I'll Be Home for Christmas

Michael Joseph Meets Emma Grace

Only 37 days until Christmas, when did that happen? This past week I celebrated 6 years in Sheffield. And 6 years on the job means I'm up for my second furlough/sabbatical/refuel. I'll be back in the States from Christmas to March. It's coming up fast. I'm looking forward to Christmas with my new niece Emma Grace and New Year's with my new nephew. He's due to come on Christmas. I'm getting ready to purchase my plane tickets, but need your help.

The cost of the plane tickets are about $2000. Do you have some frequent flyer miles that they're not using? I have miles on Delta and United that I can use for some legs of the journey, but still need help with two other flights. If you have some or would like to donate towards the cost of the plane tickets, could you send me an email by 22 November? That's when I need to purchase the first set of tickets. 

Brainwave aka Jon

My plan for my furlough time is to spend Christmas in Alabama, New Year's in NYC, then the last weeks of January I'll be in Texas, the first three weeks of February I'll be in Colorado, finishing off with some rest time in Alaska. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you when I'm back. 

Cooking Curry at Springfield Primary

Meanwhile here in Sheffield, we recently hosted our third holiday club. 'Mega Makers!' was a hit. The club had an invention theme and explored the life of Jesus based on Ephesians 3:18 - how the message of Jesus went wider and wider, how His power was stronger and stronger, and His love and message will go on forever and ever. Twenty-three kids came to the club and 13 from outside the church, which is great since we really wanted to see kids come from the community this time. Some kids came through my connection with the local primary school where I also recently got to cook curry with the Year 5s. 

The Mega Machine

Mega Makers! Song Time

ROBOT!

Numerous volunteers came together to make the week and the concluding Family Service a success. I was overwhelmed by the time that people gave to make props for the week, to bake snacks for the kids, and to invest in the children of the neighbourhood and the church. At the Family Service we looked at Jesus healing Jairus' daughter. Then the kids got a chance to pray for healing. It was our second Family Service and a lot of fun. It's great to worship and learn with the kids.

Building Blocks

Interactive Snacks

I get a chance to worship with the kids again at the upcoming Carol Service. One of the mums who is a dancer and I are choreographing with some of the little girls from the church. It has been fun to be creative in that way again and is my hope that the music and dancing will speak to people in a way that words cannot. We've had so many visitors come to church this autumn that we expect a record number at the Carol Service. 

A Toolshed

Please keep our upcoming Carol Service and all the logistics that need to happen to cover my jobs whilst I'm away in your prayers. Bonfire Night has passed by, but Thanksgiving is on its way. I'm thankful for little babies Evelyn and Eva that were born in the church these last couple months. It seems like everyone is on an 'E' kick here. I'm also thankful for all your support over the past 6 years in prayer and financially. Thank you for supporting me and Antioch Kids.

Janette playing May Kamess

Elastic Eureka came to the Family Service

Around? the World in 30 Days

Autumn Glory at Fairbanks Botanical Gardens

The first days of autumn are generally so enjoyable, changing leaves, a crispness in the air and bright blue skies. I have an ever-reddening vine hanging down over the trees in my new back garden. It's a striking contrast in the view from my bedroom window, reds and greens and a fern growing in the crack of the red brick chimney. I love autumn. All the bright colours on display that are usually hidden beneath the green chlorophyll of summer.
 
I was thinking about that the other day as I was driving my niece to school. The golds and bronzes are always there; we're just not always aware of them.  That's just like a lot of things in life. We're not always aware of what's happening underneath the surface.

The Tour de France came to Sheffield

This summer I've been trying to figure out what God is doing underneath it all. I'm still processing, and maybe I will be for a while. We marked the one year anniversary of Steve and Mandy's death, and a documentary team came to get footage of Antioch in the UK. I think we realised that we hadn't really talked about Steve and Mandy in a while. It was good to hear how their lives had impacted the students here.

Our new tweens class, Ignition

When I was in Mozambique, I realised what a testimony this past year is. We lost Steve, Mandy and little Josiah, but we gained Andy, William and little Bella. So far, 3 lives for 3 deaths. Not that we count them as replacements, but give thanks that God is a restorer. Little Bella was born about a year after Josiah, healthy, happy and new life. She's the first of three new babies this year. The joy of new life. And Andy and William's lives could and will touch others. Their children will know Jesus. I don't take for granted the impact that knowing Jesus at a young age has for the rest of your life. Thanks Mum and Dad!

Laura's Boys at Zimpeto

Mozambique was a bit of a challenge. I want to be able to say that it was amazing. And going into the hospitals and praying for the sick and spending time with the beautiful wide eyed, bright smiling children was. But it was difficult, too. Going without a team is not recommended. Though God sent a team from Bradford, an hour and a half away from Sheffield, to adopt me. Antioch Sheffield has been working on discipleship and on making the Gospel super accessible to people, no Christianese or jargon. That wasn't really the Mozambican style. Which made me realise some things about myself, some underlying judgement and skepticism. But I was obedient and stepped out in faith. I'm sure I'll see more of the purpose for the trip in the coming months.

Family Service Action

Before I left for Maputo, we had our first Family Service. I loved it. The kids joined us for worship, dancing and doing actions and then we had an interactive sermon with stinky fish and bread. I was so proud of the kids for sitting through the service and joining in. One of the girls even knelt down during worship with no prompting, raising her hands as she imagined God breaking off any chains. My spirit was so touched by the act of surrender from a six year old. Our next Family Service will come at the end of our October Holiday Club, and I look forward to improving the experience and seeing more families added to the Kingdom.

As a church, we've also set aside one Friday night a month to pray and worship, to minister to Jesus with no expectations or agenda. Encounter has happened twice, and we're encouraged by the number of people attending and meeting with Jesus.

New Signs!

I'm encouraged to welcome Jon to the Antioch Kids' team as a worship leader. Jon is doing a worship school this year at another local church and interning with us as a worship leader. We're making plans to improve kids' worship and to create an environment for the kids to encounter the presence of God. Watch this space for more exciting news!

Tobias Dillon, What a Cutie

Many of you may have seen that I'm an auntie again. Little Tobias Dillon or Toby was born on 20 August. He had a little bit of a rough time coming into the world, but is healthy and sleeping well much to my sister's delight. I await the births of another nephew and niece or nephew before the end of the year. I should get to see them when I'm back on furlough this winter. Visiting Toby meant travelling to Alaska. It was a beautiful visit and reminded me a lot of the wildness of Colorado. Jen and Ben attend a great church with a heart for the nations. And, I even got to fly in a small plane (one of my dreams) above the Arctic Circle.

Auntie J Time

My Man Ian

So from Africa to Alaska, from Crookes to Hillsborough, this summer has been one of journeys. I continue to ask God for what's next while I do my best to remain faithful here in Sheffield. The church is doing great, and we've had loads of visitors this summer. I'll keep you posted soon with the details of my furlough/refuel. If you would like to help financially with the cost of plane tickets, see the link below. My new address is: 9 Hawksley Avenue, Sheffield S6 2BD United Kingdom.

Thank you for your prayers on this journey. I know I'm not alone and am so thankful for each one of you. 

Mozambique Bound; Prayers Appreciated

Hi friends, 

There have been a couple of surprises these past few months. I will send out a full update in a few weeks to go more into detail, but wanted to keep you apprised of a few important ones. First, my August schedule is less crazy than it was going to be. The plan at the beginning of July was, 3-16 August  - Mozambique, 21-25 August - Budapest, and 28 August-12 September - Alaska. God is wiser than we are. 

How you ask? Well, we were all set to go to Hungary, but God changed our plans. The team leaders just didn't feel peaceful about the time we were going, so now we've postponed the trip to next Spring. And it's a good thing because, I'm moving house the week I was supposed to be in Budapest. We are saying goodbye to Wesley Lane. My housemate Emma is moving to do a midwifery course, and our new housemate needed a place with lower rent. So, God-willing the references to go through, we'll move to Hillsborough on 20 August. 

Hillsborough is an area of town where many of our church members already live. Our new road dead ends onto Hillsborough Park, and the new house has a lovely garden. I'm very sad to say goodbye to Crookes and our flat. Can you believe I've lived here almost 4.5 years? I know God will pour out His blessings on us in our new house and neighbourhood. 

Vicki came to visit :)

And yes, if you go back a few paragraphs, you'll see that tomorrow I am in fact leaving for Maputo, Mozambique. I know I've shared that I've had a few prophetic words from people that God has more for me than what I've currently been doing. It's been a year since I've had those words and have been feeling a bit frustrated with my lack of figuring out 'the more.' So I was praying a few months back and asking the Lord for one thing that I could do and felt Him say, 'Heidi Baker, Mozambique.' So tomorrow evening I depart for a Maputo to serve at the Zimpeto Children's Centre, which is part of Iris Ministries. 

Serving might involve: street ministry, playing with the 250 children that live at the centre, praying at the local hospital for healing, spending a night in the bush, and ministering at the local dump. I'm nervous and excited to see what God will do in my time there. Would you please pray for me as I go and as I'm there? 

For: 

- Protection during my travels

- My luggage to arrive

- Health and energy

- God to work through me to really show His love to the children and people of Mozambique

- Me to hear God clearly about 'the more' or the next step

- Financial provision and trust in Him to provide when my bank account looks less healthy than I would like

- All to run smoothly back at Antioch Sheffield whilst I'm away

- Grace to return and do all the cleaning and packing and moving

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! I will have limited internet access, but if I can drop a line on Facebook, I will. 

J-x

I'm Still Here!

Hello friends,

When last I wrote, I shared a financial need with you. If you remember, I was needing $500 more a month to cover a shortfall. Praise the Lord that I've received 20% of that need! Please continue to pray with me for the rest of the support. I know God is faithful to provide. And if you know of anyone who might be interested in hearing about Sheffield, I would love to contact them or for you to forward this update to them. Thanks guys for your faithful and continued support in prayer and financially.

D-group at the Park

There's just been an exciting thunderstorm here in Sheffield. It's exciting because there was lightning. And thunder. Instead of just rain. Unexpected, which shouldn't be how you feel about receiving my updates. This latest blog has been consistently moved to the bottom of my to-do list over the past months. Some of that has been the busyness of travelling to Scotland for the European Regional Gathering, having a mission team here, planning a Hungarian-themed fundraiser, and the general craziness of April through June in our schedule. I hope you haven't missed me too much and to return to a regularly scheduled update for the rest of the year. So, my mission, should I choose to accept it, will be to catch you up on 6 months of activity in one short blog. Mission accepted!

Antioch Kids Ping Pong

In January, Antioch Sheffield moved to morning services, and we made some changes in the children's ministry to strengthen it. First, we've started a girls' discipleship group with our 5-8 year olds. Bex, who helps with Antioch Kids, has partnered with me to invest in the lives of 7 girls here in Sheffield. We've seen the girls 3 times now, and each time we are learning more about how to speak into their lives. I've also been sending out a testimony email called "Mission Control Log" to encourage parents and volunteers that God is moving in and through our children. And, we had the first official Antioch Kids training meeting with nearly every volunteer in attendance.

Dunk

Prayer Warriors :)

In May I had the privilege of baptising Eleanor, the 4th of May to be exact. (Apparently, it's Star Wars Sunday. May the 4th be with you ;)). It was so exciting, and I've already had discussions with some of the other children about baptism because of it. Additionally, one of the mums approached me about starting a new class for the 10-12 year-olds. We're calling it 'Ignition' in line with our space theme, and the older children are really enjoying going a bit more in-depth with the lessons. I've also been able to start helping with a Christian assembly at the primary school just up the road. The school is about 98% Muslim, so it's a great opportunity to share truth with the kids and invest in our local community.

Easter Bunnies?

A Tale of Two Chairs Easter Service

Outside of Antioch Kids, Antioch Sheffield had our first Easter outreach service specifically designed to be accessible to non-believers complete with an Easter egg hunt and games and the Gospel told using chairs. We had the biggest attendance we've ever had for Easter and 4 people gave their lives to Jesus! I think I should say that again, 4 people. It was super exciting to have new people in our building and to see them continue to come back, even those who don't yet know Jesus. We followed our Easter service with a trip to Scotland for the European Regional Gathering, a gathering of all the Antioch church plants in Europe. It was a refreshing and encouraging time by the sea. It was good to hear all that God is doing in Europe at this time, and we were happy to share our victories as a team and a church.

What else can I tell you? The LifeGroup that I help to lead has multiplied. I look forward to having more space for people to bring their friends and to seeing another multiplication. Plus, it just feels like a general sign of health and life in our small groups. We're the second group to multiply this year. What's more, we had a brilliant team from Christ Fellowship Fort Worth visit our city. The team of 6 Uni students and 5 leaders shared the good news and prayed for people as well as helping us to begin asking our neighbours about needs in the area. We were blessed to have them.

Chatsworth with the Fort Worth Team

I'll finish with one story from their time here. Each LifeGroup planned an outreach event  and then a few from the CF team came to help. One of our Antioch Kids wanted to write encouragements for the people in a local park. So she brought post-it notes and a group of kids wrote encouraging words and handed them out to everyone from the youth at the skate park to a couple having a tiff. They even invited people to church. One youth loved his encouragement written phonetically, 'You're grat.' Another woman was so blessed to be invited to church that she joined the girls and invited people to a church that she has never been to. Amazing!

Christ Fellowship Visits EMP

Thank you for reading this far, for your continued support and encouragement and your prayers. I have many things to look forward this year, including being an auntie again, our first family service, Impact Hungary, and more. I can hardly wait to share with you what's to come even though it hasn't happened yet.

As always,
Janette