Westserve

Another bite...

Well, after months of procrastination, this is the renewed look of Westserve. It’s leaner and meaner (and rather monochromatic), which probably reflects something of where I’m at right now.

A bit of a catch up:
Our first year at Springwood is drawing to a close, and it’s been a mixed time. We love living here – who could not enjoy the Blue Mountains? I love the people at Factory Night Church – the congregation I pastor. The Sunday night meetings have a great vibe to them, and it’s been good to see positive changes in people and the group over this year.
But… I’m exhausted. I mean, I am really drained. Two or three of the main reasons:

• Starting in a new church is always very taxing physically and emotionally. It’s a whole new set of relationships and ways of doing things. But to have to hit the ground running back in late January with over 250 people to pastor in the two churches I’m responsible for has been a massive knowledge curve that has taken a long time to diminish even a little bit.
• A complicated and very draining situation involving closing a small church plant here.
• A big change in work arrangements. This is the first church in nearly 30 years of ministry that I’ve had an office away from the house we have lived in. I’ve found that harder than I thought, probably due to some obvious things like: my office space at the Ministry Centre (The Factory) is an internal room with no natural light or ventilation. I find myself feeling slightly claustrophobic at times, and quite disoriented if it’s been a substantial period without walking out to the front office and seeing the outside. And because we still live on site at Christ Church, ‘going home’ from the office does not bring the ‘switch off’ that it could/should bring.

But, having said that, I figure the first year is the hardest, and that is nearly over. So I’m looking forward to a bit of informal r&r over Christmas/New Year, a chance to catch my breath and prepare for 2008.
I guess one thing to look forward to is the long service leave I have booked in April and May of 2008. We’re not planning on anything exciting, but eight weeks is a nice break and will give me time to paint the house and finish some jobs at Blackheath.

So hopefully, this marks a return to regular blogging on Westserve (Ministry Grounds has fared better this year, due to the place coffee plays in relaxing…) – at least while things are a bit quieter…