Whew! Quite a lot has happened in the last 10 days.
- Our youngest daughter has started pre-school, giving us more quiet time at home - and she's loving the change too!
- I've had LOTS of meetings with individuals, catching up with people's news after the summer.
- I've been away for 24 hours with pastors from across Oxfordshire Community Churches, looking at how our churches and ministries are positioned to grow over the next 10-20 years.
- I enjoyed a great curry and spoke for a few minutes at the Oxford Asian Christian Convention.
- I did a school assembly - and no children got hurt or cried, which is a real result for me. (One boy did start to sniffle at one point because I didn't give him a sweet, but there were no tears, so I'm not counting that.)
- I've joined in a discussion about how our Kidlington groups will continue to develop towards a 'church plant'. (BTW - Is 'church plant' not a classic piece of Christian jargon? I understand that all communities develop their own jargon, but some occasional jargon-busting is also healthy. Otherwise, those people who value clear communication may have a burden or even develop a gifting for moving into a time of being on fire for God.)
- I've been involved in drafting a proposal for how 'Salt & Light' will train hundreds of new Christian leaders over the next 10 years.
- I've played a hour of football with Community Allstars FC, and was only nutmegged once.
- I've been reading about ethics, and need to start an essay on the rights and wrongs of driving through a red traffic light. (Really!)
- We went blackberry picking at a wonderful secret location we've discovered near Oakley, which caused a fair amount of moaning from the kids as being "really boring - there's no bouncy castles or slides", but which was then reported to friends as having been great fun!
So, one way or another, it feels like the autumn is now properly underway. I'm really looking forward to our leadership retreat at the weekend. I just need to start thinking properly about the sessions I'll be leading...