Please pray for me - an important meeting, and some news to follow.

Please pray for me tomorrow. I have a very important meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4pm with a group of ministers and lay persons from the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. It is part of the process that I am going through in order to be released from my current post (as Dean of the Methodist Church's seminary) in order to move into a new, very exciting, challenging, and incredible ministry.

I'll soon be able to share some news about exactly what I will be doing from next month. All I can say at this point is that I will be moving back to Cape Town. My new ministry will involve work with both Churches and other groups of persons who are seeking to bring about social transformation and spiritual renewal. I will do quite a bit of international travel, have a bit more time to do research and write, and will work with various denominations and Church groupings.

Calling is a complex phenomenon - this is my 17th year as Methodist minister and my 5th year as a full time scholar and the Dean of the Church's seminary, John Wesley College. In these 17 years I have experienced incredible blessing, joy, and fulfillment in serving Christ in the Methodist Church. However, I have become increasingly aware that my primary calling is not to train persons for ministry - it is wonderful to be able to influence change and shape the lives of servants in the Church, but it does seem to remove me from the 'coal face' of mission and evangelism by just one step! Moreover, while I enjoy the challenges and rigours of academic life; research, conferences, teaching, supervision, and writing, these are not the primary avenues in which I believe God is calling me to spend my energies and efforts. I will continue to teach and supervise students in their senior degrees (Masters and Doctorates), and I will still engage in research and academic writing, but I will do it out of choice, not as a requirement for my job.

Those who are close to me will know that I have spoken of moving into a new avenue of ministry that will bring me closer to using my influence, gifts, passions, and abilities to bring about healing and transformation on a much wider scale. Just such an option was presented to me some years ago, and arose again at the end of last year. I am so excited about the new possibilities and prospects!

So, please pray for me, I long simply to be obedient and to spend my life doing what I can do most effectively to bring about God's will, to God's glory, here on earth.