I’m just thinking, what am I doing here trying to catch a line to find a hook for a talk. Oh I remember, the phone rang about six months ago. “Will you come and speak at our Presbytery Retreat”, I said, “yes”. Now its 12.30pm and later today I’ll be speaking to a group of fellow ministers. Can I say from the outset, this is a very dodgy thing to do. Ministers are not easy to talk to. As I drink another cup of coffee and I’m trying to put together a talk about “keeping fresh in ministry”

The truth is, I feel a bit of a hypocrite. I”m falling asleep talking about keeping fresh.
I know what! I’m going to talk later on this morning about the importance of “staying power”, yes that’s it.

In this job we call ministry, it is so easy to become disheartened. Let me give you an example. I’ve been anxious to see more young people in Bo’ness find faith. We’re in an interesting situation we have literally loads of young people coming in and around the church most days. Yet when it comes to seeing young people at worship the numbers are pretty low. I’ve been trying to set up a Youth Alpha, and I’ve had no luck in getting punters to attend.( Youth Alpha is Christian faith explained in 10 easy lessons), Sunday last was my fourth attempt. They all said they would come and guess what only one turned up. But you know what, I’m not going to give up. Next Sunday at 1.30pm I’m back again. And do you know something else, I’m also getting ready to throw my net in again and start fishing from the other side of the boat. I’m told it worked the last time.

So I’m going to rely on what I know best tomorrow. Sing them a song, read a verse from scripture and show them a clip from a movie and leave the rest to God.