Our ‘fast-food, buy-now, instant credit, microwave dinners,’ culture avoids waiting. I’ve been thinking about what God teaches us and develops in us when we wait. I’ve been thinking about how the act of waiting shapes and moulds us, and can strengthen our relationship with God and understanding of him. Yes, it can bring on stress and prematurely bring on grey hairs (don’t look), but it can also teach us patience. It can also help us to practice the presence of God in the present, rather than some ‘imagined’ better future. It can remind us to trust in God rather than in what we want Him to bring our way.

For Jem and I, the long time of waiting is over tomorrow evening. Whatever the outcome, God has shown me through this whole process that those who wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength.

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?

I got home and spoke to my daughter, about the fact this morning was the last time we’ll be at PBC for a couple of months. She looked bright eyed and excited before saying, ‘Great – we’re never going to church again. Great!’ When we replied, ‘Not quite darling, we’ll be visiting other churches,’ she said with a smile, ‘Great – we’ll go to other churches!’ I think that’s the definition of being easily pleased, and kind of sums up how I’m feeling as I recover from my burnout. If I never went to ‘big’ church again, and instead hung out with a few friends for prayer and the Christian walk, I feel like part of me would be ok with that. But I also know that there is a huge part of me – if it can be renewed and refreshed – that longs to learn a rhythm of living that helps me to be fully alive in the midst of leading a large church with all its potential, joys and sadness that it involves. God knows I need Him to replenish me and help me to recapture that first love for Him, as well as for his Body.

I aim to record lots of my sabbatical journey on here, and I hope you’ll consider staying for the ride. Right, now to finish all my e-mails, tidy the office, write a few letters and close the door…

It was a precious time for me in the midst of a demanding ministry season to meet a great friend and to receive a huge dose of wisdom and guidance. We walked back to the station, sat on the steps outside Charing Cross and prayed, as London carried on its busy life around us.

When I reflect on the formational impact that the guidance and support of key friends like Derek has had in my life, I am left with a deep sense of gratitude to God for them, and it inspires me to also mentor and invest in others. In his excellent book, Courageous Leadership, Bill Hybels says ’Those of us who are more seasoned in leadership must order our lives in such a way that we can carve out time in the next generation of leaders. It is our responsibility. We imperil the church and the world if we don’t take that responsibility seriously…We must identify emerging leaders, invest in them, give them kingdom responsibilities, and coach them into effectiveness. Then we can each experience the thrill of watching them soar.’

Like the woman that Jesus defended, may we do what we can with what he has given us, and may we invest our lives in others so that we can see people grow, develop and soar.

In his usual fashion, Andy states that ”Direction, not intention, determines destination” in his book “Principle of the Path“. His analogy is of a journey: your intention (or vision) might be to get to London, but if your direction is south on the A21 towards Brighton, your destination has been decided. You’ll get to Brighton, not London. The person with the “purest” of intentions, can end up in the wrong destination if they are headed in the wrong direction. Likewise, a church leader can share a vision (intention), but the destination is ultimately decided by the direction or path the church is taking.

The only way to change our destination is to change “paths”. Andy recommends that leaders need to enable churches to realise the consequence of a vision and the need for change and a change of paths.To stay relevant every church has to change, but unless people are helped to know how, after hearing a vision each person will go back to work and do what they did yesterday, which will lead to the same results and destination as before and not the fulfilment of the vision. It’s a recipe for massive frustration if we have a dream of a different future but are actually behaving in ways that will prevent that destination being reached. So the vision of a church might be to impact every child in the village, but do nothing about meeting in the little huts it currently meets in. Or a church might have a vision for being relevant, but rarely uses normal everyday language on the platform. Or a church might have a vision for a multi-cultural community, but only gives a certain type of person time on the platform or opportunities for leadership.

There are signs and warnings to look out for:

• When the culture of the organisation is in conflict with the vision of the organisation, the vision is always trumped.
• If the leaders do not embody the agreed values (behaviours) of the organisation, a culture and path is determined that trumps the shared vision.
• An individual ministry’s model can compete with the stated vision. In a church, everybody can get behind the intention/vision, but the model within the church of how decisions are made, processes and who reports to who, what teams are operating etc are often left the same (because people fear and resist change). This means that model trumps vision and determines destination.

So what can we do? We need to examine where we are…Determine where we want to be and through the power of God, put yourself on the path that leads to that destination.

Andy recommends that leaders need to: 1) Paint a compelling picture (share the vision of what could be and what should be) 2)Examine the models already existing within the organisation and discern what is working, what needs adjusting and what needs to stop 3) Invest financially and prayerfully in that vision 4)Examine the daily behaviours within the organisation that works against the agreed vision.

This is why vision is hard to see become a reality. This is why so many churches in the UK fail to grow. Because vision is shared but necessary changes are not made. Because these steps involve challenging conversations and difficult decisions. But it is only through taking this stuff into account that a church will be helped towards reaching its intention/vision. May we at PBC passionately seek God’s vision for our church, have the courage to examine our models and behaviours and be willing to change anything that might be working against us achieving the vision.

On Christmas Day, Simon picked up the space seamlessly after our funny Dragon’s Den drama, building from the message of that drama into a short talk that would have spoke to the whole spectrum of people that had gathered; from those who have been to church for 90 years every week, to those who only go on Christmas Day. It’s a real challenge to layer and craft a message on a normal Sunday, so that the whole variety of people who gather are ‘fed’. It’s even more of a challenge on a Carols By Candlelight or Christmas Day service, yet arguably even more important because of how well attended these events are. Simon rose to the challenge and exceeded it.

We are very blessed to have him here as one of our Pastors for his wisdom, leadership, Godly heart and pastoral concern. These gifts are all expressed in his leadership responsibilities so well, whether its in his teaching, his input to the Eldership, his leadership over Youth and Children’s or his worship leading. He manages to juggle more roles than one person should be able to. It’s so exciting to think of how God will use Simon in his ministry over his lifetime.

I drove to Willow Creek and picked up my two co-travellers on the way, Des and Bill. We’ll be driving together every day this week and sharing the cost of the car and petrol. Des is a lead Pastor in a fairly young church in Preston, Longton Community Church, and Bill is a businessman who also coordinates a lot of activities between churches in Scotland for Alvie and Insh Community church. After one journey with these great guys it had felt like we’d known each other for much longer. My first impressions of these guys is of their passion for Christ. Spending the week with these two, and the other 70 leaders from around the world will be a large part of the encouragement I receive and growth that I undergo.

We found Willow Creek. Oh my gosh. It’s like Bluewater, but better, because its all designed to help people feel welcome at church. For example, very near the entrance are First-Time Promiseland check-in desks, for new families. The others register below in its beautiful purpose-build Promiseland area. It’s a stunning building of huge proportions. Here is a church that has had a huge impact in my life and so much of it was launched from here. I haven’t even seen the auditorium yet, I’ve got that joy to come. Average weekend attendance is 22,000, so the aisles and the spaces need to be big to get people in and out. For special services, the attendance is much higher. For example, in Christmas 2007 they had 85,000 adults attend 12 services… the numbers are mind boggling, particularly considering it began only 34 years ago 1975 in a movie theatre.

The carpark really feels as large as Bluewaters – it was huge (there are 3,817 spaces). Needless to say, we didn’t struggle to find a space…. The original auditorium on this site, which is still used by the High School ministry, seats over 2500. It was able to seat up to 4000, before they made some alterations as part of the new auditorium and atrium which opened in September 2004. The new auditorium seats 7,095 people. When Bill Hybels and the Willow leaders bought this land originally, there were ‘only’ 440 families so they really felt like they were rattling around their originally large auditorium and all these acres. But they believed passionately that God had given them a vision to grow, through people far from God coming to know Christ, and this is what’s happened.

Scott McKnight

After breakfast with the 70 leaders attending this week, we had our first session that was led by Scott McKnight. Scott McKnight is perhaps most well known for his excellent books ‘The Blue Parakeet’ and ‘The Jesus Creed.’ McKnight got his PhD from Nottingham under James Dunn and is and is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University. Since graduating from the London School of Theology, I have had little opportunity to sit and learn from genuine academics and have opportunity to ask questions. I lapped up the time with him and typed like crazy.

In his books McKnight shows he is someone who is willing and able to tackle the complex issues of biblical interpretation for a more popular audience, and here at Willow with church leaders wanting to be stretched, he seemed in his element. His overall argument that the Bible should be remembered and read as story, and truly absorbed and lived by those who aspire to teach it to others, was gripping to me. One session in, and I’ve been reminded of my early passion for scripture as raw story that can easily get overtaken by the urgent and endless teaching demands of ministry. I’ve been reminded that the gospel always leads to the formation of community, which is a helpful lens to look through at the health of PBC. Community is not just a happy consequence for the fully devoted Christ follower. Community is the only location where the fully devoted Christ follower can find their shape. Consequently, Church is at the centre of what God is doing in the world. For an introductory review of The Blue Parakeet, here’s a decent first step.

Brian McAuliffe, Director of Operations and Chief Financial Officer of Willow Creek Community Church

After lunch, Brian McAuliffer led us for 2 hours. Brian oversees the financial, accounting and operational functions, as well as the self-supporting ministries. He was one of the leaders of the entire new building process which cost around $90million. His session was a fascinating insight into the leadership structure of Willow Creek and its transition over the last couple of years to a Policy Governance approach model of governance which is designed to empower boards of directors to fulfill their obligation of accountability for the organisations that they govern. Brian explained how as Willow has increased in complexity, including their multi-site ministry and the Willow Creek Association, their previous governance was insufficient. The Policy Governance model enables the Elders to focus on the larger issues, to delegate with more clarity, to control Leadership Team’s job without meddling, and to rigorously evaluate the accomplishment of the church.

We also covered how the regional ministries run – what are led, what are centralised; their ‘clean-slate’ budget process which has 10% for ‘winds of the Spirit’; leading staff to results (they have 400 paid staff); and treating volunteers as staff. Willow involves 1000 volunteers every weekend for their services and many others throughout the week in other ministries. In total, it would be about $40 million full-time equivalent.

Kyndra Singer & Team – Volunteer Lay Pastor, Community Care Ministry at Willow Creek Community Church

Kyndra led our final session of the day and is a perfect example of servanthood at Willow. She was an excellent communicator that unmistakably communicated the love of Christ for those who are hurting. She is unpaid and volunteers as an area director for the Community Care ministry at Willow Creek Community Church and has been involved as a lay pastor with the Divorce Recovery Ministry at Willow Creek since 1989. For two hours she explained with clarity and stories how churches can enable its wounded-healers who have experienced struggling or broken relationships, redundancy or addictions to lead simple but effective community care groups where people are free to be themselves and find support. She then interviewed three people individually who had come through divorce recovery, one of whom had become a Christian three weeks ago. There was hardly a dry eye in the room as they each shared their story and how Willow’s recovery ministries have made such a difference in their lives. My heart was bursting with vision and prayer.

And this is just the first day!