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.

If you’re not sure what step to make, give your hunger to God and let him reveal to you and call you out. There’s no point forcing something, but he’ll let you know in his time, or cause a desire and hunger – a holy discontent – to grow within you.

If you have stepped out of the boat, look out for the evidences of his grace and the reminders of his presence; they’ll build encouragement within you and others who you travel with. It’s these moments that will give you a story to tell. After all, following Jesus isn’t safe, but its good.

The church, like any organisation, is easy to laugh at and it’s healthy that we do.Wherever there are lots of people there is always opportunity for humour. Adrian Plass, a lovely man and a brilliant writer, has had me and thousands of others in stitches with his bestsellers about church life. Laughter, as the saying goes, is often the best medicine.

As a fellow ‘Rev’ I guess a main concern I have is that I regularly meet people who have no idea what church is really like and so base their views on the caricatures in sit-coms or soaps. That’s what I did until I actually went to church for the first time when I was 15 and all my preconceptions were blown to bits. My fear with ‘Rev’ – but its a challenge too – is that it will once again ‘market’ church to those who never go, only confirming in their minds why they should never go. I have never seen the kinds of vibrant, effective, community churches that I’ve had the privilege to know represented on TV. I would disagree with AA Gill who expressed his opinion in his review in the Sunday Times this week and said, ‘It’s not that the audience doesn’t believe; it no longer cares about the church…’ Many, many people do.

I’ll watch the next few to see where it goes. It’s on tonight at 10pm. Any views anyone?

‘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.

Against Algeria, England looked clueless, shapeless and visionless. Wright-Philipps can have moments of excellence, but he’s not a game changer who’ll unlock a robust defence whereas Joe Cole has that ability. England need their leaders now more than ever; leaders on the pitch and leaders behind the scenes. In the profound – cover-version – words of Glee, ‘Don’t stop believing.’

I know that this Father’s Day I’ll have mixed feelings between the joy that comes from being a Dad and the pain of missing my Dad’s friendship in my life. Life and faith is often like this; the tension of two truths at once that can cause almost opposite reactions or feelings. On Father’s Day, I’ll be especially glad for how Jesus taught us to pray and gave us a whole new paradigm through which to see and approach a relationship with God: ‘Our Father…’

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.

Some of the conference has been excellent – even if there has been a tendency to pack too much in (most of us here are looking more tired than when they came). It has been fun letting the anarchic side of us out and sneakily watching World Cup games on the wi-fi during some of the particularly boring sessions on institutional stuff. The highlight of the conference content has definitely been Steve Holmes‘ sessions on ‘teaching with conviction’. Steve is a senior lecturer in Systematic Theology at St. Andrews University and has made the conference worth the investment of time.

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?