Hello Again!

Dear Pastors

Hello Again!

‘It’s been a while between drinks’. Today I start a new season of writing and blogging. Let me give you a quick update.

For the last 2 – 2.5 years or so I have been distracted (in a good way). Three things in particular have taken up a lot of my time.

1. For one year I was ‘interim pastor’ at my home church in Hamilton. As well as doing the normal work of a pastor I led the Search Committee to find a new permanent pastor. It was a great moment back on the 2nd May this year when we commissioned a young man called Eli Savill.
2. In September last year I accepted an invitation to become the Regional Advisor for the Congress on Evangelism being held for three days in Sydney next year in August and convened by the Billy Graham Evangelism Association (BGEA). As the Regional Advisor I have been tasked to assemble and lead the NZ delegation of 350 pastors and Christian leaders to this event. This has been a significant piece of work but one I regard as a huge privilege. This task will finish soon after the Congress concludes.
3. Advocacy. This is also a new-ish piece of my work. What started about 4 years ago simply helping a few folks with troubling and at times complicated issues has turned into a significant chunk of work. I find this work very interesting and challenging. I have acted for clients to help resolve issues to do with tenancy and unfair rent increases, matrimonial property, custody of Children, consumer rights and saddest of all I have advocated for victims of abuse (both psychological or bullying and sexual abuse) in local church contexts. I plan on writing ,more about this in the near future.

All to say, I had to make a call. Though I still have a good amount of ‘gas in the tank’, I also wanted to move towards a more leisurely pace of life. Further, my head has been pretty full of other stuff, so I have struggled with fresh thoughts and inspiration to write blogs and articles that are both helpful and useful.

Going forward I plan on writing fortnightly on Thursdays. My blog is generally around 750 words which is less than a 5 minute read. I will continue to write on local church leadership and ministry issues with a dash of ‘church and culture’ topics thrown in for good measure.

If you would rather not receive my blogs any longer then please let me or Liz know. Truly, I won’t be offended. Also, I want to do better to responding to feedback and push back. I really appreciate when I hear from you so please don’t hesitate to be in touch. To that end if you have a topic you would like me to explore please let me know.

Please Note: The email you receive is sent from my database. My Admin Assistant, Liz Dobbs handles all that. The address in the ‘From” bar says ‘No Reply’. However if you click it, it will come up with my email address which is alan.vink@leadershipworx.org.nz . You can reach Liz on liz.dobbs@leadershipworx.org.nz.

Finally, for today. At LeadershipWorx we continue to be committed to run a low cost operation. However there are a few costs. If you have a few spare bucks I would gratefully receive them. We are a registered charity so you will receive a receipt for tax refund purposes.

Our bank account name and number is:
LeadershipWorx
06-0459-00987857-000

Before I go for a coffee break I am keen for you to know about this conference next year (5th & 6th March in Auckland) that I am on the organising committee of. I will be saying more about this event and the whole Israel-Palestine issue in the near future. Here is the link. Auckland, New Zealand — Church at the Crossroads

Blessings
Alan