Late Spring Update: Healing, Progress and a Royal Encounter

It's been quite a few weeks since we last sent something out.  A weekend in Stockholm, a visit from Prince Harry, a successful Easter event and a team weekend away are just some of the things that have taken place.

Summer arrived early too. Shade temperatures in the low 30's has Tallinn feeling rather warm and beautiful, if not a little close at times. Town Hall Square, in the picture here, has the outside seating areas packed out already. The first of the cruise ships have already docked - tourist season is also upon us!

Headlines for this update:

• News from the Easter Event
• Getting more than we thought from Stockholm Weekend
• July 'Missions' Week Update
• Prince Harry Visits Tallinn
• Team Weekend Away
• Visitors and Team Growth?

Toddler Group Families Easter Event

Last time we mentioned that as a church plant we were putting on an event for the families from the toddler group. It happened on the Easter Saturday and gave the team a chance to meet with more parents from the weekly group. In total there were 15 adult visitors and 16 children.  The venue served us really well, all the children heard the Easter story as well as doing other traditional things.

For many of the dads that came along, it was the first time any of us had met them. Among them included a politician as well as a professional basketball player!

The day before this, Good Friday, we'd driven 90 minutes south to the small town of Võhma, where we'd been invited to a BBQ. We'd done this last year - it's funny how traditions form so easily.  We were blessed with the warmest day of the year (so far, at that point!) and it was wonderful to spend time with the family there (a British family who've lived in Estonia for about 11 years) as well as met friends coming up from Latvia to join us all.

Last time we also mentioned how we are continuing with the Christianity Explored course on a personal basis each week.  Elisabeth, part of the team here, is meeting with an Estonian lady once a week to go through the material. Please pray for her as she continues with this.

Reign in Life - Stockholm Weekend

At the beginning of May, I got to go away with Rachel to a two night conference in Stockholm, hosted by Grace Church.  Terry Virgo was coming across for it, and spent two evenings talking about a subject he knows so well - Grace.  It was a brilliant time.  We were able to connect with folks up from Riga, as well as across from Helsinki, the UK and of course our friends in Stockholm. Flic even came across from St Petersburg.
During the day on the Saturday, there was an additional time for leaders, and Terry spoke about the filling of the Holy Spirit.  We'd got a chance to speak with him a little, which was lovely. He is such a humble man, with time for everyone - on the Saturday night, having spoken 5 times over the two days, he was praying for people for well over an hour.  He's not a young man anymore, but his passion remains the same!
And having gone forward, with about 11 others, for prayer for back issues, something quite extraordinary was about to happen.  Sitting down at our feet, he gently lifted our legs.  One leg was shorter than the other - a common reason for back pain, and 80% of the time the main reason.  Mine too were different lengths.  He prayed a simple prayer - and without feeling anything, without him pulling either leg, or me moving, the legs became equal.  Just like that.  And it was the same for all of us.  This was no hype, no show.  This was not for the cameras. It was simply Jesus healing people through the power of the Holy Spirit - just like the Bible tells us.
I stood up, walking to one side as he continued to pray for others.  I hadn't felt anything change, but was able to touch my toes without pain within minutes.  I even did it in front of everybody.
Since then, as my body has adjusted, there were some days when it felt bad. But I know I was healed.  Yes, I continue to do my strengthening exercises - it's for my own good for the long term.  But today, writing this, there is a huge difference.  Massive.  It's been 18 months of pain and difficulty.  One prayer and the power was broken. Healing has come.
So I'm going from strength to strength.  I'll keep you all informed.

Let me just say something at this point.  Healing is central to who God is. Healing makes what is done in faith, ie belief in a living God, come into reality.  After all, if God is real, wouldn't he still be able to do the things the Bible tells us he did all those years ago while on earth.  And He did.  I'm a man of faith, but my life has been scattered with times when these things happen.  Praying for sick people and they recover.  I've been on the receiving end enough times to know that God is alive.  And here is something more - if you are sick, and want to come to Jesus for healing, He is more than able to make you well also.  If you want to find out more, let me know.

A Week in Tallinn this July

Colin Baron was recently in Tallinn - he shared at our Vision Sunday and we had a day together before he flew back to Manchester.  In July, he is bringing a group of students over from his home church, about 12 in total.  There are a few others coming along too - Adrian Horner and two or more from Open Door Church in Kettering and one or two others as well. From Friday 18th July to Friday 25th, most of these will be in Tallinn. The plans are coming together.  We are still praying for the right venue to use as a base for the team in the week, so please stand with us in that area.
As part of the week, we'll be running a three day kids camp in a local school. We'll also be looking to do quite a bit outside - and have at least two BBQ's in the forest/beach near us!
Please be praying for the team coming over.  For most of them, this will be their first time in Estonia.  Pray for our planning of this event as well, that we find what we need to find and have enough translators etc for the week.  We'll be having two Vision Sunday's in a row - one with the team here, and one when Adrian Horner and his wife are still in town after the week.

Last Sunday, as mentioned above, was a Vision Sunday.  These are once a month (at the moment) meetings where we run more of a church meeting, talking vision out as we do things, we trust.  And though not all came that we invited, for the first time to this event, we did have a visitor with us, who came with her two children.  So praise God for that!
Please pray this meeting starts to grow over the next few months (well in Autumn really, besides the two in July).

Team Weekend Away

The two nights before Colin arrived, we managed to get away as a team to a lovely venue around 90 minutes east of Tallinn.  The aim was to build relationships by spending more time together, as well as worship God, soaking in his presence without the time restraints we normally face.  I also talked for one session on Vision & Values, which went down really well.
Each of the 8 adults and 5 children that now make up the growing core team are an answer to prayer.  It's great to see the outworking of God's plan for us all in Tallinn.  Because of the stunning weather, which started just before that weekend and has continued since, we were able to do worship outside in the covered BBQ area.  I even did my talk on a hillside, looking up to the rest of the team.  Can't say I've ever done that before!

From Right to Left - Arnoud & Elisabeth with Anna-Ruth, Ketlin
& Stephen, Enrico, Rachel with Mia & Anya, Rebekah, me,
Mattias & Vera

But Before The Weekend....

I left Tallinn on the Friday at about 5, with Enrico, Stephen & Ketlin in the car with me, heading east.  It was to be a 90 minute drive through stunning Estonian countryside.  Rachel, Rebekah and Mia & Anya were coming on by train - actually a quicker journey at just 60 minutes, but they were leaving later.  Before that, they had a small matter of visiting Freedom Square (with hundreds of others) trying to get a glimpse of Prince Harry, who was due there at about 17:15.  Their train was due at 17:45 I think, so it was cutting it fine to say the least!
Many of you will know already what happened next, but for those that haven't seen, or who just want to relive it, here is the video Rachel was recording when Harry turned around....



Needless to say, when I picked them up from the station at the other end, flags still waving, they were all rather excited. I'd not had any contact, so had no idea exactly what had happened.
With limited internet option at this retreat centre (at least for me), we were not really able to process all that took place until after we got home.
A reporter from The Sun newspaper in the UK had interviewed Rachel and Mia straight after Harry spoke with them, though it failed to make it into the Saturday edition.  There were many videos on YouTube from the day, Rachel and the girls appearing in some.  Maybe the best picture that got shared was the one on the right - we only saw it because friends shared it with us stating they knew the little girl in the photo!
It's a photo shared on Facebook that shows the moment Prince Harry took Mia's hand.  And the guy who shared it - Toomas Hendrik Ilves - who is only the President of Estonia!

Visitors & Praying for Team Growth

Rachel's mum and dad were with us at the end of April for a week.  My mum comes over in about two weeks as well for a week.  We had Colin with us for a night, and Sveta, from St Petersburg, has been in town for about a week. She is praying about Tallinn and what that might mean for her, so please pray that she knows the way forward.
As a family we've been very close to Sveta during our time in Russia, and since. Our girls are both very fond of her.  If God was to make it clear to her to join us, she'd be a great blessing to us all.

And since writing this, another friend has confirmed they will be joining us in July for the mission week.

Prayer Points

• Thank God for an amazing team, for time away, and what that means for our future together in Tallinn
• Pray for more growth - we are asking God for a core team of twelve, to give us the strength to launch well.
• Pray for July - for all those coming across, and for the planning on our side, as well as finding a venue to use for the base.
• Pray for our summer events.  The changing season means doing things a little different.  We have a Summer BBQ at the Beach on 1st June.  Pray for a huge crowd (and the BBQ's to feed them all!)

Thanks everyone!  It's been quite a few weeks.  Princes, Presidents, Healing... The next weeks couldn't possibly top that, could they..?!

Easter Update: Salvation, Favour and Team GB

It's not been all that long since the last update, but quite a bit of fun stuff has been happening, so I wanted to update you all on this.

We shared news last time about the start of Christianity Explored.  I also talked about favour and in the past we've asked for prayers for the first person saved.

Well, in different ways, we've seen these happen this last month, and I'll share today what that means.

Here are the headlines of today's update:

• A Young Girl makes a Big Decision
• Christianity Explored Update - What We've Learnt and Where We Go From Here
• Helsinki/Espoo Visit
• Writing Favour with Amazon
• My Team GB Footballing Debut!

Changeable Seasons

The photo above is from nearby Tabasalu, and is part of my growing collection of beautiful nature photos that have been taken around Estonia.  Here is a link to the album.  

Last time, I mentioned that Spring had come early (for Estonia, anyway!) and it has really stayed - we did have some funny weather, as this next photo shows.  Knowing snow was forecast, I managed to take the same photo, at the same time, exactly a day apart, to show you the contrast we sometimes have to.

It shows (in the sunshine!) an outdoor temperature of 25.1c on the first day and then it dropped to just 1.9c on the following, slightly snowy day.

And in many ways, the changing seasons of weather are models of the changing seasons in a church plant.  One day its like one thing, the next it's something totally different. We've certainly seen that with the CE course, and we've learnt a bit from it too.

Christianity Explored

The great news for our launch was that people came!

We had the venue - a restaurant not far from home, that did great food, at a good price, and had space for us to run what we wanted.  They'd even advertised the course for us on their Facebook page, as I'd mentioned last time.  We'd printed off 500 leaflets, most of which got given out, and had some large posters put up, including at the University.

And then people who said they were coming, started pulling out.

Maybe no one would come?

Thankfully, our first guest turned up - an Estonian mum, with her little boy, from the weekly toddler group.

And then, once we'd started the food, a Russian dad also turned up, with his two children.  The oldest daughter goes to school with Mia.  The kids were brilliantly entertained in the Kids Club, and the adults got to eat, and discuss together.

Whether it was the content, or the perception that this was going to be too 'religious', we don't know, but for various reasons (some very genuine as well!) nobody came to week two. Though many had expressed interest, actually committing to coming turned out to be too much.  One family even asked us to stop inviting them to these 'religious' events (though only these - they remain friends and want to come to other events still).  So it's been a real eye opener as we've begun to scratch the surface and see what actually lies beneath this culture.

We will be taking the ones who are interested through the rest of the course - this will be starting in a home soon, a smaller setting.  There seemed no reason for us to run the rest of the dates at the restaurant.

We're at the planning phase of running an Easter event for our Toddler group families, plus a few others.  That will be in less than two weeks, so please pray for favour and attendance to this new event, whilst continuing to pray for the two or three that will continue, in time, with the CE course.

Sow in One Place, Reap in Another

It's been a Biblical principle that's been around for a long time - and how true it proved with us recently in Tallinn.  With all the efforts going into the promotion of the CE course, the leaflets and posters and Facebook events, something else was happening.  Something unrelated to all this.  An eight year old was sharing the gospel with her class mate.

To retell the story fully, we need to go back a few weeks.  'N', as we will call her, is a student that Rachel teaches English to.  In a lesson maybe one month ago, a date (eg 50BC) came up, and there was a question about what BC meant (in Estonia, they have a different dating system for the years before Jesus, which does not include reference to him).  When Rachel explained it related to Jesus, the girl had never heard of Jesus (not uncommon in Estonia!)  So following that lesson, we were praying for N.

Now, about a week later, Mia came home from school to say that there had been an interesting conversation among her friends.  N had said something like "One day the world will end and everyone will die, including God" to which Mia replied "No, I don't believe that to be true - this is what I believe" and she went on to tell N all about heaven, Jesus and forgiveness of sins.  A few days after this N came back to Mia and told her she'd prayed the prayer Mia mentioned, asking Jesus into her heart and saying sorry for all the wrong things she'd done.  Mia then lent her a copy of a children's book she had which explains more of the story.  A few days later, the book was returned - she didn't need to borrow Mia's copy any more, her mum had ordered her her own copy!  N came to church yesterday to be part of the Kids club that Rebekah runs.

I was younger than N when I first prayed the prayer - and it's all it took for me.  So while she might not understand everything (what adult ever does anyway!), we are celebrating a young life saved, in a girl choosing from an early age to allow Jesus to shape her future.  Yes she's got some way to go, but praise God for that first step!

And we are also so proud of Mia who feels able to stand up for what she believes, in a context of absolute unbelief, and communicate this in a clear, childlike way, to her peers.

Finland Trip

In March, I also did an overnight trip to Finland (it's easily done in a day from Tallinn) where I got the ferry across to Helsinki, and made my way to Espoo, which sits to the West of Helsinki, about 15 minutes by train. Dave Henson met me there, with Kevin Jones, who moved with Lydia and their three children within the last year to start a church plant. Whether the church will be in Espoo or Helsinki, is yet to be clear.  Espoo has a population of, roughly, 300,000 and needs churches too.  

It was great to spend time with the family, and with Dave.  On the following morning, we went to a nearby lake and chatted while the youngest son, who is not in kindergarten, played in the park.  Finland has many lakes and forests.  It's the trees I remember most, and why moving to Estonia so reminded us of everything we love about Finland.

I then traveled with Dave on the two hour crossing back home to Tallinn, where Dave spent a couple of nights in town, sharing brilliantly at the Wednesday home group, before flying out early on Thursday morning.

Amazon Promotion

Last time up, I mentioned having been contacted by Amazon about possible inclusion in their Daily Deal.  Well, the story develops.  They wrote back last week, to not only say that I had been selected for inclusion (my novel Cherry Picking, to be more precise) but that it wasn't just for one day, but for three weeks as part of their Spring Deal!

So please, spread the word.  Cherry Picking has been included with other great books, by Authors like John Grisham.  I've included some Social Media links below to make it easy for you to share with others.  Every sale does matter, and it also helps push me up the charts, which results in more awareness (especially if it can make the Top 100 again!)

Facebook - Post
Google+ - Post
Twitter - Tweet

Tim Represents His Country - Finally!

It was always a boyhood dream to play for England.  I didn't really care in what sport, or field really.  Aged maybe 15, I remember clearly feeling disappointed when my Head of Year suggested I change something in my Record of Achievement, which was being written at that moment.  I'd put that I wanted to 'Represent my country' at some level and she'd changed it to "Play to my highest ability" so as to not 'disappoint' me in later life.  I felt dejected.  It's certainly one of those cutting to the heart moments I remember (for the wrong reasons!) from those, now less significant, school years.  I was writing short stories at the time - who would have thought that this would form such a part of my future!

Last week, I played for Great Britain (representing the British Embassy in Tallinn, anyway!) in the Diplomatic Cup that is held annually in Estonia (and probably many capital cities) among the various Embassies.  The UK team were a little short of numbers, so I got involved.
We were never going to win the cup - most of us had never played together before, and the one lady on our team had played 'maybe once' when she was 15.  But it was fun to wear the shirt, and play in the four group matches.
Rachel, Mia and Anya cheered us on well from the stands, watching the first two matches before leaving for a birthday party.  We played France and Moldova (both narrow defeats, one literally with the last kick of the game) as well as Georgia and Armenia, who both won by bigger scores than just 1-0.
But it was the taking part that counts, and as the first sport in 15 months since I hurt my back, great that I made it through the day at all!  I was rather sore on Sunday and unfortunately I'm having a few back issues with it going into spasm but maybe this isn't related.  If I'll play again next year, we will have to wait and see.  There was talk of the 'team' doing some actual practice together before hand, and if that happens, and my back improves, maybe I will play - next year, maybe we will have a little more chance.

So it just goes to show - don't take the words that were spoken over you in your youth.  It doesn't limit who you are, or what you can be.  Only God gets to set your destiny.  And maybe, one day, you will get to represent your country. Regardless what your Head of Year might have otherwise said.

'Missions' Week

For want of a better word (mission is a mindset remember, not a thing we turn on or off), we have the formation of a special week of mission happening in Tallinn from 18th July until 25th July 2014.  There will be more on this in the future, but anyone who might be free and would like to get involved, at least you have the dates.  So far, it seems we have a group of students coming over from Manchester, with Colin Baron and another one or two church leaders, and it's proving a bit of a focus to pull others to come and join us that week as well.
So if you are interested in joining us, in what will obviously be the highlight of your summer, please book those dates off and we can let you know details of what will happen in the future - most likely inclusion will be a three day Kids Camp (and probably time on a beautiful sandy beach too!)

Family

The gaps between school holidays (and the recovery time they allow) is starting to show a little as health has been a challenge, and not just for our family.  The team seem to be showing some strain at the moment, with various illnesses going around.  Please pray for healing for all.
Home life is very busy for another two weeks, before the weeks holidays that comes for Easter.  Please pray for health and rest, especially for Rachel who has a lot of teaching on at the moment.  She also might (or not?!) hear back from the European School this week about a possible job share option from September onwards.  It has to be the right option if they do call, otherwise it's not worth pursuing.  

Prayer Points

• Easter weekend event
• July 'mission' week - that we plan it well!
• For 'N' and those that will continue with the CE course
• For the nearby church plants we are connected with - Helsinki, Riga and Stockholm (incidently, me and Rachel are visiting Stockholm next month, as the church plant there have managed to get Terry Virgo over for the weekend.  Rebekah will kindly look after our girls for the two days).
• For continued favour on my writing life

Thanks everyone!

Next time, it already sounds like we'll have a lot more to update you all on.

Spring Update From Tallinn: One Giant Leap for the Church Plant

It's March 10th.  To be able to call it spring already means something has happened with winter!

In the last update (you can recap here if you need as I'll be referring to it a little) in early December, I talked about how winter had arrived at last.  Well, it would appear it didn't fancy staying around for long!

Not only did we not actually have a white Christmas this year, but when the snow did properly come in January, and temperatures dropped to their normal -20c, by February we hit zero again, and now in March, all the snow has long gone, and temperatures are picking up.  These two photos were taken over the weekend just gone.

It's beautiful.  Dare we believe spring really is upon us - maybe.  It's two years since we arrived in Tallinn, which was on 1st March 2012.  Then, in April, it snowed. But it was already snowy in the March.  So we'll see soon enough.
What is funny, was that in the last update we talked about Rebekah who was joining us in February "the coldest month" and please pray for her to settle.  As you'll find out in this update, both prayers were very much answered!

Here are the headlines from this update:

• Team Growth
• 'Christianity Explored' course starting this week!
• Packed Events
• Breakthrough?
• Chart Topping Author?

St Petersburg

In December I took the guys from our core team to Russia to serve two churches in St Petersburg. It was great for the team to spend time together, as well as to work together in the settings we found ourselves in.  On the Friday night, we spent time with some friends at a coffee shop, one of the best in the city.  I'd love them to think about opening a similar venue in Tallinn.  We'll see!

On Saturday, we served at a Russian church called Open Heaven church.  I spoke for about 25 minutes (plus translation) and then the team got to share words etc.  Two hours later we were only just leaving, having prayed with lots of folks, which seemed to go well.

 

On the Sunday I took them to Hope Church, where I spoke again and the team shared words and we prayed for people after.  We were the last to leave again, walking with a group of the leaders from the church to the offices, where we were going to eat together and pray for them.  We did that over about two hours, hanging out there long after the crowd had left, as another friend dropped in and we spent time all talking together.  

That left time to eat together as a four before all getting the lunchtime bus home on the Monday, back in Tallinn at around 7 that night.  A busy but worthwhile trip. It was good for Hope church in St Petersburg to be able to make a wider connection (beyond me and Rachel) with the team in Tallinn, and also for the team here to see something of the history and connection with Hope Church.

Team Growth

On the 26th February, Rebekah Wisbey landed in Tallinn, the latest addition to team Tallinn.  As well as the favourable weather she has found since arriving, another remarkable answer to prayer is how quickly she has settled in.  She stayed with us for her first two nights, but did get her keys to her own flat on the second day, a place that up to that point, only Rachel had actually seen.  She is now settled there, still not used to waking up and seeing the sea (which is right in front of her building!).

Since the beginning of January, we've also had three YWAM workers, in Tallinn for 3 months, joining us.  Milena (a German lady), Stephanie (an English lady) and Daniel (an English guy) who have all been a great help, the two girls also able to get involved with the Thursday morning toddler group, which we'll come to in a moment.

It's had the effect to boost the numbers - a core currently at 11, if not all permanent people.  It has made a big difference though.  We're enjoying the extra bodies!  If it's right that any of them stay on after (which is a possibility, but they'd need God to make it very clear!) we'd be delighted!

The connection with YWAM has been positive, and as well as these three, there have also been two teams through Tallinn in the last month or so, bringing more people to the different events.  And sometimes crowds draw a crowd.  

The Big 'Next' Step

For a long time, we've had the aim to run an Alpha style course as a stepping stone for many people in the crowd we've gathered to have a place to explore a little deeper together.

A full 12 week Alpha course was a little too much at the moment we felt - both for the small core team, as well as for our guests.  Many are business people who would miss many weeks through travel.  We'd been recommended the Christianity Explored course, which goes a little slower than all that Alpha covers, and in seven weeks, worked with our timing.

So we are launching this course this coming Sunday, 16th March, in Tallinn.

We wanted a venue to host this one - aiming to find somewhere catered, that allowed space for a separate area for children.  With Rebekah arriving, we at least had the right person to head up the care for the children.  But where to find the venue.  Would we find favour working in our situation?

Well, a church leader was passing through Tallinn, and I was meeting him one lunchtime with Arnoud.  We were due to go to a restaurant on the other side of town near to where Arnoud works, so as to be able to maximise his lunch break.  It so happened that the day before Arnoud had been a little unwell, so was instead working from home the day this meeting was to happen.  We therefore had the option of going somewhere much more local, and Arnoud had been recommended a place near by, in the part of the city we both live in.  It was whilst having lunch, that we spotted on the menu the facilities that were available to rent.  Soon we were speaking to the owner, having a good look around, and feeling very excited.  Just a couple of weeks later, all our seven dates are booked and we start this weekend!  

The venue offers excellent food, and space for adults to eat together, with another area where Rebekah and her team can run a kids club.  It was a real breakthrough and real favour.  You can even check out the restaurants Facebook Page as they too are advertising our event to their 3200+ followers!

Needless to say - please pray for us with this event.  It represents a huge leap for us, but done in an appropriate way. The catering is taken care of, and the talks will be done from the DVD, so the teams focus can be on the discussion and relationships element.

So far we have about twenty signed up, which includes around eight guests.

The Favour Word

I've picked up on the word favour above because when I was in Holland in October, there was a prophecy over us in relation to breakthrough, and while it started with finances, the main emphasis was in relation to favour.  Is this yet another example of the outworking to that word?

Hope:Tallinn Events

Last Thursday, at the regular weekly toddler group, there were 33 people in total!  This is the most we've ever had!  The breakdown was 16 adults and 17 children.  It must have been approaching a dozen nationalities.
It was so busy, that Rachel had not realised I was not there at the end - having gone off midway through to meet someone in town.  Running late for the bus, finding my coat proved a little hard, as it was TEN deep on the coat rack....I think I need to plan for this in the future, keeping my coat with me if I need to leave before anyone else!
Rachel took a photo of some of the coats, though this doesn't even tell the whole story.

And on Sunday, at the monthly meal, we had even more people - 34 this time!  Only about 10 of these where children, and of the two events, only about ten people where at both.  Needless to say, it was a little busy, and having arrived before 5, the last people were not leaving until 8:30, when the cleaning could begin!

We are so thankful that God has given us a flat with enough space (just about) to fit in all these people at the same time.

Invites for next Sunday were given to folks at both events, and I even made a public announcement at the meal yesterday, but it remains to be seen exactly how many people will come to the event next weekend.

Family

Finding your coat isn't always easy

Though life is often busy, and visitors to our home are plenty, we are all doing well, and trying our best to get a sensible balance between these two worlds, as overlapping as they are.
Anya turned 4 at the beginning of the month, and had a little party to celebrate the fact.
As her birthday fell on a special day in Estonia, she got to ride on a horse and cart at her kindergarten, which was hired as part of their celebrations.  An extra special treat!
Mia is continuing to do well at school, and has a little less commitments as we've made her have a break from ballet this term, much to her own disappointment at the time, but she understands it - and enjoys it all now. We'll look to get her started at a new ballet later this year.

I also managed to surprise my mum for her 70th birthday, flying back to the UK for the weekend at the beginning of March, turning up on her doorstep to her surprise.  All the family knew, my mum aside, so the details worked out well.  It was nice to have been able to be a part of it all, even if it meant I missed Anya's own birthday party - I was back in time for her actual birthday, which was a lovely day as well.

Breakthrough as an Author

Since the last update, things have gone really crazy with my writing side. Approaching the end of January, I was slowly approaching 200 likes on my official Facebook page.  The readership of my one published novel was in the 100-200 bracket.  Reaching the 200th 'Like' triggered a special promotion, which ran for three days on Amazon over the last days of January.  In those 72 hours, there were 2,566 downloads of my novel, and in the month of February, more sales than all the previous months, combined.  At the height of the downloads, Cherry Picking stood at #2 on the UK Mystery Chart with Amazon, and #6 on the All Books chart!
By the end of February, my Page stood at over 1,100 likes, an increase of 900 in one month!
My new novel is also approaching its final stages.  Over 100,000 people saw my page as I asked fan's advice about cover designs for the two books.  Is this another sign of favour coming my way - not to mention breakthrough!

And a final off shoot of this was being contacted by Amazon themselves, who are discussing enrolling Cherry Picking into their Daily Deals program (a huge honour!) because, according to their message, my book "had come into view and they thought it could do really well if selected for the promotion."  It remains to be seen what will come of this.
I've also had another publishing company contact me, also stating they were impressed and wanting to know if I'd be interested in working with them.

Is this favour or distraction - or something else?  I guess only time will tell for sure.  But with my new novel set to come out later this year (I hope!), and a readership approaching 3000 people now, its a great platform for launching the new book onto, so I'm excited by what might come of it all.

Because last time around, we talked about needing breakthrough.  And while none of this mentioned above physically represents that (yet - as exciting as it sounds), we are still in that place of not fully knowing what the future needs to look like.  No job options have yet come up for me.  Not even one interview.  The record book sales of February, are not continuing in that pattern for March.  God did do some extraordinary things in December, so that things are a lot calmer financially at the moment, for a few months.  We are so thankful for that.  But still the medium term solution is unsure.  Does this look like more work locally?  Will this be even greater breakthrough in book sales and the like?  Is it something else entirely?  We do not know - but we ask you to pray.

And pray all the more.  It came to light yesterday at the meal, that while in the UK my part time job is under the tax limit, so not subject to payment, in Estonia this is chargeable - as is all charitable giving we receive!  And while I was ignorant of that before, now aware of it, it's a situation that is a little concerning, but also one we need to resolve.  It seems gutting that while our UK support was not 'acceptable' by the Estonian banks (meaning we were penalised and put onto a much higher interest rate mortgage), this same income source is acceptable to the tax office!  Potentially losing a big percentage of this 'income' to tax is another little issue for us.

But praise God he is the God of breakthrough - and favour!

Prayer Pointers:

• For the start of Christianity Explored this Sunday at 17:00
• For continued growth for team Tallinn, and the protection of all here
• For wisdom regarding the growing events - space and numbers are becoming an issue!
• For more breakthrough, especially in my writing life

Thanks for reading.  Sorry it's been such a long time since we've updated you all.

Church OR Mission? - How We Need To Get A Better Understanding Between These Two

The Church in the West has got itself a little confused.  It's nothing intentional, but it all centers on our view, our understanding of, mission.  And here, now, I want to open up the issues and settle the confusion, and misunderstanding, once and for all.  I hope, anyway.

Last summer, I was in Riga speaking at a church planting event.  I had been asked to speak about Missional Church. As a church planter, leading a church plant in Tallinn, having moved from St Petersburg, I guess this was a logical subject to be asked to speak about.  Not that I am an expert!

But as I sat down to write up my notes for the talk, I couldn't get away from a question that needed to be answered before anything else - what is mission?

If we are to talk about missional churches, then we'd better understand what we define as mission.

Now, the week I sat down to prepare, a few quotes appeared on Facebook talking about mission!  And we'll get to those in a moment.

Firstly, though, we can all agree on this quote about mission:

"Mission exists because worship doesn't" (John Piper)

Regardless of what we define mission as, we can certainly all agree on this. The only issue is, it still doesn't tell us what mission is!

Now, as it happens, the same week I was reviewing my notes for the talk in Riga, another quote was shared on Facebook, from the same man, also talking about mission.  It said, that in relation to mission, you can be:

"A goer, a sender, or disobedient"

Now, I do not want to take the overall quote out of context (so am stating nothing against the speaker) but do want to argue that this thinking, which is very prevalent in the Western church, is not very helpful. 

Let's take the chair example - the black chair represents the church, and the white one represents mission.  So, if two people are in church, and one sends the other 'out' on mission, we have the definition to the above quote - a goer, and a sender.  The church even has a name for the person that gets sent out - Missionary.  My challenge is though, that this is not a helpful understanding of what mission actually is, or where it takes place.  You see, still looking at the picture, we are left with Church OR Mission.  There is a separation, a divide between the two. It's as if you have to choose between the two - to be a church goer, or a missionary.

Because of the issues it creates, I will state again - I do not agree with this definition of mission.

So here is mine:

"Mission is not geographical, its a mindset."

For us to start to understand what mission is, we need to understand that it starts in our head, not 'over there.'  You don't need to GO to be on mission, you just need to THINK.  You are already on mission!  Sometimes, that also requires you to go somewhere different.

Another good quote I heard, actually last week (I don't know who originally said it!), was:

"You are either a missionary or the mission field."

PJ Smyth, a guy I respect hugely, who leads a large church in Jo-burg, South Africa, said:

"The Church was formed BY mission FOR mission, therefore mission should significantly shape the way we do church."

So what am I drawing from all this?  Mission is the great joy of the local church.  I didn't 'become' a missionary when I moved away from the UK in 2008 and arrived in Russia as part of a church planting team.  I didn't 'become' a missionary throughout our nearly four years in St Petersburg, working with a wide range of people including orphans. I didn't 'become' a missionary when I moved my family to Estonia to lead a church plant team in Tallinn.  I actually have never called myself a missionary!  Yes, a church planter.  But I'm a normal, average Christian, following the call God has on my life.  I was on mission in Stockport, where we moved from to plant in Russia, and we've been on mission ever since.

Church is mission.  That's what it means, and why we are on the earth.  

Now, don't get me wrong - I think it's great that churches send out missionaries all around the world.  What I don't like, and have seen, is the local church defining it's 'mission' focus by saying "look, we've sent two families out to Africa" but fail to see the mission on their doorstep.  I also find it to be destructive to those 'left' behind, the ones that can't 'go' because of other commitments - be it family, sickness, debts...anything really.  

It's calling that takes someone to another city or nation, not mission.  Mission needs to, and must happen, everywhere!  The Bible says that, if you love God and are in a local church, then you are a missionary (to use that same word we've already used).  You are already amazing placed in your own mission field.  Friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues, fellow students.  No one has a better relationship to these people than you do.

The only real use for the title 'missionary' that I see is actually outside the church, and even then, maybe to a set few generations.  My mum, for example, who is a pensioner, explains what we do to her friends by calling us missionaries in Estonia.  For them, it's clearer than church planters.  They understand it from their generational background.
But within the church, because of the danger of separation that I've explained above, I think it's not as helpful (unless it's being used to describe everybody).

We can't feed this divide between the two any more.  If the gospel is truly to reach the whole world, we need every church member, every attender, to know their role in mission.  It's not for the 'elite' - far from it!

Honour those that have moved overseas, pray for them - absolutely!  I'm not saying for one minute that your church shouldn't share news from missionaries who live in other parts of the world.  I just challenge churches to make sure mission is always happening at home base as well.  It will actually fuel those that get sent from the local church to reach nations.

Large churches, I know, have 'Mission Departments'.  I'd recommend changing the name - you don't want to suggest this is the one part of the church where mission happens, and the worship, children's and preaching department isn't! 

And once we understand what mission is, planting missional churches becomes a lot easier.

How has this thinking shaped your life and the life of your church?
Who do you see as your mission field - who has God put around you?  

Happy Christmas 2013!

Once again, our Christmas music/photo/video greeting for you all.



Happy Christmas, and may you have a blessed, richly fruitful 2014.

Tim, Rachel, Mia & Anya xxxx

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.