This week has been fairly sane, which is a relief.
Monday was a longer working day, having to run our annual ministers conference N E X U S. It was a good day, smoothly run and with a good amount of continuity throughout all the talks. We had John Woodhouse, Peter Lin, Phil Colgan, Bruce Hall, James Warren, & Rick Smith speaking on various topics within Leadership. Some of the things that I was encouraged & challenged by were:
- The inerrant bible humbles us. Our task is to humbly listen, understand, believe & teach.
- The controlled power of gentleness must be a part of our leadership toolbox.
- The most important book we have on leadership is the bible.
- Our homes should to be used for hospitality.
- We need to seek the treasures in the text; keep opening the word and being lovers of the word.
It was also good to see people who have been sent out from St Paul’s Carlingford and hear of the things that they are now doing.
On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I got away a couple of hours early to make up for the extra time spent at N E X U S. Both days I got to spend playing some Diablo 3 with Geoff. On Tuesday night I was keen for some KFC; taking advantage of their 9 pieces for $9.95 deal, but when I eventually got up to Carlingford Court, the KFC was closed… I then proceeded to drive to Pennant Hills to get my chicken, even taking in the 15 minute wait whilst they cooked it (along with 3 other cars).
On Thursday evening I had dinner with my Anna and Arthur in at a Malaysian restaurant in Thornleigh.
Friday night touch was pretty enjoyable. I managed to put down at least one try, the last for the evening. It was good to see Alfie make a comeback for the week.
Saturday morning was the working bee. The turnout was pretty good, slightly above average, and I think there was plenty of things done. I ended up on the roof with Matty B where we were clearing out the gutters of leaves. When we got up there, we had to fight off a couple of plovers that continued to swoop us for most of the time we were up there.
Next thing for Saturday was Dodo’s 30th birthday out in Dural at their new house. There was an amazing amount of delicious food that just kept coming and coming, thanks to the fantastic host Tina. It was also a good chance to catch up with old friends and watch the kids play.
In the evening I got out to Pablo & Rusty’s in Epping for The Gate featuring three acts: Swimwear, Fishing and Collarbones. It was a good night; I got to catch up a little with Chris and Jon as well as meet a couple of people. I took my camera down with me to grab a few shots most of which I’m pretty happy with, especially those that have plenty of well defined smoke from the hazer.
This morning in my 1-2-1 with Nic we started reading Romans. Tonight at graceat6 we had Darren, from the deaf ministry ‘speak‘ to us from 2 Timothy 4:1-8. He encouraged us that the preaching of the gospel is of great importance, and that it is to be done persistently, whether it is convenient or not. Our job is to proclaim, rebuke, correct and encourage. We may think it is hard, but that seems to be more because we’re not used to doing it.
