HTB Leadership Conference

The May Bank Holiday was a brilliant weekend for me for a number of reasons. 

#1. It was my friend's 30th birthday and we had planned a surprise weekend away at a converted barn in the middle of countryside just north of London in a place called Hitchin. It was a fantastic weekend, super chilled, beautifully sunny and with some quality friends.

#2. Then on the Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday I was lucky enough to have tickets to visit the HTB Leadership Conference at the Royal Albert Hall. It was so inspiring. A bit like a breath of fresh air in the midst of the droll of daily life. Imagine learning and worshiping with 7000 other people in one room! It looked a bit like this -

There were a number of things that challenged me. Having had a chance to reflect over all that I have heard and experienced I will try to relay some of the ways that God was speaking to me. 

• I was reminded of God's faithful character. If you have ever read the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis you might recall that one of the ways that the devils try to undermine God's plan is by making Christians think they are fine with God, when actually they are slowly drifting away. Well I think that for me it has been easy to think that because I work for Christian charity and take part in corporate prayer all the time, that I am fine with God. Obviously it takes more of an active engagement on my part and this conference reminded me of how faithful God is at calling us back to himself. 

• I was challenged about how much I trust God. Kay Warren, wife of Rick Warren who wrote The Purpose Drive Life and leads a big church called Saddleback in California shared a message that was so powerful I have just been speaking to everyone about it. There was too much goodness in there for me to type it all out so you can watch the whole thing for yourselves 

http://lc15.alpha.org/node/81 

• My faith and expectancy levels were raised. In short, my housemate has been suffering with a trapped nerve in a neck/spine and for the last 4 weeks has been in varying levels of pain. At the time of the conference I had a stiff neck too. During the conference there were opportunities for people to have prayer for healing and despite my neck injury being ridiculously non-serious, I really felt like I should go and get prayer for it. As I was being prayed for my neck really wasn't feeling any better but I just had a sense that my housemate's would be improving. And it was true! The pain she was experiencing significantly improved over those days. 

One of the things I found pretty inspiring was just hearing from normal people that God was using in pretty incredible ways. It just reminded me that when we are obedient to God he can use us to do more than we ever imagined. 

I would really recommend listening to talks or going to this conference yourself - it is well spent money!

Encourage

I have had a brilliant week. It has been just what I needed. I took half term off as I felt like I was in good need of a break and it has been wonderful.

I spent the beginning of the week in London, just enjoying a slower pace of life. My family came to visit on Wednesday and we had a lovely day playing crazy golf, having lunch, shopping and just catching up. Loved it. 

I had another ace evening with my Church house group - opportunities to pray with each other, encourage each other and just do life together. 

On Thursday I went to visit these crazies in Cardiff.

I used to work with Jon, Bethan and Rhiannon when I was in Aberystwyth - we hadn't seen each other since April/May so it was great to have a catch up. Jon cooked AMAZING steak and we managed to break a number of his glasses...it was an eventful evening. 

On Friday I got a chance to meet up with Miriam, Josh, Rachel and baby Ivy - friends from Aberystwyth who I had last seen at Miriam's wedding in the summer. This was a joyful time of being able to encourage each other, hear about life in Wales and just be a part of my friends lives. 

Then on Saturday I was able to catch up with my friend Sarah in Norfolk - we visited the sea and walked along the coast to Cromer. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! 

As well as spending time with wonderful people I had ample travelling time with which to read. I spent some time reading through the book of Hebrews. There was one verse that particularly stood out to me. 

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

I was really struck by how something as simple as encouraging someone else actually has the potential to stop them falling into something they'll later regret. As far as I can see encouraging others has 3 benefits:

1. That person feels cared about. In this increasingly isolated world people can feel like they don't matter, that no one notices them and that they don't have a place. Encouraging someone helps people to feel valued and that they belong.
2. You help to guard that person against sin. When people feel valued there is less of a need to turn to other things in life in an attempt to satisfy - drink, sex, drugs, work etc. 
3. You feel good. Mark Twain said "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up". Encouraging others in turn helps us to feel like we have value. 

I was thinking, what would our communities look like if we did encourage each other daily! If every day you were being reminded of your value to those around you. I think it would make a massive difference. I'm challenging myself to encourage more.