"Senior" Church Leaders course at Whirlow Grange in Sheffield

So I've just gotten back from assisting on our "Senior" Church Leaders Foundation Course (Transforming Church Conflict for Senior Church Leaders).  What do I mean when I say "Senior," well generally that means they might be older, but not necessarily.  I mean leaders within each denomination that have quite a bit of oversight.  This means Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons in Anglican Church of England terms.  Rural Deans, Synod Moderators, District Chairs in other denominational terms.  This past week's course was primarily Anglican, with a couple Baptist, one from the Salvation Army, and one Presbyterian/Methodist.  Among the Anglicans we had four Bishops (although one had just been appointed), a Cathedral Dean, and numerous Archdeacons, along with a couple misc. Bishop's staff members.  A diverse Anglican group, but not as diverse a group as we sometimes have denominationally.

It was a real privilege to be a part of the Senior Leaders course.  The people who come on it are really top notch individuals and really eager to engage and learn.  It means we've really got to be on our "A-game"as a training team.  I've attached our group photo and some other shots from one of the participants took during the week.  He had a keen eye for taking good photos.

 Group Photo

Football match going on in a nearby pitch.  

We just couldn't get them away from their iPhones 

Three wise monkeys 

 Whirlow Grange Conference Centre

Having a discussion during a break-time

As far as London Mennonite Centre life / decisions, the Trustees had another important meeting this past week (15 March) and decided to pursue one of the two options which they were considering.  They have another meeting in mid-May to decide whether to continue with it fullstop or look for alternative avenues.  The gist of it means I will likely be moving to a temporary LMC staff location for the duration of my term in mid-late July.  It also means that Bridge Builders will need to find alternative office space before August/September.  So come the end of the summer I will be commuting to work and living somewhere else in London.  They (the Trustees) are still in the early stages of this, so not a whole lot is known or a given.  The plan is the have everyone who is living at the Centre in a temporary lmc staff house for a 6 to a more likely 12 month period somewhere in the North London region (perhaps close to the Northern line).  A lot will depend on the May Trustees meeting.  If plans change they all that I've said could be thrown out the window.  At the moment I'm glad that plans are for those who live at the Centre to remain in community and trying to not focus too much on the fact that Bridge Builders really needs to find get on the ball about finding new office space.  Overall, I'm figuring I won't know where I'm really moving (or working) until about June/July.  

In other news, I might have a cousin (he/she who shall not be named at the moment) coming over to the UK/Ireland to do start a cycling journey across Europe.  My cousin will probably come over sometime in the beginning of August, head from Dublin to Belfast, then to Glasgow and toward London.  I might join said cousin for a portion of it (bit from perhaps Glasgow to London).  Other details are yet to be discovered/made.  I'm excited!

The Streets of Rome

So I've now been back from being on holiday in Rome (17 Feb - 21 Feb) and I can certainly say I walked a good deal of the city of Rome.  I probably walked more than I have ever walked (at least over a five day period) ...I'm guessing at least between 15 and 20 miles the middle three days and at least 5 to 7 on the first and last day (when I was only there in the evening and the morning).  Can't be sure since I didn't have any real way of tracking my movements, but it was enough that my feet hurt more than they did when I ran the marathon earlier this year.  It got to a certain point where they just kept hurting, but I kept going...there was just too much I wanted to see.  Each night gave my body enough time to recover.

Rome reminded me a lot of Athens because of the ancient buildings interspersed throughout the city.  It differed from Athens by being substantially cleaner, looking relatively nice (compared to Athens which looked like it was falling apart), and being relatively smoke free (again compared to Athens and Paris which smoking seemed to dominate outdoors).  Most places I visited that did cost money didn't cost much more than 12 Euros.  I think one place cost 16 Euros (maybe the Vatican museum) and a couple cost as little as 6 Euros.  The two hour flight from London Gatwick wasn't too bad and the food was overall amazing.  Living there full time I think I would get sick of having mostly pizza/italian resturants around, but I guess it's a little like that in London with Pubs/fish and chips shops.

Some things to note:

• Wine in resturants is sold by the bottle - either small or large
• There's a reason Romans conquered the Greeks and not the other way around
• The Vatican, while amazing to visit, had an odd feel to it, partly because of the money spent (St Peter's and the Vatican Museum itself), and because of the massive wall surrounding it

Overall, a great trip.  Didn't spend much time "relaxing," but then again that's not really my type of holiday, at least not yet.  I'd go stir crazy if I tried to sit on a beach for a week.  While I've posted a couple of my favorite photos here, the full albums are on facebook.  Only 445 photos in all.    

The next two weeks I will be preparing for another BB course, this one for "Senior Church Leaders" e.g. those in positions of senior leadership or authority, whatever that means for their respective denomination, whether it is a Bishop, Archdeacon, or Rural Dean, etc... but tonight I am leading a "review of the emotional journey" of the past year for the local Mennonite Church.  I'm hoping it will be prove to be insightful and useful for members of the church, but there's really no way of knowing until it happens.

Also in the next two weeks the LMC Trustees will *most likely* be making some serious decisions about the future of the Centre.  Time is starting to slowly disappear, so their window for decision making is starting to close.  They've got two meetings in the first two weeks of March, so prayers for them as they work to come to a common mind on a couple of important issues would be appreciated.

- Sam

Latest TCC course, beyond, & a visit from Egypt MCCers!

The latest foundation course, which Bridge Builders' in London from 6-11 February, turned out to be quite a different experience all together.  It was the first course in which the lead trainer was non-existent for the first day of the course.  When we (Alastair, Liz, and I - the three trainers) gathered on Sunday evening to set up for a start on Monday Alastair was not looking good at all and seemed quite ill.  Upon returning to the LMC for the evening Liz and I set out a contingency plan to run the day without him and divided up his sessions between us.  Shortly thereafter we received word that he would not likely be in the next day and to do in fact what we had been planning. On a typical course Alastair is responsible for approximately 40-50% of the content, perhaps more on the first day, so Liz and I really needed to step up to the plate.  We did and it turned out to be a great day.  Alastair joined us on Tuesday and gradually integrated himself back into the course.  While perhaps a bit more stressful than Liz and I would have liked starting off, it was probably the best course we've led so far as a training team.

Below is a picture of the group of participants which we had on the course, I am in the front row. (a couple of people were unfortunately late for the picture, so they're missing)

  

This week has been catching up on work which has piled up whilst I've been away on the course and preparing myself for taking a short holiday in Rome, Italy.  I'm excited to see the sites of Rome, but also nervous in the sense that it is yet another country I'm visiting where I don't know the language.  I'd like to take another holiday sometime in either the end of March or early April, but I don't have anything too concrete yet.

On the London Mennonite Centre side of things there isn't a whole lot to provide for an update.  Decisions regarding any future location will need to be made, most likely over the next couple of months, but again, who knows what will actually pan out.  My hope is still that Bridge Builders will be able to remain co-located with the Centre.

For the last couple of days we've also been blessed to have some MCCers from Egypt staying at the Centre while they sort out their options for going back to Egypt (or not) with MCC.  It has been interesting to hear their stories and perspectives on what has been played in the international news media most recently and what it has been like for them on the ground in Egypt.  The MCC family that is here also has two young daughters (ages 5 and 8), who have been fun to have playing around the Centre.

In general I'd ask for continued prayers for LMC Trustees as they make decisions regarding the future of the LMC and for myself as I journey to Rome from 17 February until 21 February.

- Sam

Heard Tony Campolo speak in London

So I got the opportunity to hear Tony Campolo speak in London on Friday night (28 January 2011).  He was one of a couple of speakers for the speak network.  Very incredible speaker.  He has so much passion for life and for what he believes in.  One of which is supporting "speak."  It's a group made primarily out of mid-20s/30s who are concerned with issues of peace/justice.  I've been on their mailing list for a while, but typically have other work engagements whenever they've got events going on, so this was the first I was able to attend.  Tony gave a couple of stories from his experiences in life regarding mainly "doing what you can" in an effort to raise some money for speak.  We (the crowd) even got him to keep talking after he sat down for about the amount of time he spoke to being with...he's just got a lot of passion.

Speak is a group that has a lot of passion for what it does, but not the resources.  Sounds a bit like my life right now...  A group I'd like to get involved with, but don't know for sure whether anything will pan out due to my own work/life restrictions.

If you haven't heard Tony speak before and he's coming to an area near you - go to see him, he's well worth the trip.  This guy had an incredible itinerary before speaking with us in London...over the previous 2 weeks he was on the west coast for 3 days, then the east coast for another couple of days, back to the west coast, then back to the east coast, then to the UK - day in Ireland, N.Ireland, Scotland, Wales, then London, then back to the east coast... you get the idea - constant travel, no time for adjustment... incredible to do what he does (and at his age - 75).

Busy week coming up as we have a course starting in 1 week's time, lots to do.

Summary of Details from latest LMC Newsletter

A summary of details from a London Mennonite Centre Newsletter which was sent out in January of 2011.  If you would like the PDF copy of it, just contact me and I will e-mail it to you.  I can't post it easily here -not even the text only - I tried.

Letter is from - Jeremy Thompson, Chair of the London Mennonite Trust

Sale of the LMC was completed in December of 2010 for a sum of £3,250,000.  The agreement is for up to nine months until completion.

Bridge Builders (whom I work for), as a product of the London Mennonite Centre's ministry, is going to be granted a one time gift of £105,000 as it works toward becoming an independent Charity.   This should cover expenses incurred in the first two years of operation.  London Mennonite Trustees are still hoping for a possible co-location with Bridge Builders, dependent on an adequate future location, for both parties.

LMC Trustees would like to have a portion of the completed sale for use as an investment to bring in steady income for the future Centre.  They now have under £2,000,000 to work with, including renovation, for use to purchase a new Centre.

Trustees are also in the process of interviewing a possible North American candidate to become the future Director of the Centre.  This is an on-going process and will likely take up to a year from any accepted offers before the Director will arrive.

On a lighter and happier note, a longtime staff member of the Centre was married in November of 2010.

Do let me know if you would like a copy of the PDF.

- Sam