Catching up with Heather Wells

Heather Wells

It was great spending time with Mark and Heather Wells and getting to meet new people. Heather is such a lovely lady. I enjoy our “straight talk” as well as taking walks with her dog. Nice! This is what she had to say……

M.M: Which church are you now attending?
H.W: We now attend Oakham Baptist School Church.

M.M: How is your work at the Council?
H.W: Very busy. There is lots of change happening with the new government and all their plans. Education never stands still: from 0 – 19, we try to improve the outcomes for children no only academically but in social, family and community work which is very exciting.

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character?
H.W: Esther, a woman with conviction and positive influence

M.M: What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?
H.W: Sheep’s eye – not to be recommended. Very squishy!!

M.M: Who has influenced you the most recently?
H.W: Mark, my husband. He has been very determined through difficult times and has been unflinching in his belief in me and what God can and is doing?

M.M: Always a delight talking to you. Be blessed in the work you are doing.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Angela Vincent

Angela Vincent

I first met Angela Vincent in 2001 and have great memories of going punting with her, her husband Peter and some friends in Cambridge. It was excellent. Peter leads Community Church in Bishop’s Stortford which meets at The Charis Centre. He has been leading this church for 19 years. Over the years, I have come to really value Angela’s friendship. It was GREAT seeing her in the ‘lanes’ in Brighton and having tea together in Bishop’s Stortford. Here is what she says

M.M: Tell me briefly about your background?
A.V: I was brought up in a little northern-English village, where I was related to almost everyone! My family had for generations worked in cotton weaving or farming – my sister and I were the first ones to be encouraged to broaden our horizons and go to University! In the village, chapel was either off your radar or the centre of life. Since my mum was a chapel-goer, so was I. I learned lots about God, but didn’t know Him and was pretty turned off by what I considered to be the hypocrisy of going to church on a Sunday, then meeting up to gossip about the minister during the week. One of my friends at secondary school started calling himself a Christian, which intrigued me – I assumed that since I wasn’t a Muslim or an atheist, I must be a Christian! But it didn’t click for me until I was 17 and heard, for the first time in my life, the real Gospel and realized that what I was thinking and doing hurt God. I was so, so sorry and so, so grateful that Jesus had died in my place. It cost me to walk down the chapel aisle, in front of people I’d known all my life, to commit my life into God’s hands, but faced with what I now would call grace, I couldn’t have done anything else.

M.M: How best would you describe your family life?
A.V: My family life now? I think I’d say “constantly evolving”. We’re a close family, probably more so as we educated our two daughters at home, for the most part. Peter being in church leadership means that there’s no such thing as regular hours but also that he got to see quite a bit of them as they’ve grown up. They are now 23 and 20, really loving God and seeking His will for their lives. That’s a source of immense pleasure to me and I thank God every day for them and ask for His blessing on their lives and the people they mix with. Both are currently based here, though Ellen’s away at university studying physiotherapy for two-thirds of the year. We have our share of strife but lots of laughing and sharing, too! Peter is the sole male and has to put up with some girly stuff, but he copes.

M.M: What have been the highlights of ministry?
A.V: oohh…… getting to spend time with people and see the journey that God’s taking them on. I regularly have a few tears of joy when I see people I know and love stepping out into things they wouldn’t have done just a while ago. More recently, too, I’ve been able to do more things with Peter, whether here in the church, in the region that he serves or overseas – Sweden, central Asia and Ukraine particularly. We work well together!!

M.M: Any challenges you’d like to share?
A.V: hmmm… There have been more than a few hairy moments in the life of the church, times when we’ve had to seek God, even asking, “Do you still want us here? If You do, You’ll have to straighten all this out!!” Keeping my attitude good has been key at those times, especially when people say things that are hurtful about your husband. And as family life changes with changing age, maintaining the balance of attention, time and love between church, family members and others is a constant challenge.

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character?
A.V: I don’t know that I have a favourite… I have a favourite Bible prophecy!! Does that count? It’s when someone prophecies simply, “The Lord is with you”. Now, the listeners could have thought, “yeah, that’s obvious. Tell us something we don’t know”, but they took it as God’s encouragement and that simple line made it into Scripture. That encourages me that the simplest truths at the right time can have far-reaching effect.

M.M: What do you do to relax?
A.V: I like to get on the piano and doodle! In fact, music plays a big part in my life, whether listening, playing or singing. Playing in the church worship team is a big commitment but amazingly recreational as well. Plus, I like crafts of different types, like making greetings cards out of bits and pieces - reflects my thrifty upbringing!! Just chatting with friends rates very highly and I definitely get energy from being with people.

M.M: You certainly are GREAT to be around. Thanks so much Angela.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Catherine Hunter

Catherine Hunter

M.M: Tell me briefly about your background?
C.H: I’ve been a Christian since I was 12. I trained as a primary teacher and meet Steve (my husband), though mutual Christian friends. We moved to near Dorchester just after we married and joined NF church there. Then we moved to Weymouth in 2002 to help plant the church there. We have 4 children, Hannah who is 11, Jemimah 9, Ben 7 and Abigail 5.

M.M: How best would you describe your family life?
C.H: Busy! All the children are now at school full time, so I have started to do some supply teaching. Hannah has started secondary school, so we are always busy with their social lives and homework etc.

M.M: Were there any significant changes in your life when Steve started leading Weymouth Family Church?
C.H: Yes, Steve had a lot more people to see and meetings to go to, and we had added responsibility to oversee other leaders. Obviously Steve had to carry more weight and that had a knock on impact on all of us.

M.M: What have been some of the highlights in ministry?
C.H: I love seeing people becoming Christians and then growing in their faith. I love encouraging leaders in what they are doing and seeing their gifts develop. Meeting people from overseas churches has also been a privilege and a great opportunity to learn and grow. We have started a women’s ministry group that I’ve enjoyed helping to run.

M.M: Great! Any challenges you’d like to share?
C.H: It is always hard to see friends face struggles. Also I find conflict amongst fellow Christians a sad thing to deal with. It’s a challenge as well to see non-christian friends walking away from God.

M.M: What is your favourite quote?
C.H: Difficult to answer, I read lots of books and tend to only remember the last one! Also have lots of the parts of the bible which are favourites. Steve used the message translation of Romans 12 v 8 to the end which was inspirational and found a prayer from Blaise Pascal in Where is God When it Hurts? By Phillip Yancey, but it s a bit long to type out!

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character and why?
C.H: David, partly because I love the Psalms. I also like God’s description of David being a man after His own heart. The other reason is that David messed up on so many levels and yet God still loved and used him in His plans.

M.M: If you were to encourage ladies out there, what would you say?
C.H Never believe that God has given up on you. Keep learning about Him and believing in His promises. Also the grass is rarely greener on the other side, we have all we need in Jesus.

M.M: Thanks so much Catherine.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Megan Land

Megan Land with her family


Megan Land is married to Drew and they lead Hope Church in Durban. They have been leading Hope Church for…3 1/2…years. Megan and Drew have 4 children:……Jonas aged…9., …Eden aged 8..,…Daia aged 5 and ……Anya aged 4.

M.M: Tell me briefly about your background?
M.L:I grew up in a small town in Texas. I have one younger brother. I had the privilege of growing up in a loving Christian home. I made a commitment to follow Jesus when I was 15 and was filled with the Holy Spirit at 18. I longed to serve God and the poor and see people from all nations come to know him. Drew and I fell in love at a young age and got married when I was 20. We then moved to England for six years, where we served at the Kings Arms Church. Then we moved to South Africa, where we served a church in Pietermaritzburg for three years and have now been in Durban for four years.

M.M: How best would you describe your family life?
M.L: My family life now is busy, noisy, messy and full of fun! We have been blessed with four kids so it is never boring. We love being together as a family - camping, having people over and doing silly things together.

M.M: Were there any significant changes in your life when you and Drew planted out in Durban?
M.L: Yes. One major change was that I gave birth to my fourth child. So balancing a new birth of a child and a new birth of a church was a challenge. We also had to learn again the different ways that we lead and how to depend completely on God together.

M.M: What have been some of the highlights in ministry?
M.L: The best highlights have been seeing people come to know Jesus for the first time. We had a young man who works at the school our kids go to. He just felt drawn to speak to Drew one day and felt like he needed to come to church. God met with him in a wonderful way and he committed his life to Jesus. His mom then started coming to church and she became a christian as well. His younger brother now is walking with the Lord in a radical way. So that is one example of seeing an entire family changed and its been a wonderful privilege.

M.M: Any challenges you’d like to share?
M.L: The biggest challenge for me has been the identity issues that planting a church has brought out. The reality is everyone will not like you or like what you do. I realized how much stake I put in what other people think about me. I have also struggled with the issue of wanting the church to be successful and people to perceive it as successful. So God is taking me on a journey of learning to depend on Him and want to please Him above everything and everyone!

M.M: Amazing and so honest! What is your favourite quote?
M.L: “Love to be real, it must cost - it must hurt - it must empty of self” Mother Teresa

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character and why?
M.L: My favourite Bible character is probably the woman who poured perfume on Jesus' feet. I want to live a life like that. Totally consumed with Jesus and not letting anything around me hold me back from a life of extravagant worship.

M.M: If you were to encourage ladies out there, what would you say?
M.L: I would say pursue intimacy with Jesus above all else. Find your identity as a beautiful daughter of God and know that God delights in who you are before you do anything for him.

By Molly Manhanga

Catching up with Lindsey Pettit

Lindsey Pettit

At present Lindsey is living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has 3 children Emily is her oldest and she is married to Ryan. She is a journalist. Charles is the middle child and he is married to Barbara. They have Lily and Harrison, Lindsey's 2 totally adorable grandchildren – Charles does something amazing in finance (not sure what) and Lindsey's youngest child is Alice. She is a beautician.
Lindsey is so grateful at the moment that they are all are living in Cape Town. They have all travelled widely and lived abroad but like homing pigeons they have come home to roost - so They have great hilarious noisy family times together quite often.

M.M: Tell me briefly about your background?
L.P: I was born in Horsham Sussex and lived all my life in Sussex until we uprooted in 1990 and moved to Cape Town. I met my late husband Simon at school and we married after we had finished university. We both taught for a while and then our children were born. About that time Simon left teaching, studied theology and then went full time as a Baptist Pastor so I had to learn how to be hospitable and pastoral. It didn’t come naturally. I had to work hard at it.

M.M: How best would you describe your family life?
L.P: When we meet together very noisy – we all talk at the same time and we eat together a lot which is something we all enjoy. I love cooking large amounts and having an open house and table – I really enjoy my children. They are all individual and have very distinct strong personalities

.

M.M: Were there any significant changes in your life when Simon passed away?
L.P: What didn’t change? Overnight it all changed – obviously we all lost a huge and significant and loved person. His influence and character had spread far and wide and the loss in all areas of my life was immense.
I had to learn how to be a single parent and take responsibility in areas that Simon had managed in our marriage – like paying bills etc. I didn’t like that and I am still not that great at administration. Even in areas like driving around, I had to do the late night pick ups and learn to be mum and dad.
I had travelled widely with him and when he passed away I had to learn to do that on my own. The first time I stayed in a hotel room on my own was very hard and very lonely but these things become easier with time.
There are some advantages strange as it may seem, returning to singleness - I can eat sushi (Simon hated it ) and spend as long as I like clothes shopping and buy nothing and not have to explain – to an exasperated husband - why that was a good outing

M.M: What have been some of the highlights in ministry?
L.P: Definitely my work in Pollsmoor Prison. Jesus’s words in Matthew 25 struck me to the heart ‘……I was in prison and you visited me ‘ It wasn’t so hard to go and visit – that was all Jesus asked and in doing that simple thing I found my own heart being healed and restored. Sometimes I feel so expectant about going to prison – it is like going to visit Jesus. I work with juveniles and I can see the eyes of Jesus reflected through the eyes of a wounded child .

M.M: Any challenges you’d like to share?
L.P: Being a single woman is a huge challenge in so many ways. It is difficult to know where I fit in.

M.M: What is your favourite quote?
L.P: So many – but this I wrote in the front of my bible “ ….far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though chequered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the great twilight’ Theodore Rooseveldt

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character and why?
L.P: David – he is interesting and in spite of glaring faults is described as a ‘man after Gods heart’ and I have a feeling that he would have been very handsome!!

M.M: Interesting! I recall what an amazing job you did with Titus 2 Ladies? Are you still actively involved in ministering to women?
L.P: Not at all – in fact I work almost exclusively with men. I work in a male prison with male colleagues – one day a week I work with Ambassadors in Sport who run a football academy in prison – so I work alongside the football coaches - I oversee and facilitate educational programmes for the inmates.

I think God has a seriously funny sense of humour in that frequently I feel I’m the wrong gender, wrong generation, wrong nationality and belong to the wrong language group to be working with male inamtes in prison – and yet somehow it all comes together and it’s great!

M.M: If you were to encourage ladies out there, what would you say?
L.P: Romans 8 v28 is my all time encouraging quote “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him……” Whatever happens however indescriminate or seemingly worthless God is working and because God is only good we can trust Him with everything – we will make mistakes – it is at those times we know we need God more than when we feel all is going well – when we make mistakes and fall and fail, we are humble and then we expereience the warmth and healing power of our great mysterious and wonderful God

M.M: Thanks so much Lindsey. This is excellent. All things certainly do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes.

By Molly Manhanga