4acrefarm

July, August, September.

Its been a little while! If you know us you will know that our newsletters are generally not very frequent. We love living the life the Lord has called us to which can be all consuming at times, so the opportunity to stop, reflect and write doesn’t come by easily. So by way of a catch up I hope this brings you up to date with all that has been happening in the last 6 months!

We started a 3 month sabbatical in July 2025 this was the first time we had stepped back from ministry since October 2009 when we began serving at NDHOP ( North Devon House Of Prayer). We were so blessed that Jon and Sherece Moles stepped up to lead the NDHOP team throughout this time alongside our other leader Beth Burgess. Thank you to those who supported and encouraged them it was greatly appreciated.

We went into the Sabbatical period with an expectation of God speaking and us resting and having much desired family time. However what we experienced was somewhat unexpected! It was a time of testing and refining more than we have experienced in a while. Instead of resting we were up early seeking the Lord and waking in the night answering his promptings. Not much resting was taking place. The Lord was using that time to strip away things of old and allow us to be restored and ready for more. It has been somewhat of an emotional and exhausting time not just regarding our spiritual walk but also the day to day practical issues that arose.

We have 5 children and 4 acres of land on the farm and another 5 acres that we rent for our flock of sheep, as well as other animals too. Also we are converting an out building into an annex for Mary’s mother to come and live alongside us which should be ready in spring 2026. We have never build anything before so this is a new experience and to achieve this we need to be part of the labour process so we are learning a lot right now about renovating.

Esther our eldest daughter recently bought a 2 yr old pony Star which the Lord amazingly worked out for her, but as some already know Star had an accident on our farm and her leg was injured. We had to call out the Vet to attend and this unfortunately mounted up to a bill of over 2k. The Lord is bringing this bill down bit by bit. Praise God! Esther has shown incredible care and strength nursing Star back to full health over the last couple of months. Esther hopes to take Star to national level showing competitions and possible breed her in the future.

The rest of our sabbatical remained strained and due to finances we were unable to go anywhere or do much at all. We really appreciated the time together as a family, we studied the bible together daily we spent time in prayer together and played a lot of volleyball and rounders in the paddock. It was only in the final 10 days that the Lord began to release to us the next part of the journey.

Before we took our sabbatical we had already heard from the Lord concerning our future involvement in NDHOP. We felt the Lord say that there was something different for us in ministry and that Jon and Sherece Moles were to be the next leaders of NDHOP. We would continue to support NDHOP and oversee the prayer room but we knew we were going to be focusing our time more nationally rather than locally. We were waiting for the Lord to confirm to us what we were sensing from him. The final few days of sabbatical suddenly everything went faster paced and many times over we received direct confirmation of what we felt God had said. The confirmation came in different forms from different places and people none who knew anything of what we were thinking. When we shared all of this with those we are in accountability with there was a resounding agreement that Jim and I were to step down from leading NDHOP and Jon and Sherece Moles were to become the new leaders. So without hesitation we met with Jon and Sherece and the other leaders and trustees of NDHOP to share this news. As you can imagine God had already gone ahead of us and prepared the way. Jon had heard from God that this would happen although he was not expecting it to be so soon! It was a joy to pray Jon and Sherece into this new role.

Recently on January 9th 2026 we had a commissioning meeting for Jon and Sherece it was a delight to see the local leaders of churches and ministries come alongside them to encourage them in the task ahead.

Interestingly as soon as we were empty handed so to speak, it was a only a few days before the Lord opened another door. Jim has been part of the British Isles Houses of Prayer network for many years and more recently has been contributing to the annual gathering alongside other leaders. We received an invitation just days later inviting us to lead the BIHOP network. This lined up perfectly with what the Lord had been saying to us about having a wider focus not just a local one. We are excited by this opportunity and as you know Jim has ridden his bike around the entire British Isles (Pedal and Pray)so we already have a large list of connections to follow up in the coming months and no doubt years ahead. Our task is to connect with Houses of Prayer all across the British Isles, provide support, training and direction as needed. We will also facilitate gatherings across the year for HOPS to be strengthen and raise awareness of what HOPS are. We will also be serving the body of Christ concerning prayer and worship and how HOPs can connect with churches etc. We also would love to connect with schools, business and where-ever the Lord leads regarding prayer and worship. If you think we can be of help to you or a church, ministry etc you are involved in do get in touch! We also have been working on producing resources to share what HOPs are and why, alongside our faith stories and adventures with God. Hopefully the first of these will be published in the coming months of 2026.

Regarding our financial provision we have been struggling to match our income with our outgoings. We have always lived by faith financially meaning we have no salary or income from NDHOP as a ministry and we are solely supported by donations from people like yourselves. Our new role continues to be without salary.

Due to having land, animals, a large family and property to maintain we are increasingly having a monthly shortfall. We ask you to consider partnering with us on a monthly basis or sending a one off gift. We know that there is much more work for us to do ahead. The Lord has released us to serve across the Nations not just in North Devon anymore and with this comes increased travel costs. We would also like to host families/leaders/individuals at the farm to have a time of rest and healing, This requires greater finance to improve the properties we have and provide hospitality for these guests. The Lord has also been releasing new ideas for micro business from the farm using the produce which is another way we hope to bring in additional funds however this has start up costs first. If you are interested in partnering with us or pledging finance to help with the site, infrastructure, hospitality or business we would love to hear from you. If you are able to assist us in other ways either prayer or practical tasks we would also love to hear from you too!

Here are some photos from the last season – amidst the shifting!