New Wine reflections

It was my first time at the New Wine Leaders conference, but a good way to start the sabbatical. I travelled with Rich Thomas and Ali FG in convoy with the rest of the St. Matthew’s High Brooms staff team. Spending time with the St. Matt’s team over those few days was as refreshing and encouraging an experience as attending the actual conference itself. They’re a great team who have their feet on the ground and their hearts and minds on the things of Jesus. At the conference I also caught up with Dave Baxter from Sheerness who is doing some great, faithful work with the church there.

Jay Pathek was the main speaker at the conference, with worship led by Nick Drake. Jay is a young leader from Vineyard, USA, and a humorous and powerful communicator, who was encouraging the 1000 or so leaders gathered to ‘lean’ into the things that God prompts, even if they are considered strange by others.

Jay began by saying that too many church leaders are becoming managers, and asked, ‘what makes a leader NOT worth following?’ His three answers were: leaders who lead with force and power; the ‘super-humble’ leader with an identity crisis; and the Super-hero leader who feels responsible all the time for everything.

Jay then asked ‘what makes a leader worth following?’ I loved his one sentence answer: For a leader to be worth following, they are intentionally out of balance and look insane to nearly everyone.

His premise was basically this: if leaders lean into the things of the Kingdom of God they will be leaning beyond what is ‘normal’ to create a new ‘normal’ for those who follow, who will begin to ‘lean’ into these things as well. Jay said that if a leader looks normal to others, by definition they’re not leading. Jay challenged us to resist bland balance and instead to live with tension, hitting both ends of the tensions as hard as we can.

Jay then ended with a good unpacking of some ‘leans’ that Paul emphasizes in 1 Thessalonians including leaning into the power and presence of God and leaning into perseverance.

What has God asked you to lean into recently? Is it something that – in the words of Jay – might look ‘insane’ to those around you? Have you stepped out in faith and seen him work? Is there something about leaning that is necessary for continued growth and faith?