YOUNG LEADERS.

You don't have to trawl too deeply through the Bible to find out that as well as using some extremely elderly characters to serve Him, God also uses young people. Think David the shepherd boy, Mary the teenage mother of Jesus, Joseph and his multicoloured coat, Jeremiah saying he'd never be a good speaker, Esther risking her life for her nation, the young man Mark fleeing the scene of Jesus' arrest only to end up writing a gospel. I'm firmly committed to identifying, equipping, encouraging and releasing young people into Christian leadership in all its fullness, and this weekend is a good example. It's the time of year when we meet up with our young leaders from the Flames of Fire conference in the summer. Ignite runs the youth and young adult programme at the week, which for years has been Flames of Fire but from next year will be known as New Wine Cymru. Some of these leaders we know well and have been on our team for a few years, but a whole bunch this weekend are joining us for the first time- transitioning from being one of the 'crowd' to one of the leadership team. Including our own Ignite office team we'll have close to 30 people here for most of the weekend. We'll be giving them loads of input about leadership characteristics, expectations, attitude but most of all we'll be getting to know them and welcoming them to the world of leadership.