Author: Ron Baker

I suppose small groups have been around for years.  As a child living in Moose Jaw, our parents had a neighbourhood group – the Hannah’s, Reimer’s, Butt’s, Tollefson’s, Klassen’s.  Not that the group was as organized as happens nowadays.  We just knew, as kids, that they were friends.  As it happened, we all attended the same church.

Yesterday we met with another small group.  Four families are represented.  We shared our life’s happenings and worked through some thoughts on advancing our lives.  I haven’t stopped to count all the other small groups over the past six decades.  Choirs, Bible Studies, Projects, Age-dated groups, Neighbourhood,  ministry, relative groups and so many other types. 

From my own experience, you need others.  And others need you.

Picture for the day:  And just around the corner!!  I wonder what this year will hold.  This was last year when we “lost” our van in our own driveway.

25 years ago I helped produce a CD.  Back then we probably called the product an “album”.

The project was called “Simple Faith” – based on lyrics and melodies by Rob Ardell.  The irony was that the vocalists and musicians were anything but simple.  We came from varied backgrounds and lived full lives in many different spheres.

As I grow older, I see the advantage of simple.  Or at least focused and fierce in my faith.  Trusting in God’s grace and obeying God’s commands in all I do.  That’s simple and amazingly complex at the same time. 

Today’s photo:  Row upon row – a part of harvest is a swath at a time, and finally a field, and finally a world!

I sat with a group of people yesterday.  We are trying to determine more of the Holy Spirit – to have an encounter.

More than just a passing experience, although shaped by spikes of experience.  But a time of constant striving for more.  Not because what you have is not genuine – but because the pathway is always upward. 

We’ll see where this leads!  My desire is for greater – not just a repeat or a revisit.  There is place for re-hear-sal – reminding ourselves.  There is also place for the new – being overwhelmed by a previously uncharted sense of God.  I’d love to have you join me – let me know how God is making all things new.

Picture of the day – previous generations saw God anew – we remember and take their example to strive forward:

Stengths of Pastors as They Age – Arthur Brooks on Carey Nieuwhof Podcast,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gDbrOmwvo&list=RDCMUClUd0Z_Y7-PgkCjjwddM5Qw&start_radio=1, 51:55

Taken from Script on nieuwhof’s Website – https://careynieuwhof.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CNLP_599-%E2%80%93With_Arthur-Brooks.mp3.pdf

CAREY NIEUWHOF: For the average pastor, or priest in your tradition, who’s

53, which is close to the average age of pastors these days, where do they play to

their strengths? Where do they hit their head against the wall?

ARTHUR BROOKS: Their strengths are coaching and teaching, coaching and

teaching. So it’s, you always move into a role where you’re identifying talent and

developing talent as you get older. That’s what you want to be doing.

CAREY NIEUWHOF: So you’re less the operator, more the sage.

ARTHUR BROOKS: You’re more the instructor. Always it’s your instructor curve.

Now that also means that you’re instructing people at a broad level, but not trying to

have the big original breakthrough, helping to interpret what is out there and what

it actually means. So that means that, by the way, that one of the greatest things you

can do as a theologian late in life is write commentary.

All right is actually writing commentary, because you’re pulling from a million

different sources and you’re saying how it all hangs together and you need to know

a lot, you have to have a big library in your head.

Plus, you’re trying to explain it to other people. So you’re a teacher. So that’s an ideal

kind of thing to do, for example. So if you’re going to be doing pastoral work, you

want to make sure that it’s especially good to be doing pastoral work for younger

people in the profession.

As you get older cultivate the newer people in the profession if you can go into

teaching a class or two and then be doing the kind of synthetic work that looks big

picture as opposed to having the new huge breakthrough that nobody’s ever seen before.

Photo for the day:  Some days??