OK, they’re not wearing those skimpy red and yellow speedos.  Let’s be grateful for small mercies.  But these guys ARE lifesavers.  Three time a year we meet on the beautiful Studland peninsula.  We worship together.  We listen to God together.  We listen intently to each other, in turn.  Then we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit…   WOW.

There’s nothing quite like it.  Getting a group of godly guys together, none of whom would claim to have “arrived” (far from it), is a precious and unusual thing these days.  Intentionally planning a night away from family, friends, church and life-in-general, in order to pursue God, brings its own reward.   And SOME reward that is.

We take it in turns to share.  It’s a “no holds barred” sharing.   A real “get it all out on the carpet” sort of sharing.  And because we’re all pastors, we understand what it’s like.  Pastoring a church, that is.   Some of us have just started, others have been doing it for half-a-century.  But that’s OK.  Those older bring the gravitas of experience and wisdom gleaned over the years.   The younger ones bring energy, vitality and enthusiasm…  not that the older geezers don’t have these much-needed qualities, because they do.  It’s nigh on impossible to pastor a church effectively if your heart’s not in it.

They’re a prophetic bunch.   That’s PROPHETIC, just to be clear.   When any one of them speaks, you tend to sit up and listen.  It’s not them, you see.  It’s most likely the Big Guy upstairs.  And he has a way of speaking very directly.  And, even when it’s hard, it’s still good.  He has nothing but good for us.  He’s the one continually “plotting for our joy” as one writer puts it.

Men aren’t great at sharing.   OK, they can share the footie results, and give an opinion on Brexit (whether you ask for it or not), but generally speaking they’re not good at opening up.   Women are.  They do it without even thinking about it.  I sometimes think my wife’s hairdresser knows more about her than I do.  I’ll have to have a chat to Russell sometime and make sure I’m on the same page.   Having said all this, when Christian men determine to be accountable to one another, and covenant to be truthful – even brutally honest – with on another, something very special indeed happens.  God speaks.  And there’s nothing better.