See how they grow

There has been so much growth and change over the past two months. And no, I'm not only speaking about Pepe - even though it has been rather impressive to see him transformed from a scrawny little poult (see 31st March) into an almost fully grown turkey!! He was a big hit with the nine children who were with us during LDC, as were the four little chicks that joined us at the beginning of the school and had already begun to look like real hens by the end of it.

For us as LDC staff, though, the most exciting changes have been the ones that we've observed in the lives of the Christian leaders who were with us during these past six weeks. Many of these dear people had been missionaries for twenty or thirty years and had come to LDC during a time of transitioning to new ministry roles. Some of the feedback we received was that people felt more confident about their future steps, more able to discern the Holy Spirit's prompting and more equipped to mentor and develop the younger leaders that they work with.

This weekend we'll be busy with many trips to and from the airport, as the delegates head home to their nations all over Europe, Asia and North America.

The end is in sight

The countdown has begun and our LDC will soon be coming to an end. Delegates have written their "passion statements" and goals that will help them to put these rich weeks of teaching into practice when they return to their own nations next month. With only a few days left, we've begun a process of debriefing and looking back at the many wonderful things that we've done and learned during these forty days together. We've booked out the whole restaurant at a nearby garden centre for a special celebration meal tomorrow, when we'll also be having a sort of "graduation" and commissioning time. This usually includes encouraging times of praying for each other, as well as times of laughter as we look back at the funnier aspects of the school.

We'll evaluate as a staff team on Friday and then the weekend will be full of many trips to and from the airport. By the middle of next week, all of the staff will have headed home too, and only a few of us will be left here in Spain for the summer months. Enquiries have already become coming in, though, for next year's LDC, and so I'll be catching up on some email correspondence and admin during June, before taking some holiday time when my family comes to Spain at the end of the month.

Focusing on our values

The leadership development course doesn't only consist of classroom teaching. In our weekly schedule, we also have times when delegates meet one-to-one with a staff mentor, and once a week we have a special time in mentoring groups that are made up of two staff and five or six delegates. This year I'm leading a group with Jacqui (top photo) and we have six female students in our group (bottom photo.) These delegates come from places as far apart as Canada, Denmark and Australia, and are working in places as different as Holland, Thailand and Nepal.

Last week in LDC, I taught about how to identify our personal values and compile a list of the leadership values that make up our personal "ministry philosophy." When we meet in mentoring group this Thursday, each delegate will be giving a short presentation about a value that is important to them in their own life and ministry.

Adventures in Antequera

Our LDC staff and delegates were all out and about this past weekend. More than two dozen of our group went on a daytrip to Morocco on Saturday, leaving at 5 am and only coming back in the evening. Some of us stayed within Spain and visited places a little closer to home.

Jacqui and I drove northwards, through mountain scenery, to the town of Antequera. It takes its name from Roman times (Antequera means ancient city) but it is probably best known for the Moorish fortress there that dates back to the middle ages, as well as the many churches that were built after the city was reconquered by the Spanish again in the 1400s. Despite very windy weather, we enjoyed exploring the alcazaba (fortress) and even climbing to the top of the bell tower there.

On our way home, we drove slightly south of Antequera and stopped at El Torcal national park, high above sea level, with its stunning limestone rock formations that have been declared "natural monuments." What an incredible place for seeing the beauty and majesty of God's creation: not only the amazing scenery of the park itself, but also the wonderful vistas over the surrounding countryside.

From El Torcal, our journey back to Alhaurin was on mountain roads that twisted and turned, uphill and down, occasionally passing through other pretty white towns and villages. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now we're entering the fifth week of LDC. Instead of doing all the teaching ourselves this week (I'll be teaching only on Wednesday) we'll have guest speakers with us for four days of this week, as we consider different topics related to spiritual leadership and Christian life coaching.

Mid-way and Monda

Time seems to go so fast, and we've already reached the half way point of the LDC. Today is the beginning of week four and we're looking this week at different aspects of leadership integrity.

On Friday evening, some friends took me out for my birthday - to an Indian restaurant in Torremolinos. There are plenty of Chinese restaurants in Alhaurin, but it had been a long time since I'd eaten Indian food, and so that was very enjoyable.

Today's weather has been a strange mix of heavy showers and sunny intervals - quite a contrast to the warm, dry weather of last week. Saturday was a lovely day, so Sue, Jacqui and I took a short drive to the nearby town of Monda, where we saw the old Moorish castle (now a luxury hotel) and the 500 year old fountain in the centre of the old town. If it's dry next Saturday (the forecast says there'll be showers now and then all week) we might be able to take a drive to another of the inland towns that I haven't visited yet.