Dear friends

It has been many months since we last wrote to you and much has gone on that we would love to update you with.

In our last letter we communicated the news of the closed door with regard to the property that in 2001 we felt God had led us to as a location for our new ministry. We received several heart-warming responses to that letter, encouraging us in our journey of faith, and the importance of our vision, and simply communicating that you were with us. We have kept them all and are hugely grateful for such encouragement! That was almost a year ago – a year that has been full of comings and goings, questionings and wrestlings, letting go of how it seemed God had led us and allowing Him to be our all-in-all in a far deeper way than wehave known. In the absence of any permanent ministry centre, we have each continued in our different locations with the key elements of TLC. It has been profoundly encouraging to see ministry growing and developing in all of the different aspects which we had envisioned. For example:

Discipleship Counselling
through a ‘staple diet’ of one-on-one meetings, which centre on leading people into a deeper understanding of knowing Christ as life. It is thrilling to see the changes that occur in people as a result of this. “No money can pay for what I have come to know and understand about who Christ is and all that He did and does in giving me His Life and wisdom daily. My life is transformed and all my friends and family remain astounded by what they have seen taking place in me over this year and through this healing and transforming process. You truly are all about transformation!”

Leadership Mentoring
through offering individual leadership coaching and spiritual direction. We have long spoken of our desire to offer ‘leadership MOTs’, whereby leaders plan in a regular time (be it a day a month, 2 days a year, 2 days every 6 months) to take a step back from the pressures of every day life for personal reflection and intentional consideration of their own growth and development. It is exciting to see this now happening.

Serving Missionary Organisations
through teaching on training schools and leading retreats, both in England and overseas, within the context of YWAM and other organisations. “What revelation, healing, freedom and love of the Father I have encountered through your testimonies and through the way you have led us to encounter intimacy with God”

Serving the Local Church
through opportunities to preach at services, run small groups, lead retreats and church weekends away. “I take that step of faith over the barrier that has kept me from knowing that I am God’s beloved. What a magnificent view!”

Serving the Nations
through meeting with various missionaries who come back from the field, (India, Kosovo, Albania), staffing a 5 week course in Malaysia over the summer and leading a workshop for Tear Fund leaders in Egypt. “I knew Jesus as my Saviour, but I never knew Him as my life,” “Grace is no longer a religious word for me, but a description of a way of life.”

Recent Changes
One of the unexpected twists of our story over this last year is that Charlotte began to recognise a clear call from God to relocate back to the U.S. She writes:

“It is a long story of how God has led me to this place, and therefore not easy to summarise in just a few lines. Towards the end of 2004, in the midst of the greatest relinquishing of my life, I began to sense the voice of the Lord, calling me to leave England and all that I hold dear there, in order to embrace His purposes for me in the latter years of my life. It is my profound desire to live out the years left to me bringing glory to God by leading others into this journey (that I am myself still on) of learning and living from a place of rest and total dependence on Christ I am fully convinced of my total and absolute inability to “get it right” or “do it well” or “show” anyone how it needs to be done and yet at the same time, I have a vision to be a voice for a “different” leadership… one that truly KNOWS what it means to live out of control and only do what Father says… one that NEVER forgets that Christ IS the leader and that we can never be more than number 2. There is nothing glamorous to this. I leave into obscurity, knowing little of what this will actually look like but with unshakeable faith in God’s sure leading, and overwhelmed by his faithfulness in miraculously turning the impossible into reality. My trust is that this move will enable me
to finish well and leave a legacy that all my life I have longed to leave, as I pass on to a new generation all that has been entrusted to me. My heart remains intricately connected with Transformational Leadership Centre as I will continue to serve as a director and trustee. I will also seek to establish an office in America that will relate to all we do in Europe and around the world. We have no doubt that there will be many opportunities of working together on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere in the world!”

New Developments
Through the year there have been a number of challenges - an obvious one being in regard to the ‘closed door’ for our ministry location. Was God leading somewhere else? Had we made a mistake?... In the ‘darkness’ our
emotions took us to all of these places. However, God has been so faithful to lead us; in confronting the difficult questions, but also in meeting us there and leading us on to a new place of trust and dependency on Him.
In the darkness a flicker of light grew with a sense that God was still very much leading us, and the ‘closed door’ was not the end of the story. Faith and courage began to rise in our hearts for how He would lead. In June a miraculous ‘chance’ encounter led to a sequence of letters, meetings and emails with the current occupiers of the property. Generously they have opened negotiations with us in exploring how we may both make use of the wonderful facilities. As you can imagine, we are very excited about this possibility and would really welcome your prayers for God’s wisdom

We have loved sharing this story and sensing from folk their excitement, not only over what God has done but also that which He will do. We value your interest, support and partnership with us and pray that our story will be an encouragement for you in the journey that God has you on at this time.

In particular, we would value your prayers in the following:

• Our meeting in November with the new wardens regarding our use of the property and our involvement with them.
• As we plan and strategize what we desire to do with retreats, conferences, workshops and internships over the next year
• As we move forward into new challenges that will stretch our capacity and resources on every front if we are to do all that God has put in our hearts

Thank you once again, for your many acts of kindness and your continued support of us over this past year.