This Sunday, we had the opportunity to teach in a church service for the first time in a year and a half. We are in Anaheim, California, visiting family for a few weeks and were so privileged to be invited to share what we believed God had on His heart for their community. A few people have asked us whether or not we found it strange to be doing this again after a fairly long break from this kind of environment, but I have to say, for me (Neil), it wasn’t strange at all. I’m sure, like any other thing you’ve had a break from, it was a little rusty in places, but it just felt like so much fun to do.

Since we left our jobs as pastors, people have often asked whether I miss teaching and leading rooms like we did on Sunday. My answer isn’t always super clear-cut. On one hand, it has always been something that I enjoy, but what I enjoy is being in a position where the Lord has positioned me to deliver something that He has given me to say to a community. The act of teaching in rooms like this in itself is not the thing I enjoy, but when the Lord has positioned me in a place to teach with His instruction, I absolutely love it. There have been occasions, especially when I was younger, where I have taught and perhaps not felt His voice on that moment (the problem was on my end not His)—teaching is not a joy in those situations. The other reason teaching this weekend wasn’t strange is that teaching for me is not an act as much as it is a calling, so even though I haven’t been in front of rooms of people a lot in the past while, I have been teaching, writing, and discussing in all sorts of situations (whether the people in those situations were expecting it or not – sorry peeps 😂). Therefore, Sunday was just a different environment where God placed us to do what we have already been doing.

I guess the thing that did catch me out on Sunday was talking with people after the service about how what we had shared had spoken to them or met with their story. This is something that doesn’t happen at a friend’s house or coffee meeting! People were so kind, and it was so encouraging to hear how the message had spoken to them, but I had forgotten how processing what the Lord was doing through each individual listening to the teaching afterwards was a whole other thing in and of itself. I heard some of the most wonderful and heartbreaking stories of incredible people who are pushing into Jesus, and when I came home, I felt the tiredness of those conversations – it was a really good tiredness, but a tiredness nonetheless. I guess if I’m to do this stuff more again, I’ll have to work on my stamina 😂.

Anyway, enough blethering (if you’re not from Ireland that just means “enough chatting’). I’ve posted the video of the talk below. You can hear the whole service, including worship, here, or you can just watch the teaching section in the embedded video below.