic situation is that they have changed their meeting. Every element of the meeting is about getting ministry in to people. Then, they have changed their ministry times; blurring the start and finish time. One part of that is that they have a vocal team that will sing over people. They will sing for as long as it takes. They will sing until the last person leaves the auditorium.

That gives me a question....which I'll get to.

I have in my head lots of phrases and points that the various speakers have made, however the things I will remember are mostly visual.

It will be a long time before I forget about the rider, the elephant and the path, for example.

I have lot of books to read (!) and have already started....

It was a uniquely wonderful time spent hearing the GLS from a work POV and then processing it with non-OG people.

Of course the main part of the GLS is not the two days spent engaging with the speakers from the summit, but how you take what you hear back to your situation. That, of course takes time and deliberate action. Either that or you put the binder on the shelf and book up for next year....

For the time being though, my question is: Just how much am I, and those around me, prepared to do to see God's change?

(wherever that may be and whatever that may mean)

How to Start 2008

A new perception of Sin:

A wise friend of mine once said "there is no such thing as an acceptable level of sin"

I commented recently, when this same friend was speaking at Oak Grove, that he always stirs things up.

In human terms we have our 'moral scale' so certain actions are 'worse' than others. This scale is helpful for writing law, but is not really any use when thinking about God, Sin and Us.

In reality, we are either separated from God, or we are not. Any Sin can do this but God's Grace and Mercy can cover these sins. Jesus made that possible.

So what about those sins that you keep on doing? Even if you do confess them and want to give them up to God and accept His forgiveness?

John Ortberg - The Life You've Always Wanted

...sin is often the attempt to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. If we don't address that need in appropriate ways, we will go right on sinning.

Back at the Willow Creek GLS, John Ortberg talked about 'Shadow Mission'. Put simply, say God has called you to serve homeless people or go to Ethiopia that would be your 'Mission'. Your 'Shadow Mission's purpose is to stop you working on/completing your 'Mission'. So instead of serving homeless people, you allow your time to be wasted watching TV or playing video games. I think that you can identify your 'Shadow Mission' by looking at those Sins that just won't go away. Your areas of easiest temptation perhaps. If you follow what John Ortberg is talking about in the above quote, then forgiveness is not necessarily the end of a Sin.

Addressing the root cause or need is the only way to avoid making the same mistakes again.

So, How to start 2008? Identify your Mission. Identify your Shadow Mission and deal with both of them.

I do wonder if most of us would have to identify our Shadow Mission and start to deal with it before God could release us in to our mission?

Re-evaluate Church

So, I wouldn't be the first to suggest that we should re-evaluate church.

How we see church and what we think church should be, should be in line with what we believe, but how many of us have really thought about it?

Especially those of us who believe we should be living for God beyond the end of the Sunday morning church service.

I struggle with leading Worship. Initially it was because I was exploring the whole 'Worship is a lifestyle' thing (yes, back to that again) and I needed to break out of the 'Worship = Music = Worship' trap. Beyond that there will (and should) be issues of worthiness and rightness before God. I'd flip around and keep coming back to the priviledge and responsibility that being a Lead Worshipper is. I knew I was missing something but I was caught in a thought process that was never going to change until I actually [i]thought[/i] about it. I am reminded of something Marcus Buckingham talked about at the GLS; the importance of asking the right question (that's a real learing point; if you are struggling with a question and you just can't seem to get an answer, make sure that you are asking the right quetion.)

Today it hit me.

I need to re-evaluate where church fits in to my theology and I haven't yet. Not that I want to discard church; not in the least. The implication though, is that if Worship, or as I'd prefer to phrase it 'following Jesus' is more than just church, then I can't move on fully to everything else God has for me until I downgrade or move my 'Sunday Service' to where it should be.

I don't think I have very far to go. I don't think it has anything to do with the church I go to either. Just, in the same way that my understanding of prayer has changed radically in the last week, that my thinking needs to shift. I couldn't even tell you what I need to change, just that I need to let God expand my thinking.

I'm getting very 'Big Picture' these days. I don't know where that's leading.

Before I get going on...

...the amazing teaching I have ben exposed to, I should point out that I am in a place of needing to renew or refine my vision.

I have completed a part of my 'mission' and feel that I need to define a bit more where I am going.

I am aware that I have changed in the last two years and that these changes, brought about by trusting God, give me new options to look at.

As Bill hybels would put it, I am "prepared to pay the price" of seeking God on all of this by focussing my time, prayer and bible reading time to learnig more of God.

I think I realised all of this whilst at the GLS. This time, I felt much less of a fraud being there. Last year I did think to myself 'Why am I here? What right do I have?'. Over the years, people have believed that I have some leadership potential and have invested in me. Over the years, I have learnt and listend and tried. This year I feel a change coming on.

I think it's time that I took responsility for developing my spiritual gifts and their impimentation, be it at home, church or work.
(something else that Bill Hybels hinted at.)