Dear Friends

The summer seems a distant memory now as the autumn season races into winter but we want to share with you some of the news from recent events which continue to encourage us.  It is a wonderful privilege to travel with people on their spiritual journey, and we include some of their testimonies and experiences which speak perhaps louder than our reports!

We also wanted to share with you something of the season we are in and we covet your prayers, thanking you for your support in standing with us.  We communicated in our April Newsletter that it is seven years since we officially launched Transformational Leadership Centre in 2002.  As staff, we were living in different locations and over the years we have seen a number of significant changes including a move to Sussex and a drawing together of a team in one area.  Many of you have shared our hopes and disappointments over the years as we trusted God in regard to a property that would have been ideal for developing the ministry.  Earlier this year that property was released from the Trust it was held in and sold to a private owner. 

There is now a sense of seeking God afresh for the ministry and for us as a team.  As we fulfil our commitments this year and anticipate the coming year we feel a caution to pause and wait on God trusting Him to lead us into what feels a new season.   We have received  prophetic words that talk of ‘a very fertile plain and fruitfulness’ and pictures that speak of a time of ‘fallow ground.’  

We value these contributions greatly and continue to seek God as to their full meaning.  As individuals and as a team we are reflecting on what the ‘fallow ground’ may mean for us.  Normally at this stage we are praying and planning for the new diary of events, so we do value your prayers as we consider the details of next year: what we should continue with and what we should perhaps lay down.

As we reflect we are thrilled at seeing how God has led and made a way for the various events and ministry to take place over the years, how He has gathered people - many of you - for these significant times together.  At the heart of who we are we remain excited at the awesome privilege of sharing something of the mystery of this hope that lies within us – Christ Himself.  We trust Him in the outworking of all that He has for us.

On behalf of our Team,
 
Val Smith

2/20 Encounter 2009

Year by year we have been able to report to you about our month long ‘Encounter’ - it is undoubtedly one of the highlights of what we do, so no apologies for another little peek into something of what this year’s gathering held. 

We asked our participants to write a couple of sentences summarising their experience, and have been a little taken aback by the email responses that came whizzing back.  It’s our delight to share these with you — we hope you enjoy their different voices!

“Encounter - a perfect word to sum up this time!  During these four weeks I encountered myself (the lovely and the not so nice stuff that had been hidden for so long), I encountered fellow pilgrims on the same journey as I; a group of staff/leaders gifted in creating an environment for vulnerability, honesty and truth, while maintaining a place of safety and acceptance.  But most of all I encountered God - not the God I had created in my mind but the God who loves me incredibly - as I am and not as I should be!!! I know for the first time, inner peace and acceptance, based on God's love and grace toward me and nothing to do with my works and performance.  Life is still tough at times, but in my inner being I have found my strong tower; I know I am beloved!  In my weariness I found refreshment, in my brokenness - comfort in my Father, in my fear - peace, in my hatred of myself I found self acceptance in God's love and true acceptance of me.  What would I say about Encounter - DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!!!”
 

“Even after attending a couple of conferences and some excellent one to one coaching I still found I was hoping for some kind of formula-resting in Christ—yeah but how do you DO that?!  Most of my questions are unanswered—or maybe I have a whole bunch of new ones……   However in those four weeks the team managed to create an  environment unlike any I have experienced in which we could be as honest and vulnerable as we chose. It was a joy to feel so accepted and loved and “held”.  Their generosity overflowed in every aspect—physically and spiritually.  We had a taste of Heaven—and it’s not boring—yay!”

“Encounter 2:20 (June 2009) has been the most pivotal and life-changing experience I've ever had in my 18 years of following Jesus.  God met me in ways that I wasn't expecting; He shone His light into issues I needed His understanding and perspective on, and did some deep healing in my life.  It is difficult to put into words what happened, but the life, the hope, the freedom, the grace, the warm embrace of my Father's love, and hearing Him gently whisper of His affirmation, acceptance and affection for me .... have all completely and utterly transformed me.”

"A sentence or two" about the Encounter?  You've got to be kidding...  How can I condense a life-changing experience to just a few words?  I almost feel like the blind man in Mark 8, who saw everything clearly only after Jesus had touched him the second time.  After a lifetime in "the ministry," the Encounter, with the unfolding of the Exchanged-Life concept, was the "second touch" to my spiritual eyes.  I was amazed to see how the truth of living the Grace-Life is woven all through Scriptures.  It’s been there all along and I had missed it… all I had experienced was in dull, monochrome with muffled audio out of one small speaker.   Now that I "see it," it’s like experiencing the Scriptures with surround sound, in vibrant 3-D colour… it makes so much sense and I’m eager to learn more and more of this beautiful Truth… and then pass it on!  Living out the Christian life is no longer a chore, but is truly liberating.

“I learned about that simple, yet profound statement in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.”  Sure, but free from what?  Free from bondage to our past – those haunting memories of pain, rejection or loss, things that we can’t forgive from others, or even a personal habit or a sense of inadequacy to live out the Christian life which we cannot forgive ourselves for… that is what we’re set free from.  That is true Grace unleashed.”