My New Regime

Many of you will know that when I started leading the church in October 2007 I carried on doing my 'other' job at BlueArc 2 days a week. In some ways that has worked well. It has forced me delegate a lot more than I would otherwise done, it's kept me in the 'real' world (I know that when I preach on a Sunday I'm going to be walking into a secular office on Monday morning) and its forced me to be very focussed on how I use my time. However, I felt towards the end of last year that with the move to three meetings and the growth we're all praying for this year I wouldn't be able to sustain what I was doing without either going mad, or getting ill again (or both). 

So I took the decision towards the end of last year, in consultation with Catrina, the elders and others, to reduce what I do at BlueArc to just a consultancy role. That will mean me overseeing a couple of projects for a few hours a week (which I'll enjoy) but not having to actually do any design work or get involved in any of the stress when things go wrong. I'm not actually planning on being in the church office any more than I am at the moment, but will use the time I'm freeing up to pray, do sermon prep, study and think more about the future and where we're going as a community. All the things which I feel play to my strengths. I won't be using the time to get involved in anything new outside of Kerith, or to get any more involved in the day to day running of the church.

So please pray for me in this new phase, especially that the time I'm freeing up won't just get swallowed up in even more meetings. And pray for Lydia (my wonderful PA) who will still have to handle all my email, my diary and generally letting me know what I need to be thinking about next.

Hope you're having a great week,

Simon.