DAY SIX: FRIDAY MARCH 24TH ADELAIDE

This morning I was up early and left the building at Hosanna Heights to walk to McDonalds to get myself plugged into the internet. I knew there was one down along Magill Road, but I forgot how far it was. I walked for about an hour and a quarter and finally arrived just about the time it opened at 7:00 am. What I hadn’t planned on was a group of junior high school kids who were having an end of course breakfast. I had no choice of table because I needed a power point, but they chose to sit in my section and proceeded to overrule the sound of the music playing through the speakers, and the TV set that was blaring a morning news program. I immediately began to compile a dossier of the sins of the younger generation in my mind. Then I realized that there wasn’t much future in such activity and got on with the job.
By the time I worked out how to catch a bus back and got on the wrong bus but pleaded with the driver to drop me off at the closest point to where the Centre was, I was able to walk in the door just in time to get to our first meeting.

Today we had three groups of people come to meet with us at the Centre here. The first was a bunch of pastors from the Tea Tree Gully network. This has been the network established by Rod Denton from Clovercrest. He has done a great job in sowing a vision and a heart for the revival that unity and prayer might bring. He has recently resigned that leadership and a guy called Ken Graham has taken it up. Ken has a different style of leadership to Rod and there will be the normal settling period of the changeover. He has a much more issues based agenda than Rod….whereas Rod had a much more basic prayer relationship agenda.

Tt seems to me that there is a sacred trust about the way a network of pastors develops if they are going to increase the expression of the church of Jesus Christ in the city. There will always be leadership and leadership will always be a matter of taking responsibility for the forward momentum or traction of the operation. Unlike many examples of leadership in local churches it must be an agenda that the Spirit places in the hands of the gathered leaders. This requires loving relationships much more than any other single factor in my view. Because there are so many agendas running around both inside individuals and beyond, this matter is often a source of confusion or diffusion. There has been an institutional or business conclusion that the vision comes from the leader. There is a truth in that in some respects, but that vision needs to be something that is confirmed within the group. If it is not, it either weakens the unity or brings division.

The two guys who came to speak with us were precious servant hearted guys once again and we were blessed by their openness and fellowship and by the prayer we had at the end of our time together.


The next group wasn’t really a group. John Ridley has been a CRC pastor and is now associated with Sturt St. Crusade Centre (or whatever it is called now). It is in the middle of the city. He showed us a DVD of a Christian Heritage display in the State Library about the Christian Heritage of South Australia. It is a significant heritage and great to have it on display. We were also told about prayer rallies and prayer before the elections and the like. A lady pastor from the West side of Adelaide called Sue also showed up and told a passionate story of the history of the western part of the city and how it had changed. She was gathering people together and was working to bring pastors together and praying with political leaders and all sorts of things. It was refreshing to hear from her and we had a chance to pray with her at the end of the time.

After lunch we entertained yet another group. This time from the eastern part of the city. Three municipal cities and not a lot of unity between the pastors. This was a group of people committed to intercession and included a lady from the northern part of the State called Phyllis. She has been establishing prayer groups across the Spencer Gulf and the Ayre Peninsula.


What has become clear is that many people feel that the configuration that was Pray SA, for all its significance and value in establishing prayer and unity across the state has fulfilled its purpose in its past form. We heard of a prophetic word brought to the last Pastor's Prayer Summit by Peter Vacca (Bethesda) who said that God was going to do a new thing in the city and state. I think we are seeing that new thing in these multiple servant leaders that God is raising up. They are leaders of smaller geographical areas, but leaders with a pure heart to serve but a strong resolve to carry the vision forward. They need a lot of encouragement if what is in their heart is to be fulfilled. That encouragement will probably not come from their own individual sphere, despite the fact that there is generally more than one in a given area. It may well be that the One Heart Group could give some of that support if members could be released to go and do it.

Later in the afternoon I spent some time with Graham and Dianne Hore. They pastor a Crosslink Church in Tea Tree Gully. They have just bought the Tea Tree Gully Baptist Church building. It was great to go around there and see it all, but even better to spend time with two terrific people doing a great job. They have some challenging issues to deal with and I was grateful to share with them and to help share the load in a very minimal way.

After tea tonight we had no commitment so we went over to the room and began to do a brainstorm on what it means to see the church in a city emerge and what it means for the leaders of churches to give leadership in that church. It was a complex open, sometimes confusing but very fruitful discussion. There are too many aspects to talk about here, but I can just say that it is so very helpful to be in this environment. It helps sharpen your image of what is important and what isn’t. It is encouraging by way of keeping on track and its also great fun. This group of brothers has a large capacity to speak totally openly without taking offense. All of us a very different kinds of people and yet there is a complementary strata to our relationship which is among the most precious and valuable things I know as far as following after a vision are concerned.
I think the Commonwealth Games are still on. I also think there might be a car race in Adelaide this weekend. There may be another world out there somewhere, but not a lot of it is connected with this current experience. I am still very much attached to my family and phone at least once a day, and I am just able to connect with the Grace office , but the people we are listening to and sharing with and the journey we are on together is taking up most of the time, attention, thinking and dreaming at the moment.