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.

The week that was

Well, what a week we've had, during our first days together as an LDC group! As volcanic ash continued to cause airport closures in Europe and flight cancellations around the world, only eleven of our delegates (less than half of the class) were able to arrive in time for the start of the course. As the week went on, I felt as if I was constantly sending and receiving emails.... as people got in touch to let us know when their flights had been rescheduled, re-cancelled and rescheduled yet again.

We had several creative times of prayer during the week, as we trusted God to make a way for those who had not yet been able to join us. He spoke to us about opening "corridors" for them, and we expressed our faith in this word by praying with enthusiasm and with many symbolic actions. For example, one day we all lined up and formed a corridor - with gaps in the line-up representing those who were stranded in airports around the world. We wrote the names of the missing people on pieces of card and put them outside; then, as we prayed for them by name, we carried those pieces of card along the corridor and right into our midst. Someone made a video clip of what we were praying and doing, and we emailed that to our missing delegates, together with some of the Bible verses and other impressions we had received from God when we prayed. Later, several of the delegates emailed back to say that these words and the movie clip had really helped to boost their faith.

One lady said that she had almost given up hope of being able to get to Spain for the course, and then she watched the video and saw her name being carried into the room and cheered on by those who were praying. It encouraged her not to give up or lose faith, but to keep pressing in and trusting for the "corridor" to open up. In fact, she and another delegate were able to fly out of Copenhagen airport when it opened up for just s twelve hour window the next day.

Seven others arrived in Malaga within twenty four hours of that prayer time, and all of them had their own encouraging stories and testimonies to share. A further nine people arrived on Saturday and Sunday, and our group is almost complete now. The family from Tajikistan saw God's provision when a taxi driver refused to take their money for driving them to the airport, and then they and their children were among the only seven people that the airline put up in a hotel for a day and a half. The three coming from Canada were originally re-scheduled to arrive only today, but felt that they should call the airline again, and ended up travelling three days earlier. A lady from Romania arrived at two o'clock in the morning, after travelling three days and two nights on a bus. Another passenger was making the long bus trip in order to see his girlfriend in Spain.... so our delegate was encouraged by the thought that she was making this gruelling trip because of her love for Jesus.

So we had many trips to and from the airport this week, and much rejoicing every time someone new arrived to join us. The Indian family are now the only ones who haven't managed to get here yet... and they're being told that they might not get flights until next weekend. We're praying for wisdom as to the best way forward in this situation.

Two other arrivals this week were picked up not from the airport, but from the shipping port. My parents are on a cruise ship at the moment and their first port of call last week was here in Malaga. I was able to pick them up from the harbour and bring them to Alhaurin for a few hours, so that they could meet some of the staff and delegates from the LDC and see the new house I moved into a few weeks ago.

As we move into a new week of LDC, we're looking more closely at the different processes God uses to develop Christian leaders throughout their lifetime. Challenges in life are one of the things that help us to grow, and the unexpected volcano situation has given us a very recent example of how God's faithfulness can be experienced even in difficult circumstances. Thanks once again for your prayers.

Faith and not frustration

As the day draws near for LDC to begin, one delegate after another is emailing us to say that their flight has been postponed or cancelled. We were expecting the arrival of more than 35 people this weekend, but we're not at all sure how many of them will actually be here by tomorrow evening. Some are stranded in airports around the world, waiting to hear when they can find another flight, while others have already been told that they can't be rescheduled until next weekend - which would mean missing the first week of the course. Still others have decided to try alternative ways of getting here: like by car, bus or train.

This morning we got together to pray as a staff team, and the Lord spoke to us through the passage in Romans 4 - where it says that Abraham trusted God to do the impossible, even in the face of challenging circumstances. We prayed that the delegates would be filled with faith rather than with frustration, and that they would see God at work in their situation - whether in the provision of alternative ways of getting here, or perhaps by using the delays to bless them in their own lives or in their contact with other stranded travellers.

One encouraging answer to prayer, though, is that the Indian family got their passports and visas at the eleventh hour and are now hoping to be able to start on their journey tomorrow.

Our theme for this school is from Ephesians 3: 20 - that God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask for or even imagine. Amidst all these unexpected challenges, we are trusting that these families and individuals will see God do amazing things for them, in them and through them.