weekend gathering

We had a fun and interesting weekend. Twenty leaders from different churches in the Montepuez district converged on our house and the Smith’s house Thursday afternoon for a weekend gathering (about ten slept at our house!) Our hope was that this meeting, along with a few more like it throughout the year, would increase the leaders’ trust and confidence in each other. We planned a program of group games and low ropes course activities where they were given a problem and had to figure out a solution; Jeremy did a great job organizing and thinking through these activities and then debriefing with the leaders. Our essential theme for this meeting was that the process or journey is as important as the goal or destination. We looked at passages in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 and talked about how the leaders and the churches they serve can function more effectively as a body. We also focused on how, according to Paul, it doesn’t matter what we accomplish, if we don’t have love we haven’t accomplished anything. Our plan is to have five more of these leadership gatherings throughout 2009. Pray for us; the next leadership gathering is in three weeks, and we still have a lot of work to do! Also a big thanks to our New Heritage church family who sent us a couple boxes of BOGO lights. Each of the leaders received one and they were a big hit!