I tried to think of a pithy or clever way to begin this most recent blog, but this clumsy sentence was the only start that came to mind. At times I can sit for some minutes searching for inspiration to begin my missives, when maybe it's just best to begin and see where the words take us. These last few months have been exciting and adventurous. The last weekend in June our School of Transformation students and staff struck out for Scotland and the short term outreach. In a week full of pouring rain, the skies cleared for our evening barbecue/youth outreach. Unfortunately we arrived late due to train delays; 3 hours on a train waiting for flood waters to be cleared from the tracks made for an interesting journey.
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| Boredom Busting on the train |
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| Scotland is known for being rainy |
Our School of Transformation students did brilliantly, and we were able to make meaningful connections with many of the people we prayed for in Musselburgh. One of the men we prayed with had been away from church for a while, and we were able to encourage him to make church a priority again. The interaction touched me, and it was bittersweet to see the 7 students graduate in July. Now we have 8 new students. Their class started 8 September, and I'm looking forward to getting to know, instruct, serve, and learn from a new batch of world changers!
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| World Changers Pt 1 |
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| World Changers Pt 2 |
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| The view from the Olympic Beach Volleyball Stadium |
World changers would definitely describe the church planters that gathered in Colorado in July for the International Conference. As I heard stories of the moves of God that are happening all over the world, I was so touched and proud to be part of SLNI and AMI. We now have 65 church plants in 25 countries! Thanks to everyone who gave to help make it a reality. And a bonus was that the conference was in Colorado, so I was able to see some of my family and friends. God really is at work all over the world. Please keep praying for the labourers for the harvest is plentiful! That's what we're declaring every morning here. We've seen 4 people pray to invite Jesus into their lives in the last two weeks!
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| Gotta love the Colorado sky! |
Fourteen kids came to our children's holiday club. On Your Marks, get set, freeze. That was our attention grabber for the club which ran in August. Of the 14 kids, 7 were from outside the church and one didn't yet know Jesus. Please pray for Jasmine's life to continue to be touched by lovers of Jesus. Three even came from the school where we did the assembly. We had a great time learning a little about what it means to be on God's team. The kids had a little bit of fun too ;). We told stories of amazing faith, tossed water balloons around in the wind, ran relay races and prayed for the children. One of the boys who came was the son of a woman I met whilst treasure hunting last year! I couldn't have done it without 8 marvellous volunteers either.
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| On Your Marks kids and helpers |
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| Water Bomb Fun |
ACC Sheffield has been blessed with 6 volunteers for the next 6 months. A SERVE team has come to help with our Snowdrop Project that is addressing a gap in services to people who have been trafficked and to disciple local youth. We're excited to have them join us! Finally, one of the new training school students is our very own Izzy. She went to Uni in Sheffield and took a gap year to serve youth in her hometown of Walsall. Now she's back, and she wants to help with the children's ministry! Incredible blessing all over the place, both from all of you for your prayers and support and from the people here. I'll end with a word that one of our children heard from God two weeks ago. She saw a picture of a seagull having difficulty taking off in a storm, but landing safely on a beach. The interpretation: God doesn't always promise us a smooth take-off, but He does promise us a safe landing. May God bless and keep you all!
