God Speaks - Words - Part 6

There has been quite a gap between this and the last entry, but I'd like to welcome you back to the latest part of a series that I'm calling "God Speaks..."
Over these nine entries, I want to look at some of the ways that God speaks to us (it's not an exhaustive list of course - I'm sure others can add to it!). Because He does speak.  All the time.

Because God is real, because He loves us and because He is good - He speaks.
Usually, it's us (mere people!) that fail to listen or maybe fail to understand that it was God speaking to us.
I want to share from my own life, as practical examples, some of the ways God has spoken to me.  In all, I want to briefly look at these nine ways that we hear from God:

Dreams (click here to read this section)
Visions & Pictures (click here to read this section)
Through Others (click here to read this section) 
Angels (click here to read this section)
Bible (click here to read this section)
Words
Small Still Voice
Burning Bush
Audible Voice

Personally, I've experienced six out of these nine ways listed - and as we go through the series, I'll make these clear how that happened.  So, here we go with the next part!

Part 6 - Words

What do I mean by words - of course, we all speak with 'words' - the language might change from country to country, but around the world, people use words to communicate.  We've touched on the written word in the last section - the Bible - the inspired, written word of God (inspired through the Holy Spirit, written by people at the time of the events, often eyewitnesses, or soon after the events).  We'll cover words through audible means later.
In this section I want to look at what the Bible calls words - of knowledge, of wisdom....the list goes on.

You see, even in this 21st Century world we live in, God still speaks to us - more so than ever!  More people on the planet, means more people who God desires to have relationship with and therefore speak to.

This particular way of hearing from God, like all the others, can have a very instant impact.  Take a word of knowledge for healing, for example.  And this is something I've experienced first hand!

The Bible tells us we can do the things Jesus did.  It tells us to pray for sick people that they might recover.  It also talks about words of knowledge.  I've prayed for many people who are sick - I don't know the stats, but I know not all have got better straight away (far from it!).  But, I've also prayed for people following a word of knowledge, and in these cases, things work a whole lot differently.  People get healed.  Why this happens I do not really know.  Faith is certainly raised (though really, I guess, it shouldn't be - the Bible tells us sick people got better when Jesus laid hands on them, so really that should be enough).  Often, it isn't.
But, if I'm in a gathering of people, and God has highlighted something very specific to me (for example, arthritis in the left hip and moving down the left leg), and then someone happens to be there with that exact condition, why wouldn't God heal that person?  Does God need to brag that He can revel someones need and leave it at that? Is the faith raised in the sick person because they'd heard their condition mentioned?  Does the one praying, who has seen someone respond, feel more confident in their praying?  Well to answer these - God doesn't need to brag and yes, faith is raised for sure!

The above example actually happened when I visited a church in the Peak District many years ago.....even as I was sharing what God said to me, a lady behind me (she was singing in the worship band) shouted 'yes' with real joy - three people in fact responded to the call for healing from arthritis, though I prayed with just the one person - the 'yes' lady who had been standing behind me.  She told me she'd been waiting 17 years for God to give someone a word for healing about this condition - that's a long time of suffering, and why she needed a specific word, I'm not sure.  I'm sure she got prayed for regularly, but today, of all days, God had picked her out.  And God healed her.  The report back that week (I was passed on the news) was that she was totally healed. Praise God!

Words aren't always about healing - there are words of prophecy too.  These are speaking words over people that release destiny, bring encouragement, emotional healing, love etc.  In other words, they build someone up.  If you are left discouraged, downtrodden, or beaten up after being told a 'prophetic' word, reject it.  Walk away.  True, not all words we want to hear, but even challenging words can be brought in the right way - too often, it's just someones own opinion (or frustration!) packaged in 'thus saith the Lord" - oh, and while we are at this, it's YOU that speaks - use normal language, and your normal voice.  God, believe it or not, doesn't speak with King James English in the 21st century.

Be careful about bringing words regarding the following area, unless you are 'seasoned' in the gift (even then, I'd still say be cautious) and with someone else too: Who someone will, or won't marry.  I guess you could add to that births and deaths.  There are some who I'm sure can, it's just a difficult thing to bring.  God can show the person who they'll marry just as easily as tell a stranger - if we think it relies on our words only, we have a too small of an understanding of our great big God!

I've been on the receiving end as well, many times.  A key phase for me was between the ages of 17-19.  As a 17 year old, I was picked out of a crowd of 2000 people by a gifted and recognised prophet in the UK - Gerald Coutes. He pin pointed some stuff in the present (stuff he couldn't have know but God) and then was very specific about stuff in the future - 17 years from then, in fact.  That was for when I was aged 34...(17 plus 17....but you can do the math...)  I turned 35 last Monday, so this is all very timely!
It was a lot for a 17 year old to take in whilst being very exciting - it was the first time such a direct and specific word had been spoken over me.  It opened me to the understanding that God actually speaks to individuals - it got me moving into this gifting too, but only after a second encounter.  You see, I walked away thinking "Wow, in 17 years time, things are really going to be happening for me....I can't wait to see what that will look like".  So I waited......
Flash forward nearly two years - I was now 19 and at my first Stoneleigh Bible Week, in the summer of 1999 (there were to be two further years before the two week event, which drew 25,000 each week, was finished in 2001).  I was in a 'seminar' with the theme being the supernatural.  A man named Andrew Davies (he would have been much younger than I am now, thinking about it!) was leading the meeting - and in a time of praying for people to step out in the gifting, shortly before I brought my first ever word over someone else, he came over to me.  He referred to the word from two years before (again, only God could have told him this - he'd never met me before, knew nothing of my history) and whilst affirming it, said God wanted me released in the here and now.  Wow.

I guess the last 13 years have been one adventure after another!

God speaks.  He wants to speak to you, to speak destiny, to show you his love and compassion.  He's desperate to speak to you, and for you to know him more.  Yes, people can misuse this gift, or make things up completely.  Let's not make the mistake of neglecting it altogether because of the potential danger, when the potential blessing goes way beyond anything this world has to offer.

Why not ask God to speak to you for someone else today - listen to what he would have you encourage them with and then go tell them!

Next up - The Small Still Voice

God Speaks - Bible - Part 5

Welcome to the latest part of a series that I'm calling "God Speaks..."

Over these nine entries, I want to look at some of the ways that God speaks to us (it's not an exhaustive list of course - I'm sure others can add to it!). Because He does speak.  All the time.
Because God is real, because He loves us and because He is good - He speaks.
Usually, it's us (mere people!) that fail to listen or maybe fail to understand that it was God speaking to us.
I want to share from my own life, as practical examples, some of the ways God has spoken to me.  In all, I want to briefly look at these nine ways that we hear from God:

Dreams (click here to read this section)
Visions & Pictures (click here to read this section)
Through Others (click here to read this section) 
Angels (click here to read this section)
Bible
Words
Small Still Voice
Burning Bush
Audible Voice

Personally, I've experienced six out of these nine ways listed - and as we go through the series, I'll make these clear how that happened.  So, here we go with the next part!

Part 5 - Bible

It's not just enough to say that the Bible is the word of God and therefore speaks to us.  Of course it does.  For me, that goes without saying.  But I'm saying more than that, which I'll get to in a moment.  
As a book, the Bible is fascinating, if you really give it the time to fully look into it.  True, for the beginner, it does seem like a challenge to even start to read - where to start? Many think, like with any novel, and start at the front - that's logical, and I certainly have done that.  Genesis and even Exodus are actually great story accounts covering huge periods of time - but by the time you get to the book of 1 Chronicles, you will almost certainly stop, if reading it like a book.  
One book.  And of course, in some ways, it is that - but it's also a collection of many books.
If you were reading it for the first time, I'd say to actually start much later on, in the New Testament, which is the smaller, second half of the book.  Read John's gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are the four gospels, and make up the first four books of the NT.  The book of John looks at the life and death of Jesus, the central character to the whole Bible.  And once you understand that, the Old Testament (OT) makes a lot more sense.  Yes, it's a whole collection of a lot of different books - but they all tell the same story - that soon, someone is coming!  Of course, we understand who that was from this side of history, but in the time these OT books were written (the last one was still 400 years before Jesus was born), they didn't know when it was about to happen.
Let me lay another thing to bed, which often gets said about the Bible, usually from people that haven't read it, or certainly understood it.  Having read the book cover to cover several times, and certain parts much more, the book holds together as a whole - it does not contradict itself, it is perfectly understandable, which is how it's meant to read. As a whole, it does communicate the same overall story - that a loving God, who loves us more than we can imagine, had to give his son to die for us, because nothing we could ever do could deal with the separation that existed between us and God - which the Bibles calls sin (which is an archery term for 'missing the mark').  If you fired an arrow, and it didn't hit the target, you'd shout 'sin' to notify people that you'd missed the mark.
When we do things that hurt others (not to mention hurting God) we sin - even when it doesn't hurt others, only ourselves, it is still sin.  God's plan for us is so amazing, that when we do what (only) our own hearts want, we miss the mark.
Anyway, back on to the subject.  What I meant by the above was that as a book the Bible is so much more than just ink on paper (or letters on a screen if you are reading your Bible on a tablet!)  Because it's inspired by God, it has the power to speak to us.

So how has it spoken to me?

I said I wanted to go beyond the basic fact that the Bible speaks to us in general.  One thing I don't go in for (though of course there are always stories where this worked!) is what I'd call 'Bible lottery' - this is where you say to God "OK, I need you to speak to me now, so I'm going to open up my Bible and see what you have for me" and then you just open it up, and point your finger randomly on a verse and take that as His answer.  I will literally now do this with my Bible, and then copy in the verse that it gives me (it will be funny if this turns out to be a really encouraging and timely word!)  Here goes;

Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

The above verse was from 2 Chronicles 1:6 and was literally where I pointed to once I'd opened, without looking, onto that page.  Unless I was really praying about how many offerings I should make (in which case, I think this would have been quite a challenging word!!) it really isn't much help.

What has helped, and has happened so much more frequently, is to regularly read the word of God, working through whole books, and therefore reading one or two chapters a day.  Within the normal, daily reading, it's been amazing how often the verses I've just happened to get up to for that day are exactly what I needed to hear.....more than just coincidence when it happens time and time again.  Is it that God knew, on that particular day in my life, that I'd get up to that particular chapter, and therefore inspired it to be written in such a way....

The other way (and combined with hearing God speak in another way - words - which is the subject of the next entry) where I've heard from God, is through getting a certain verse suddenly 'appear' in my mind.  This could be in a number of ways (everyone of us is different!).  Maybe some numbers appear, or the whole reference.  In my most bizarre example, it was a general sense - I had the book Luke and the numbers 1 and 3.  Now, this happened when I was in my late teens - still living at home, in the suburbs of London.  While not the city centre, it certainly is not the countryside.  Wildlife, while not completely invisible, is lets say, quite rare.  I had been praying about how and when God wanted to work with me.  About where I was headed.  I'd had words and desires about healing, and stepping forward in things.  God had spoken to me through others about the nations.  So I was seeking God on this particular evening (it wasn't late), worshiping with some music playing, when I felt the Luke reference and the numbers.  I turned to Luke 13 (which seemed to make sense) and started reading.  I kept reading - and later on, this is exactly as it happened....
When I got to verse 31 (those two numbers again!), whilst reading in my head, outside there was a noise.  And as the words of that verse were going through my head, my brain was obviously processing what it was hearing.  As I finished verse 31, about to start verse 32, my mind caught up and told me that the noise outside was a fox. Instantly, I read this in the following verse:

He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’

It was the encouragement I needed for that moment.  What was funny, and totally without my choosing, was whilst playing hockey in England, for my Cheshire based team, my two shirt numbers were first 13, then 31....It's as if God was reminding me of what He'd spoken to me that day, as I made the move to Manchester, and ahead of future moves overseas.

A few years before that, I also found great encouragement as I was just starting to process the call to the Russian speaking world, with that map of Asia that appeared before my eyes, when reading the book written for me....As a Tim (which is short for Timothy) the book 2 Timothy I always take to be To Timothy.  Paul starts the letter:

To Timothy, my dear son.

I like that truth!  It was particular gripping when later in chapter 1 it said:

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me

Here I was, processing that same calling, reading that the people God had called me to for salvation, again were listed here as having deserted God!  I identify a lot with 'young' Timothy, and though not as young now as I once was, always took encouragement from Paul's letters to that young leader.

So, how has the Bible spoken to you?  Maybe you are new to it - I encourage you, to talk with someone about it, maybe read it with someone from time to time that can explain what is coming up.  If you are stuck with where to start, read John, or read Luke and then Acts.  Both those two books were written by a doctor named Luke, and give an account firstly of the life of Jesus, and then following his resurrection, the life of the early church.  It's a fascinating adventure story - but better than that, it's true!  And years later, it's as true and helpful today as it's ever been!

Thanks for reading - this series will continue next with how God speaks through Words.

God Speaks - Through Others - Part 3

Welcome to the third part of a new series that I'm calling "God Speaks..."
Over these nine entries, I want to look at some of the ways that God speaks to us (it's not an exhaustive list of course - I'm sure others can add to it!). Because He does speak.  All the time.
Because God is real, because He loves us and because He is good - He speaks.
Usually, it's us (mere people!) that fail to listen or maybe fail to understand that it was God speaking to us.
I want to share from my own life, as practical examples, some of the ways God has spoken to me.  In all, I want to briefly look at these nine ways that we hear from God:

Dreams (click here to read this section)
Visions & Pictures (click here to read this section)
Through Others
Angels
Bible
Words
Small Still Voice
Burning Bush
Audible Voice

Personally, I've experienced six out of these nine ways listed - and as we go through the series, I'll make these clear how that happened.  So, here we go with the next part!

Part 3 - Through Others

God puts people around us because he knows it's not good for 'mankind to be alone'.  He knows we need companionship, friendship and someone to talk to. Yes we need our own space, but we were made for relationship. And one of the key reasons why is that God will often speak to us through those that are around us.  Sometimes in a not so obvious way - at least to the other person. Sometimes directly through the other person.  So in this post, I want to look at the vital role that someone else plays in hearing God for you.

Acts 13

13  Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Whatever the channel, it's God who speaks to us, through the Holy Spirit.  We  know that, of course.  In the passage above from Acts, it's in a group setting (though Barnabus and Saul/Paul were also present) where God makes it known, through the group, that He wants these two men set apart for the work that He is calling them into.

From this, and from my own experience, we see two common principles at work - firstly, it's good for others to hear from God for us.  Secondly, it will confirm and fit with what we ourselves are feeling.

I would be very cautious if I was speaking with someone and they told me someone brought a word over them that cut across everything they felt or were doing, and didn't fit with anything else God has said about them - even contradicts it.  

Because of this (and I'm not saying the above situation cannot be God speaking!) I would go as far as to say, if this happens to you, you are well within your rights to note it (let's not treat prophecy with contempt) but shelve it, until maybe something further comes.  Ultimately, if it is God and you haven't gotten the message the first time round, He'll let you know again...and again.  He is God, after all.  If something comes from 'left field', and from a source you are not totally familiar with, you are right to weigh it carefully and wait on God.

But when something comes that confirms what God has said to you, or comes from three or more unrelated sources saying the same thing, then you had best get on with what God is saying to you!  

The golden rule for bringing words over others (and the same applies for you receiving them as well) is to ask - is it Encouraging, Comforting, Strengthening?  This is especially true for when you are just learning to grow in this gifting.  For that reason, don't look to bring directional words to early. What I mean by a direction word is anything about who someone will marry, maybe life moves or situations, dates etc.  You get the idea.

A recent example to highlight this was the three prophetic words that came out BEFORE October 3rd seemingly confirming that San Francisco was about to be destroyed by the worlds most powerful earthquake ever recorded. On the surface of things, it seemed they added up - three sources (check!) saying the same thing (check!) from reputedly seasoned people who'd had a proven track record (check!).

And yet it would seem the words were confirming a destructive, hate filled God was bringing his judgement and annihilation to Northern California as punishment for something.

But this doesn't sound like the loving God of the Bible that I personally know.

And so it proved.  Granted, had I been in San Francisco that day, having read what I read, I think I honestly would have found things to do somewhere else - say New York.  But chatting it through with a friend, who spent a lot of time in California and loves the city of San Francisco, he opened my eyes to the continued sense of words that seemingly confirm California is doomed, and yet contrasts that with the character of God.

Such a destructive word is neither encouraging, comforting nor strengthening!

In Tallinn, we're seeing the encouraging beginnings of a growing prophetic culture within the core team of the church plant.  Every time there is a visitor with us, we make time to pray for them, to bring prophetic words and speak God's blessing over them.  It's great hearing the guys and girls speaking words over people they don't know, but I do, and how spot on these words are!  This is what we love to do!

Two key words were spoken over me early on in my life, one confirming the other, with each having a very profound impact on me.  These were by Gerald Coates and Andrew Davies and if you click on their name you see a little as to why.
Both took the risk in bringing a word over a stranger.  Both actually dared to talk about times.  Interestingly enough, when Gerald brought his word over the then 17 year old young man I was, it was mainly about 17 years time from then - over the 34 year old self that now writes this post.  So I am particularly interested in why this year of all is any different from the rest.  I guess we wait and see!
Crucially, both were encouraging and very shaping.  They brought release and growth, as well as a personal awareness of God himself working in me - He is after all the personal God!  What might have been a distant, far away 'relationship' was suddenly made powerfully alive and very personal.

And that is why God often speaks through others.  If this is not your experience, maybe you need to change churches.  If you can make it over to Tallinn, come and hang out with us one Sunday and let the team speak destiny into your life!

Poker, President and Planting

Among the random things that have happened to us over the last 5 years (and for those that have been following us during this time, there have been a number), one two minute conversation with Mia this last month was to provide yet another!
I'd read on Facebook a status from another Dad of a boy in Mia's class, and it said how his son had told him about meeting the President of Afghanistan during the day.  Now, it made me wonder; seeing as they were at school together, surely the same would be true with Mia.  Not wanting to put words in her mouth, I simply asked "Did anything unusual happen today at school, Mia?" to which she answered "No".  I then read her what I'd just seen to which she replied "Oh yes, we were going to PE today (they do this outside and need to walk through Freedom Square) and suddenly there were police cars and cameras and then we met the President".
And, I am pleased to say, a Canadian father who was also with the children at the time, managed to record the whole event on his phone and has put it onto YouTube.  So here it is - Mia is wearing a pink knitted hat and is standing near the front.  You can hear her say she is 7 and a half and then later that she is from England.....they were clearly very excited to be involved in this!



And I guess, for Mia, maybe this is just normal life?  You go to PE, and you meet the President of a far away country.  Of course you do!

Gathering of like minded people
On 1st May (a national holiday here) we drove down to Võhma, which is in central Estonia (about 1 hour 45 minutes south of Tallinn).  We were going to the home of Simon and Heloise, an English family, who have lived in Estonia for around 9 years already.  They are planting a church in that small village.  With a house and garden, there was plenty of space for the children to play and for us all to sit around the fire and enjoy a BBQ together on a very warm and sunny day.  Arnoud and Elisabeth came down as well (breaking down on the way and needing to change cars!) as well as David Jones, and another Dutch lady, coming up from Smiltene in Latvia.
It was also great to be able to enjoy some of the beautiful countryside that there is in Estonia as we drove south.  Dotted along the roadside were lots of nesting cranes, and we were also passed overhead by literally thousands of returning migratory geese - a sure sign that winter, and the cold weather, has finally gone!  The only scary thing was helping Arnoud tow their broken car for part of the way back - something I haven't done before and am not in a rush to do again!
This coming Friday, I am also going to attend a local two day church planting conference here in Tallinn.  It's been organised by an American guy, also planting a church here (the same dad from Mia's class who I referred to above) and there are speakers coming from far and wide.  I trust it will be a relational thing more than anything, and any setting that is encouraging church planting in the most unreached part of Europe, is a good thing in my book!

Focused men and women events
Last weekend we tried something a little different with our weekly gatherings.  On the Saturday night, I hosted a Poker night at our home - where we gathered six guys together (from three continents).  For one guy it was the first time I'd met him.  It seemed to be a great success.  There were a number of guys who were unable to come - it was the Mother's Day weekend so many were away on family duty - so in future it is something I'd love to do again.  And to put you all at ease, we only played for chips!  There was no money at all involved, as the idea was to have fun together and not to gamble!
And on the Sunday (Mothers Day in Estonia) Rachel hosted a Spa event at a local place that could be privately hired, and there were 8 women in total (the maximum allowed) who enjoyed two hours of relaxation - which they all deserve, after all! There was a good mix of nationalities including Estonians and Russians.
So it's shown us the potential, and success, of a different kind of event, which we will look at doing again at various points in the future.

God places you where He most needs you to be
We have learnt a lot about the darker side to Tallinn and Estonia these last few weeks as well.  In regards to the horrible reality of human trafficking, Rachel has been able to meet up with the lady from a local project, looking to help the victims of this industry.
And what she learnt has really made us aware that God has placed us exactly where we are living for a very good reason!  Firstly, outside of Africa, Estonia is the next highest problem area for human trafficking.  Because of Tallinn's ease of access into Western Europe, Tallinn itself is a hub for it.  And Rachel learnt that while a popular street on the edge of the Old Town is where these ladies work for the tourists, for the 'local' market the focal point is a lot nearer home to us - literally a few hundred meters from where we live; (the home God found for us and put us in!)  Ironically, it's also near to the main police station in Tallinn, which we can see from our kitchen window. This industry has links with the Estonian mafia, and though the police are nearby, they are unable to do much about it - with some suggestion of corruption with mafia payoffs.
We pass this place every day.  Our prayer walking always included this area too, and now, it seems, nearly 10 months after moving into our miracle home, we can see why God was so specific about placing us here.  And we are going to pray for God to radically change that area for His glory and free these women, who are trapped in this.
So please pray for real wisdom and protection in this. 

Church Weekend (UK) and the start of visitors coming
Next Wednesday, we make a brief flying visit back to the UK to be part of the Stockport Family Church weekend away.  The weekend runs from the Friday to the Bank Holiday Monday and we are really looking forward to connecting with everyone there, for sharing some news during one of the main sessions, and for just meeting new people as well.  For Mia and Anya, it gives them a chance to make new friends and hang out with old friends (in Mia's case, anyway!).
And when we come home to Tallinn, the first of our summer church plant visitors would have already arrived - Wei-Jin from Cambridge, UK.  Please pray that he has a great time in Tallinn and that God confirms what He has spoken over his life and his involvement with us in Tallinn.

Family news
Anya was unwell for about a two week period, but got better properly before last weekend, and has gone back to kindergarten this week.  She is doing well there, making friends, and is herself very happy to be better!
Mia continues to be a very busy little girl - with lots of school work, party invitations and ballet performances, it's a challenge to fit everything in!  She breaks up for summer on 6th June, so finally things might slow down a little for her.  Last Sunday, she was performing in a huge Ballet Gala the other side of the country!  We were unable to go with her for several reasons, so she left home at around 7:30am and then was dropped back on the dot of midnight!  She was at school the next day!  
Dancing continues to be something she loves to do, and it helps that she has an Estonian/Russian friend to do it with.  Being in the UK next week, she will miss her school's end of year Ball, they've been learning to ball room dance in her class! 
Rachel continues to teach a number of children from Mia's class, helping them out with their English.  This has made the week really busy, and often she doesn't get home until after the girls have got into bed.  It will change a little through the summer though, with the few that are continuing able to hopefully have classes at better times for us! This has provided good connections with families from Mia's class.
I am continuing to push doors with the new business venture.  I traveled down to Tartu last week for two meetings, one with the teachers at the International School there, and then again with the parents in the evening.  I'm yet to have any confirmed business, which isn't through want of trying, but I still have faith that this is something God has opened up so will keep pushing!  Health wise, I still have a little pain in my leg (usually first thing in the morning) and some general discomfort, but have finished my treatments now, as it is felt my exercises/stretches that I need to do every day, should bring about total recovery.

OK, that's enough for now!  Who know's what will happen over the next month!  Especially with Mia and her interesting final few school days! Thanks for listening and all your prayers and encouragement.

Tallinn Update - The Praise God Issue

Wow - it's been a massive few weeks with much answered prayer - I'm still walking with a limp, so that's something we'll keep praying into, but to bring you up to date on what else is happening, here we go:

Anya has a kindergarten place!
The waiting lists for kindergartens (nursery for our UK friends) are long in Tallinn - when we finally found out Anya's position on the list of our local choice, we knew the waiting would be long - she was number 306 on the list (bearing in mind each year there are about 30 places freed up per kindergarten!)  As most families have their children down for three kindergartens, even if the list jumped down by 60 each year as places are filled, we'd be looking at years rather than months.
Well, not long after Anya started praying herself about a place, with her parents fully away of the issues with that, Rachel got a call.  Another local kindergarten was opening a new class - and though the rest of the place was Russian, the new class would be Estonian.  We went there that same day (a week last Thursday), and because of the Russian element, could speak with the Director and understand everything.  The kindergarten we did have Anya on the list for was all Estonian (we want Anya to learn Estonian).  The issue for us would be communication with the teachers.  
Well, praise God, that is not an issue with this one.  We were told there are places, were given a form, and having handed that in, have been told she has a place - and can actually start next week!  We have a parents evening on Friday afternoon there, and we think we'll start Anya there on Friday, March 1st! (Got so delayed in sending this out that we've had the parents evening - which was all in Estonian so we didn't understand a word!  Thankfully afterwards, with a mixture of a little English and some Russian, we found out what we needed to know).  And Anya will be starting this coming Friday!
This is a major answer to prayer - and also a small milestone for us, as our 'baby' starts in her very own kindergarten, which will be totally in Estonian.  What's funny, thinking about how far we've come in this last 4 and a half years, is that at the parents evening, they will be doing it in Estonian and translating it into Russian for our benefit! (Erm, well, as you can see, this is what we had been told would happen :-))

Estonian Lessons
What's also new this year, and so far slipped through the net in regards us sharing with folks, is that Rachel and I have started proper Estonian lessons with a local teacher.  These are happening every week now, for about the last 5 weeks.  Progress is encouraging, and is supplimented by other online courses.  There has been some advantage having learnt Russian - with some natural overlap as well as grammar similarities, as well as the process of learning a language.  That said, Estonian is a whole nother level in difficulty, so we have a very long way to go.  With life getting busier by the week, we didn't want to get to the stage where language learning has not progressed enough to be able to speak Estonian with Estonian's in five years time (or maybe make that ten years!)

Business Links
They say that Estonia is in the top twenty places in all the world for ease of doing business.  And having had a week where in six days I literally went from not knowing the process at all, to signing the papers founding the company at the notary, I have to agree.  I have since been told I did it the longer way - it could have been done in minutes through my ID card.  Oh well, maybe next time...
Now obviously there is a long way to go before the business is actually doing anything - even longer before I can take any, if any, money from it.  The first option for that, should the case exist, would be well into 2015 when the annual reports first need to be published.
But what it has done now is open relational doors for me.  Just being in business has allowed me to meet with a number of people - Mia's school Director, the Director of the British Council in Estonia as well as a businessman parent of one of Mia's classmates, who was amazingly helpful to me in the process, even coming as my translator at the notary.  I'm due to meet with another dad next week sometime again because of the business.
So please pray for God's hand to be on me as I press on with this business idea.  If you want to know what the business is, it's called Tim Heath Language Agency OÜ and you can find the website here.

Team Growth...?
One of our fervent prayers over the last two weeks has been in relation to labourers in God's harvest field here in Tallinn.  We've been praying about a number of giftings which we need to join us.
And this week, we've had some great encouragements along those lines, though it is too early to say exact details for sure, but here is something in general.
I chatted for a long time on Skype with an young Estonian/American couple.  They are super gifted people and prophesied some spot on stuff over me even during our 90 minute chat!  Over the last 10 days (ha, sense the timing 'coincidence here') they have suddenly felt that their immediate future is not to be in the USA but back in Tallinn, where the wife is from.  So it's highly possible that they will move to Tallinn this Autumn and join the church plant team!
That alone would be a fab answer to prayer, and we pray it's just the start of people hearing the call to join us.
Later that same day, an English young lady who I'd met with on her last trip to Tallinn in October, wrote to me and stated that she is seriously looking at options to come to Tallinn this summer, and when asked, she confirmed it would be to join the church plant.  She has a real heart for children.
So we are encouraged in our praying and will pray all the more!  But praise God for these folks already.
A Russian girl from Hope Church in St Petersburg, who has always had the desire to join us, also commented that she is looking into a study option that would potentially allow her to join us this summer too.
And finally, another young guy who is based in the UK is making a three week trip to Tallinn in May/June with the view to moving here as well at some point (I guess on the back of how successful the visit goes!) to join the church plant.
God is the God who answers prayer.  And we know this is just the beginning.  The Tallinn church plant will also be getting some profile coverage at this years Mobilise conference in April and the Catalyst Festival in May.
So if you are going to either of these, be sure to listen out for the church plant there.

Continuing to Gather
As a church plant we are continuing to gather together every week.  At our meal event last Sunday, we had seven different countries represented, including our first Iranian visitor!  It was a great success.
We've also been continuing to build strong friendships with the other churches in Tallinn.  Before the meal on Sunday we were able to visit a church called Praise Chapel, having got to know the couple leading the church well over this last year.  They have also asked me to speak at their church on Easter Sunday, which is a great honour and something I am really looking forward to.

Estonian Indepence Day
Having not got round to publishing this update until now, we can share about the celebration of Estonia's 95th Anniversary of their original independence from 1918.  In Freedom Square, which has a permanent memorial to this event, there were over 1100 troops marching, followed by a convoy of military vehicles and then a fly-by of various aeroplanes, helicopters and fighter jets.
It was the final festival that we had yet to celebrate, and maybe Estonian's most precious.  This coming Friday marks our own year anniversary since moving to Tallinn. 
One big festival that we are yet to see, which only happens every five years in Tallinn and is happening in summer 2014, is the Song Festival, which gathers around 100,000 people and, on the worlds biggest stage area, has up to 15,000 singers at some points.  So we look forward to experiencing that, in time.  Before that, we have a lot more adventures to have!
Thanks for reading.  We love your comments and emails, but even without them, we know that many people are praying with us for breakthrough in this most spiritually needy country.

Tallinn Update: The Gathering Phase

The weeks have raced by already and so much has happened!  Like I've said many times, when the most is happening, you tend to have the least time to share about it with others!  
And that's part of church plant life, and life in a new culture really.  Sometimes you are on top of things - other times (which seem like the majority, especially in the first year) you are just taken along by life, doing what needs to be done, going from one place to the next....


It's now September.  School has started.  This happened on the 1st September, which like in Russia, is the start of the school year, and even though that was a Saturday this year, that didn't change things!  
In the short video you can see Mia being called up, where she received her Estonian language school book and her cap...she was just a little nervous, she told us after!
She then had her first lesson, which gave us time to meet some parents.  September 1st was also our 11th wedding anniversary, but like the previous four years, it does get a little swallowed by school (oh, and the fact that September 2nd is also Mia's birthday!).  We actually went back to the home of one of Mia's class mates after the events on Saturday.  They are an American family, very new to Tallinn, and also here to church plant.  You can see four more photo's from Mia's first day, including her answer to prayer uniform, by clicking here.

As mentioned in my last post, we had a few days exploring some of Estonia in August.  One day we went about 45km west along a coastal area that has stunning cliffs (picture 1), beaches (5) and a waterfall (2), as well as stumbling across a great Spa hotel that just happened to be on 'Happy Hour' at the time we arrived, which meant we could go swimming for half the price!  I couldn't help notice the conference facilities (that could host more than 400 people) and think "One day, we'll fill this..."

We also went a little east of Tallinn on another day and found (we think) the highest waterfall in Estonia, that actually freezes in winter (Pictures 3 & 4).

We also had Kev Jones over for the day from Helsinki.  Kev and his family had been in the Finnish capital for the month of August getting to know the place.  They are now aiming to move there permanently sometime in Spring 2013 to plant a church.  As well as being a prophetic call over Hope Church in St Petersburg, personally the nearby capital cities were part of what God impressed upon me when He spoke about us moving to Tallinn

So it's on the back of the prophetic that I've been building relationships, with the view to encouraging what God is about to do in these nearby cities.
So it was a great day showing Kev around, talking about how things have gone for us here, praying together.  We are excited to see what happens through them all in Helsinki in the years to come.

We also had Dave & Hannah Henson with us for a long weekend, actually arriving the day after Kev Jones was here (which was then followed by our friends Chip & Helen with their two children arriving on the plane the Henson's flew back on!).  
Dave's mobility issues following the serious back operation he'd had, meant we did less rushing around and more talking about things, which was also a real blessing.
Gathering together on the Sunday afternoon with those already involved, it was great to be released into this season of gathering others.  Taking the lead from Jesus, who gathered and taught to crowds before calling out from those same crowds his disciples, we are now setting out to do the same, with a emphasis on gathering, and not a 'religious' meeting.  So using meals (Taste the Nations starts this Sunday!) twice a month plus another gathering event (eg we played volleyball last week), we'll end the month with a Vision Sunday, which will give some teaching and come back to the big thing we are called to.  
Midweek we'll be praying together (with the first prayer meeting happening tonight!).

Elena arrived at ours early on Sunday morning from St Petersburg - she is looking to join the church plant and is here finding out about a job - she should hear today so please pray that something comes through.  She doesn't yet speak English (she will work in a Russian kindergarten) but has a great heart for Tallinn.

The Gathering Season - so with thoughts of this new season fresh in our mind, we hit the busy school weekend and new school week, and have been struck by how many people we are meeting!  Rachel especially, who has been picking Mia up, has had some great conversations at the school with a number of parents.  There are about two or three international and Estonian families who have expressed an interest in church.   
At our local bus stop as well, she met another mum with her daughter.  Mia pointed out she was wearing the same uniform, so Mia showed the girl her logo and they became friends just like that.  This girl has started in the other class in her year (there are two classes each year that take children from 7 years old all the way up to graduation age!).  This is a Russian speaking girl and mother, and having met them again today (Mia holding hands with this girl and chatting away in Russian) they are already talking about taking it in turns to take the girls in.
Jesus said "Put down your nets" and in just doing so, the act of obedience, they caught a great catch.  And so it seems, just positioning ourselves to start gathering, God is already gathering people to be caught up in the crowd, from which a church will emerge.....it's going to be an exciting season.

 It has been an intense week already, even if it's only Wednesday.  Getting Mia ready for school (which included an evening of double covering all her books!) we've had to very quickly work out what we need to do.  
With Estonia being a very cyber country, it means the school has it's own e-school, where as parents we need to register and once signed in it shows us homework for Mia, the teacher sends us messages as well as getting other notifications.
There is also the contact information for all the other parents and access to enroll in after school clubs and sports.   
The academic day is relatively short at the moment, with Mia's latest class finishing at around two, but yesterday, having done her swimming and ballet trial, she didn't leave until gone 5 - needless to say, both Mia and Anya, not to mention Rachel, have been very tired!

Please pray for them - Mia does love school now (despite the tears on Monday morning stating she didn't want to leave us - this was contrasted by moans that same evening saying she wish she was still at school as she loved it so much!)  Anya has also been 'difficult' this week....but she is making great progress with her potty training.  It's impossible to know the effect all this change is having on their behaviour, and what is just bad behaviour!  Much grace needed at times - thankfully much grace is always available, when we remember to ask for it!

Much more to come soon!

Also coming up;
Church planting series - hear from friends around the world also planting churches (at various phases).  First up, Chris Taylor in The Hague, Holland.

Tallinn Summertime Update - Part 4

 Well it's been quite a time since the last update.  Nearly a week has passed now since we finished filming the Tallinn episode of House Hunters International, which is the most popular program on the American  Home & Garden network.  We can't say any more about this until after the show has aired in the US this Autumn - after that, I will do a special update talking about all things television!  Here the crew (all from the UK) are shown setting up in one of the three properties we visited.  It was a fun, tiring but worthwhile experience - we look forward to seeing what gets produced in the episode that will be shown to millions of Americans.
If it's not too embarrassing (it does have that potential!) then we might share the link to you all at some point - if you ask nicely...

Church Plant: What has been really exciting over these last two weeks, which could have got lost in all the excitement of filming and our car arriving (more on that below) was the first get together of the three families that are part of what will soon be the church plant!  We had a BBQ together and as well as there being 6 adults, there were another 6 children (five of which are girls!)  Already we are an international bunch - There's English, then there is a Dutch family who've moved to join the core team (Arnoud, pictured below on the left) and there's an American family who've just arrived for two years in Tallinn (Nathan, below right).  Elisabeth (Arnoud's wife and pictured at the table with their youngest, the one little boy at the moment in the church plant) and Laura (nearest camera) make up the rest.  And that's before a Russian girl moves to join us and before an Estonian girl (as yet praying about whether she'll be in Tallinn) might join us.

 The girls had a great time playing together - it wasn't quiet but it was fun!

We're starting to meet on Sunday afternoon's now we are all together and it's August already.  It's very relational during the summer - making the most of the outdoors and the sunny sandy beach!
Last Sunday (actually just two families) we went onto the beach, and wanting to play volleyball, I got myself and Arnoud invited into a game where four young people were already playing - church planting can be so much fun at times!  It was great!  Being outdoors generally is just great for meeting people - we said how we met lots of people in the first few weeks, and now, in our new area, we are starting to see that again.  Last night, I 'had the idea' to go out to the field in front of our flat and play football together.  Very soon, a three year old Estonian boy came running over and was kicking the ball with us, his mother chasing after him.  Thirty minutes later, we'd properly met one of our neighbours.  Numbers were exchanged and Rachel and this lady will meet to practice Russian and English together.  This lady's parents also live in the building next to us.  And we know Arnoud & Elisabeth have also been meeting people just like this - it's always exciting to see how God does it, and we pray for much more of it.  It's got to be God that reaches the people of Tallinn - as the Capital city of the most secular nation in Europe, it's not an easy job for man - but it's nothing for God!

And after four years - we have a car!  A real praise point to finish.  

We said how Love Russia had contacted us some months ago about whether we wanted a car.  Not only had we been looking at that very issue ourselves already, we'd been praying for a 7 seater car so as to be able to fit visitors in etc.  Well, the car they generously gave us was indeed a 7 seater Hyundai and here it is!  Not only did they do this, they met us for dinner on the Thursday night before they flew back to the UK, having cleaned the car, done all the major repairs on it and even left a full tank of diesel!!  They have been amazing!  And we are so thankful to God for their hearts and support and generosity in this.  Having got used to travelling by bus, and with free travel for an adult when travelling with Anya (as she's under three) we are certainly not just going to drive from now on.  But with shopping, and crossing the city and longer journeys, it's a real blessing!  I've now been able to register it (an afternoon's coming and going but got there in the end!) as well as getting it insured under it's new Estonian plates!
We also signed up at a local doctors yesterday, which as well as being needed for the girls, and especially for Mia to get her pre-school health check (like in Russia, it's required here for all children), having a local doctor was also needed for Rachel and myself in order to obtain our Estonian driving licence, which we can do next month.  Yesterday we underwent the medical checkup and got our certificate to drive.
It's often this paperwork that can make moving to a new country so confusing - especially when you don't know the main language!  We press on anyway.

Settling in doesn't come easily but we are slowly getting there.  We are exploring the country a bit these next 5 days as we take a 'stay at home' vacation and catch up with ourselves, as well as having some focused family time before Autumn kicks in.  It should be great!  Later this month we have some more visitors - including Kevin Jones coming across for the day from Helsinki, where his family have been 'checking out' the place this month in view of moving there next year to church plant.  Dave & Hannah Henson will also be over in Tallinn for a weekend, no small event following Dave's serious back issues earlier this year.  Our time with them will be great and we are looking forward to showing them more of Tallinn and praying together at the start of this next phase for the church plant.

Hot of the press - As I was writing this during the morning, Rachel was again meeting another local neighbour while out with the girls at the play ground.  This lady apparently approached Elisabeth and Rachel and asked if it was a kindergarten! (Yes there were 5 children playing, but still, not sure it would have really counted as a kindergarten!).  They've swapped numbers, connected on Facebook already so please pray that a good relationship will grow and she'll be interested in what we are all in Tallinn for.  This is, after all, what we are here for!