In recent years, in different areas, Beccy and I have experienced a lot of our ministry being stripped away from us – ouch! But in recent weeks we have been receiving encouragements from some of our ‘lost’ work.

On Christmas Day our adopted Chris came to our house with a Christmas card containing a lovely message – just the words we would have liked him to write! Then this month two young people that we have ministered to in the past have been in touch via Facebook.

One of these is a lad we knew many years ago and who Beccy ‘bumped into’ in the park several years ago. The other day, on Facebook, he shared some of his experiences with our Chris and these include both jail and the army where he served in Iraq.

Reading his messages has simply blown both Beccy and me away. Not just that he remembers us and speaks so positively about us. But that he represents the generation we are seeking to reach. His words contain both pain and hope….

In October I wrote to all our supporters and many friends, stating that I wanted to make myself more available to the Lord and that I believe He wants us to work with young people outside of the church walls. Now Beccy has joined Turning the Tide and together we want to be used by God to bring some of these precious young souls into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Thank you Lord for bringing Matt across our path. Lord, we place him back into Your hands but at the same time ask that You will use us to reach many like him, for your glory….

New Years Resolutions……………

• I will give up chocolates totally. 100%. Completely. Honestly….
• I resolve to work with neglected children — my own.
• I will spend less than one hour a day on the Internet. This, of course, will be hard to estimate since I’m not a clock watcher.
• I will think of a password other than “password.”

A New Year’s DAY prayer for one and all……………

Dear Lord

So far this year I have done well,

I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that.

But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help. Amen

Hi Everyone!

We pray New Year blessings on you and all our supporters. Thank you for continuing to stand with us for a turning of the tide!

2008 ended well for us, with the Lord speaking as ever tenderly but also powerfully into our lives and ministry. He is our all and increasingly our highest priority is to hear His still, small voice and to obey it. That sounds so simple, doesn’t it?!

Following on from our last E-prayer bulletin, we continue to push forward on all the three contexts we explained – locally, nationally and internationally.

Locally we have been in prayer with our ministry partners, Jerome and Machelle, and the plan is to contact the school early in this term, hopefully this week. We would like to visit the headteacher to introduce ourselves and to offer our services.

Regarding the new national prayer network, Jon has another meeting of ‘The Roar’ planning group next week. In the meantime he is prayerfully inviting young people and others to come to the event in March.

Internationally Beccy and Jon are looking forward to the USA trip in April and we have a further specific prayer request:

Specific Prayer Request

Through the global Children in Prayer Task Force, Jon has been invited to work with the ‘Frontiers Mission’ organisation at their conference in Thailand in August 2009.

He has been asked to go possibly with a small team of young intercessors, to form part of an international team praying and ministering in that country. There may also be an option to visit Cambodia immediately afterwards with a similar mission.

Please join with us in prayer as we seek to discern if indeed this is the will of God for Jon and others, and as we ask for providence in terms of finance.

Additionally

Please would you also pray for the global ‘Children in Prayer movement’ as a whole who need a HUGE financial breakthrough worldwide? Obviously travel costs are an issue, with teams travelling internationally, often to or from third world countries. But what the Lord orders He pays for and much work is going into raising the necessary funds for this strategically vital ministry. So let’s join together in prayer with these people from across the nations.

Beccy

Please would you pray especially for Beccy at the start of another term in Aldrington Primary School, leading ‘Singing Club’ and worship assemblies. Also as she takes on new work in the second school (God-willing) and in the TTT office.

This week she has been suffering from a bug but we are hoping and believing that she is nearly better now.

Prophetic words

Over the last few days and of course at the start of another New Year, Jon has been reading some prophecies for 2009 passed to us by friends. By and large these have also been encouraging:

“Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.  If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17)

 3rd December 2008

At this Christmas time, as we celebrate God’s great love for the whole world in sending us His only Son, as a vulnerable baby, we are also mindful that Jesus’ destiny led Him to the cross. It also led to His glorious resurrection and through these awesome truths our eternal destiny has been wonderfully redeemed….

 Children of the Cross

God is raising up an army, made of those who are still young.

God is lifting up their voices, through the weak He’ll shame the strong.

It’s been prophesied they will prophesy, God’s salvation they will show;

For the promise is to the children, to our daughters, to our sons.

Children of the cross – a shining example,

Children of the cross – are singing His praise.

Children of the cross – are silencing the enemy,

Children of the cross – are saying the Lord saves.

 © 1997 Kingsway’s Thankyou Music – Words & music by Jim Bailey

 We have been singing this prophetic song with children for the last ten years or so; Beccy uses it regularly in Aldrington Primary School for example. More and more it seems to us that it is speaking about these vital days. We are witnessing and experiencing how God is doing just what it says.

Praise Him and read on!

 November – a month of three WONDERFUL encouragements

We have seen great answers to prayer in the last month and we have wonderfully exciting news to share in the local context, nationally and also internationally!

Locally

Jon and Beccy have been invited to partner more closely with a local Church minister and his wife, Jerome and Machelle Joseph, in a very exciting project. Jerome and Machelle have become dear friends and mentors to us and we are all very excited because we believe that the Lord has led us to this.

The work is planned to focus on young people in Brighton and Hove, to incorporate children in prayer amongst the unchurched and also to centre on a needy local primary school where Jerome and Machelle have connections. We envisage this becoming a focus for us week by week and Beccy extending her work (with the worship assemblies and the lunchtime club in Aldrington) to this new school.

Nationally

After over two years of vision forming and working towards it, two weeks ago there were some major breakthroughs towards establishing the new prayer movement we have been praying for, which would become a ‘Children’s Prayer Network’ for the UK Jon is working with John O’Brien (Sheffield) and Chrissie Wilkinson (Oxford) and together they are launching;

“The Roar”, UK Prayer Movement

We are now working on our first ‘gathering’ of “The Roar”; it’s planned for Friday 6^th to Sunday, 8^th March 2009. We have booked the prayer centre at Ashburnham and in faith we are planning for fifty folk to join us (youth, families and like-minded people).

More information and publicity to follow!

Internationally

Jon and Beccy have been invited to lead a ‘Youth Prayer Retreat’ in Ohio, USA next April, through a contact Jon has made through the Children in Prayer consultations.

Here are some more details:

Dates:              April 3 – 5, 2009

Location:        Beulah Beach Retreat Center, Vermillion, Ohio 

“This will be our 5th year for the retreat.  The past two years we have been running around 210 – 240 youth (6th – 12th grade, 12 -18 years old).  God has been meeting us in awesome ways each year.  Two years ago Atnne Peik from South Africa was with us.  He gave the youth a big picture of what God is doing through the prayers of youth.  They left with the excitement that they were not in this alone.  Last year Brad Jursak from Fresh Wind Ministry in Canada led the youth in knowing that they can hear God’s voice.  They left with such a joy knowing that God will answer them when the call.  They were also reassured of His great love for them.

“This year (2009) I have been sensing that the Lord has been speaking the word repentance to me.  I believe this next gathering the Lord wants to lead the youth into genuine repentance for themselves and for their generation etc.  When we were together in India I felt confident that the Lord was directing me your way.  I have continued to pray and still sense strongly to ask if you are available.

“‘Turning the Tide’ is exactly what we are ready for!”

 Our other news

Carl

We are still in touch with Carl and he sends his greetings as well as good reports: he and his family are all well, he is enjoying his new job and they all love their new, larger flat. Thank you for all your prayers, many of which have been answered!

Mel

Mel continues to be a great asset to Jon in the office. She too is thankful for the provision of their flat, which also came through prayer and is bigger and better than where they were living before.

Mel’s main prayer need now is that they are currently looking at schools for Curtis who is nearly four. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance for them in this. Thank you!

Jon and Beccy

We are enjoying the beginning of this new phase for us and we have just returned from an absolutely wonderful week away celebrating our silver wedding anniversary.

This, together with some IT problems at the office, is the reason for the slight delay in sending out this month’s update!

 Finance

We continue to be moved and encouraged by the kindness and generosity of our supporters – thank you! As the ministry grows, our financial need also increases and at the moment finance for our work is sourced from donations only. Would you prayerfully consider donating a small amount to our ministry each month or make a one off donation?  Cheques should be made payable to ‘Turning the Tide’ and remember, if you are a taxpayer then we are able to claim the tax element under the ‘Gift Aid Scheme’.

And last but not least…

Please remember our next TTT Prayer Morning; it’s planned for next Wednesday, (10^th December), from 10 a.m. until noon. The venue has now been changed to our offices at Room 1a, Enterprise House, 83a Western Road, Hove BN3 1JB. You are most welcome to join us for some or all of this time.

Please would you pray anyway, even if you can’t join us?

Thank you.

 Thank you so much for your support; we are more aware than ever how important our prayer partners and supporters are. Without the prayer, we could do nothing!

We are very grateful for all who pray for us regularly and who share our vision for the rising generation. May many, many of them find their purpose and destiny in the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for partnering with us in the Gospel and may we take this opportunity to wish you and a very Happy Christmas and a richly Blessed New Year.

Jon and the rest of the TTT team

 A fuller, illustrated version of this prayer letter is available on our website – www.turning-the-tide.com. Please do check it for latest news and resources.

For those of you who use Facebook, TTT has a Facebook group; just search Groups for ‘Turning the Tide’.

3^rd November 2008

Turning the Tide – The Vision

Many of you will have received a lengthy letter from us last month, as well as some other literature, setting out the renewed Vision of TTT as well as some changes within the ministry. For the benefit of those who did not and to emphasise the more important bits of the literature we sent, this month we thought it would be helpful to publish an excerpt of that publication that explains the TTT vision.

God wants us / me to be available to Him. He wants relationship, He wants first place in my life and He also wants to be allowed to be God! “His ways are not our ways” He says. And, I have learnt, I am called to be a pioneer!

In the current season this seems to necessitate not taking on regular commitments. By being freer I am available and I am being used by the Lord. This is (regrettably) quite alien to me but hugely liberating and enjoyable!

This new perspective is enabling and encouraging me to be more prayerful, about what I take on but also about how I live each day. I feel closer to Him (generally) and when I do do things, I am more able to do them in His power and strength. Even as I am writing this, I am hearing His voice more clearly.

God has spoken to me a lot about the Church over the last two years or so and the ‘new wine’ that He is pouring out. He has very definitely taken Beccy and me on a journey away from the established Church, at least for the time being. We are now also enjoying this and finding it releasing. We are so thankful to many friends who have been so supportive and understanding in this context. The Lord seems to have put many people strategically in our path!

As God has moved in this aspect of our personal lives, He has also been revealing more of His plans for our ministry and giving us direction.

Jon feels specifically called to Children in Prayer and there are openings in this area both nationally and internationally. The conference he attended in India in July confirmed a lot of the things the Lord seems to have been saying.

So what, or even more importantly who, are we called to?

• Children and teenagers, so precious to the Lord – we always have been and, we sense and hope, always will be called to minister to the youth!
• We are called primarily to the unchurched young generation, i.e. to those children and youth who are not connected to a church. As we know, in the UK these represent the vast majority. The basis of our ministry will be established locally, amongst individuals, groups and families as well as through those projects the Lord leads us to.
• We believe we are to reach out with the Gospel and to start by teaching them about prayer. Not just that but we are to teach them to pray and to worship. We believe that their conversion will come in this way, out of their new and growing relationship with the Lord.
• We believe the Lord will help us to be Church to the young people we reach out to. We will not seek to establish Church fellowships but to facilitate and encourage friendships and relational groupings who will meet, talk, pray, worship and generally ‘do life’ together.
• We have learnt that God is raising up an ‘end-time generation’ and changing the world through the prayers of His young people worldwide, often outside and even in spite of the mainstream Church! We believe He wants us to establish many ‘Houses of Prayer’ here in the UK, outside of the established Church, amongst these young people. He will show us how He wants us to network, both with other ministries (at a peer level) and with other children and youth who pray (sheep level).
• The Lord has given us the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14 and Matthew 22) as a model of how we are to organise future regional or national children’s prayer events.
• In all of this to be pioneers, carriers of the ‘new wine’.

This is my vision for the ongoing work of Turning the Tide; we believe this is His blueprint for seeing the tide turn, amongst the youth especially and for REVIVAL!!

The Lord will use our gifts, our willingness, our contacts and everything we have (and will offer) to this end. The ‘turning’ will be achieved in His way through relationship with Him and prayer.

‘Jon (and Beccy)’s Journey’

Beccy and I attended what felt like a very significant conference last week, during half-term. It encouraged us in our personal lives as well as in terms of the Vision of TTT which we have shared by letter and above. We have seen some significant things happening this week, with God impacting our lives and our schedules! Yesterday for example, the Lord led Jon to invite a friend to help him with an assembly he had booked and then both of them to go out on the streets to evangelise! They realised that God had been saying the same thing to both of them – “be available to Me!”

In the week before half-term, Beccy and Jon were both involved in the whole school mission at Cardinal Newman Catholic School. They led six workshops, with different age groups, under the title of ‘Diving In’. The young people were affirmed that God loves them and has always loved them, challenged about their relationship with Jesus and encouraged to go deeper with Him. It was a wonderfully encouraging experience for Beccy and Jon, to see many children responding and wanting to go deeper, and some wanting TO DIVE into a deep relationship with God their Father.

The Lord continues to move in us and we believe to lead us to greater things in Him. Jon is now feeling inspired to get going with regular blogs on both the website and the Facebook group, which hopefully will be insightful and inspiring. So watch out for these in the very near future!

Comments and Suggestions

Your feedback is extremely important to us.  If you have a compliment, suggestion or concern about TTT, please let us know; we’d love to hear from you.

And last but not least…

Please don’t forget our next Prayer Morning; it’s planned for next Wednesday, (12^th November), from 10 a.m. until noon. The venue has now been changed to our offices at Room 1a, Enterprise House, 83a Western Road, Hove BN3 1JB. You are most welcome to join us for some or all of this time.

Please would you pray anyway, even if you can’t join us?

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your support; we are more aware than ever how important our prayer partners and supporters are. Without the prayer, we could do nothing!

We are very grateful for all who pray for us regularly and who share our vision for the rising generation. May many, many of them find their purpose and destiny in the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for partnering with us in the Gospel.

Jon and the rest of the TTT team

A fuller, illustrated version of this prayer letter is available on our website – www.turning-the-tide.com. Please do check it for latest news and resources.

For those of you who use Facebook, TTT has a Facebook group; just search Groups for ‘Turning the Tide’.

Dear Friends

Why Not You?

Colossians 3 v 23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

A parishioner called into church one Sunday morning and was having a conversation with the Vicar about an acquaintance who had had to leave his home because he had not paid the rent and had nowhere to go.  He had called at the parishioner’s house for help to find a place to stay for the weekend and the parishioner had offered to ring the church office for assistance.  Of course being a weekend the church office phone rang repeatedly to no avail, so the parishioner was forced to put this acquaintance up.  “For future reference” he asked the Vicar, “could you tell me if the church could have taken him in”.  The vicar replied “the church did”.

Very often we are confronted with situations like the one above and expect someone else to deal with it, perhaps we feel the Pastor is more suitable or maybe one of the more prominent members of the church. But why not you? Although we call ourselves Christians, day by day we come across opportunities to demonstrate the Christian faith and yet we turn them down.  Don’t be a bench warmer in the Christian faith, you are part of a team and need to pull your weight too.

Take time to consider this – are you passing up on an opportunity to receive your blessing?  ……….

Schools Work

It has been a good start to the term in the lunch time clubs and the numbers, particularly at Blatchington Mill 6^th Form, have been great. The response to the teams going in has continued to be very encouraging and the schools are becoming more and more open to the support of Christians helping in the schools.

Jon and Carl are doing an assembly at St. Mary’s Hall on Monday (6^th October) where they will be speaking about the magnitude and diversity of God. Please pray for Jon and Carl and that the young people will all leave with a fresh view of God.

Along with other Christian ministers in the city, Jon, Beccy and Carl have also been invited to take part in the imminent whole school mission at Cardinal Newman Catholic (Secondary) School. The mission will be to over 1,600 11 to 16 year olds; it starts on Monday, 20^th October and runs for four days. Carl is helping to mentor young worship leaders in the school whilst Jon and Beccy are leading workshops under the title of ‘Diving In’, challenging the students about faith being a relationship and going deeper with God.

… and it’s goodbye from him … a personal note from Carl

It is with great sadness and yet excitement for the future that I announce I am leaving the ministry of Turning the Tide.

I have been working for Jon and Beccy for exactly three years and we all believe now is the right time for me to move on and explore what else God has for me. So in two weeks I will be joining the ‘Off the Fence’ schools team to continue working in the lunchtime clubs and to look at the possibility of building a ‘boy’s group’ ministry within the schools that they currently have contact with.

Although I shall miss working for Turning the Tide, I will continue to support the ministry in whatever ways I can and hope you can all do the same. What Jon and Beccy are doing continues to be a great and important ministry for our city and indeed for the whole nation. I aim to keep up the partnership between Off the Fence and Turning the Tide and I am looking forward to seeing what God is going to do through both ministries.

I want to take this time to thank all those who have been faithful in supporting me both financially and in prayer and although I am moving on I would like to urge you to continue to support TTT.

I hope that I can still keep you updated through Jon and also Off the Fence as to how the schools work is going so that you can continue to pray for this crucial ministry in our city.

Thank you again and God bless

Carl

‘Jon’s Journey’

As you can tell, there are some big changes happening at TTT. Beccy is getting very excited about joining the work, whilst we are aware that Jess is very soon to leave us for Uni. God continues to watch over us all as a family…

I am pleased to be able to say that you will shortly be receiving a fuller letter through the post, which sets out our up-to-date vision for TTT and its ministry.

Comments and Suggestions

Your feedback is extremely important to us.  If you have a compliment, suggestion or concern about TTT, please let us know; we’d love to hear from you.

And last but not least…

Please don’t forget our next Prayer Morning; it’s planned for next Wednesday,

(8^th October), from 10 a.m. until noon, at St Luke’s Church, Old Shoreham Road, Brighton, BN1 5DD. You are most welcome to join us for some or all of this time.

Please would you pray anyway, even if you can’t join us?

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your support; we are more aware than ever how important our prayer partners and supporters are. Without the prayer, we could do nothing!

We are very grateful for all who pray for us regularly and who share our vision for the rising generation. May many, many of them find their purpose and destiny in the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for partnering with us in the Gospel.

Jon and the rest of the TTT team – Carl, Mel, Beccy

A fuller, illustrated version of this prayer letter is available on our website – www.turning-the-tide.com. Please do check it for latest news and resources.