I’m thinking over some ideas and studying some scripture as a result of some promptings I believe God has given these last few days. The first idea for a message is what and how the church as Christ’s body can display the kind of things that Jesus displayed in his ministry on earth. The second idea is a simple message called ‘fearless?’, unpacking the idea of what it means to have courage and to face our fears, secure in the grip of Jesus the brave, the one who faced the nightmare of all possible nightmares and triumphed.

I’d better get on and write these messages.

‘Think different’? It’s a brilliant axiom for design and innovation, whether it’s technology, business or church, but the irony about the power of this product was that it caused my fellow waiters in line and I to think the same thing: I want one.

Was it worth the 40 minute wait? Yep. What about the signal issues that have been identified with the new device? No issues so far.

I love this video; it reminds us of the power of words. It’s one reason I love teaching. I love crafting words, stories, tone and humour to move hearts and minds with the story of Jesus and I’m pretty much obsessed at getting better.

But I heard a great reminder this week that good speeches don’t raise the dead or heal the sick. When the man at Bethesda has been lying begging for 38 years, he couldn’t have been inspired to get up, even if Blair and Obama at their oratorical best had played tag-team on the stage. Only the words of Jesus could transform that man’s life and make him whole. We need preaching that transforms, and that’s the work of God’s spirit. Steve Holmes, Senior Lecturer at St. Andrew’s says this, ‘We don’t implore people to change, we confidently announce the presence of God that makes all things new, and take our part as ministers to bring this truth to pass, to see this new world into being in our service.’

So when you get up to speak, wherever you are, speak with conviction, and know that when our words and God’s spirit work together, miracles occur.

John 21 is an awesome chapter – one of the most moving in the whole Bible. John writes it brilliantly and the small details of the charcoal fire, the net full of fish, the early morning dawn (resurrection and dawn go well together!), breakfast on the beach all paint a vivid picture that sets us up for Jesus’ interchange with Peter. What happens with Peter is what happens so often with us when Jesus gets our full attention, we’re not the same again.

I’ll be teaching on how Jesus deals with the marks we make with our lives – the bad marks and the good marks – and how we are all going to leave a mark, but the question is, whose mark is it going to be?

Yesterday Rosie and the Day Center team pulled off an incredible feat. They fed dozens of guests for a full Christmas dinner, performed a pantomime, and then Father Christmas came and gave out gifts to everyone. I was asked to give a Christmas message, which I gladly did. It was a first airing of my Carols by Candlelight message.

Well, this Sunday I’m going to try to unpack why people might answer the question in that way. If that’s how you feel, I invite you to come along and hear. If your heart breaks that people feel that way, come along. If you have any suggestions or thoughts on this, please comment below.

He gave answers and wisdom to questions about the priority of marriage and the family over ministry; issues worldwide that the church needs to be prepared for in the future; church and politics; work-life balance; staff empowerment; staff selection and firing; spiritual warfare; teaching series planning; developing new teams; the importance of self-awareness, relational and emotional intelligence; humility; integrity; marketplace ministry; succession planning; the importance of younger leaders in succession planning; global poverty; compassion; governance; the 20-something generation; the Reveal survey; leadership mistakes he has made; church planting and multi-site ministry. This was leadership gold from someone who pastored Bill Clinton after his affair and who has led a church over 35 years into a place where it is as influential as a church can possibly be. Asked whether how he maintains humility, he said its not difficult, because there are people in Barrington who have never heard of Willow Creek, and although they might reach over 20,000 people, this is in a city of 8 million. ‘What keeps me humble is the overwhelming task ahead of us all. There are millions who are not reconciled to God and unless we as a church leaders are show our people that our hearts break for the lost and like them make stumbling and bumbling efforts to talk to our friends about Jesus, our churches won’t recover the heart for evangelism that every Christ follower should have.’

When asked about the culture of serving that is so evident at Willow Creek, Bill said it has taken 37 years to develop, and needs to be taught consistently and biblically. ‘The local church is the hope of the world. What better thing is there to serve? The New Testament knows nothing of consumerist Christianity.’

As if to back up his point, after the day had finished I thanked one member of the excellent hospitality team that had volunteered to serve us all week with drinks, breakfast, lunch and dinner. His reply? Word for word: ‘Oh thank you; it’s a joy. Jesus has done so much for me, and this church has done so much for me, it’s just a delight to serve him. I just love doing my part to help.’ He walked out of the room we were in and my jaw was on the floor.

With head and heart full of ideas, information, stimulation, challenge and encouragement, my two travelling companions and I quietly made our way to the car, and travelled to our hosts, resting in the reality that we had just experienced one of the best weeks that we could have possibly asked for and a day with Bill Hybels, a man after God’s heart who has been mightily used by Him.