Small world.....

It's always interesting to re-connect with people that you knew in the past. Since the start of October, we've had two different groups of people at the leadership retreat centre: the first was a gathering of YWAM leaders from all over Europe, and the second was a group of participants in the leadership development seminar that we've been running this week. Among these very diverse groups of people, I "reconnected" with:  a man who went to the church I attended when I lived in the north of France in 1979 - 1980; a young woman, now a missionary, who came on  King's Kids outreaches that I led to France and Belgium when she was only nine and ten years old; a YWAM leader who was a student on an LDC I worked with in the 1990s and another who was part of the last Scottish LDC in 2008; a lady who was a student on one of the first discipleship training schools I taught on in South Africa; another missionary who was a teenager on a KKI outreach when we took teams to Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games; two other KKI leaders that I had met during recent King's Kids gatherings in Jordan and Barcelona.....

It was great to have these different "faces from the past" coming to be with us at Villa Rehoboth. We've had two very encouraging and stimulating weeks. When giving feedback this week, seminar participants said that they'd been refreshed and encouraged, that they'd been given new "tools" for their ministry toolbox, that they felt strengthened to face challenges in their region, and that they'd felt honoured and spoiled by the generous hospitality and good food (cooked by our two new kitchen staff!!) When we hear such encouraging feedback, it makes all our hard work worthwhile, and we can only give thanks to God for His faithfulness in touching people's lives.