I was weary of the typical staff retreat. It was frustrating to go away for two days and come back to a full week's work. It was irritating to have staff members' cell phones constantly ringing with news of emergencies, real and imagined. It was boring to simply expand the normal business of a weekly staff meeting into a two- or three-day marathon. It was time for a change.

So, I took our team to England for a week. As a Brit myself, I wanted our team to encounter some of the giants of church history as I had met them, to meet with Christians of another culture, and to spend seven days in uninterrupted team building.

This retreat exceeded my wildest expectations.

Strange and warmed

We visited John Wesley's house in London and noted the indentations in the floorboards of his closet, worn away by his knees from getting up at four each morning to pray. Charles Wesley's great hymn "And Can It Be?" took on new meaning as we sang it together in the Foundry Chapel. At John's grave we gave thanks ...