Welcome to Heartlands, the quarterly e-publication for EmpowHer, a network of Tasmanian women growing and encouraging each other in their God-given potential.
To find out about EmpowHer events and activities for women in Tasmania, subscribe using the button, below.
Like many of the Karen and Chin Baptists in Tasmania, navigating childhood in a displacement camp is difficult. It is a place where every aspect of your world is uncertain. From the food you eat to the education you have access to.
Separated from her parents at an early age, Neang lives in a displacement camp in Myanmar with her extended family. As the oldest child, she regularly cares for her younger cousins, but she receives little attention from other adults at home.
Welcome to Heartlands, the quarterly e-publication for EmpowHer, a network of Tasmanian women growing and encouraging each other in their God-given potential.
To find out about EmpowHer events and activities for women in Tasmania, subscribe to HEARTLANDS EmpowHer News.
Once again, all women are welcome! As long you and your guests are happy to hear about God’s abundance in their lives, we’re ready to host them.
Next steps: Add the date to your diary, ask your friends/family and REGISTER NOW!
We’re looking forward to seeing you there.
Love, The EmpowHer team
L to R: Jenny Baxter (State Leader), Jenna Blackwell (N), Heidi Brosch (NW), Leeanne Garvin (S), Ann Herbert (S), Anthea Maynard (N), Carolyn Smith (NW)
PROFILE: TRACY VALENTINE
Keynote Speaker, Day of Abundance
Long an advocate for Baptist women, Tracy Valentine has previously served in a range of church-related roles including as a pastor (in roles specifically ministering to children and families), as a chaplain and in state and national roles with the Queensland Baptist Churches.
All women are welcome! As long you and your guests are happy to hear about God’s abundance in their lives, the team is ready to host you.
Next steps: Add the date to your diary, ask your friends/family and make sure you register before all spots are taken!
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Love, The EmpowHer team
L to R: Jenny Baxter (State Leader), Jenna Blackwell (N), Heidi Brosch (NW), Leeanne Garvin (S), Ann Herbert (S), Anthea Maynard (N), Carolyn Smith (NW)
Heartlands Autumn 2026
To find out about EmpowHer events and activities for women in Tasmania, subscribe to HEARTLANDS EmpowHer News.
Welcome to Heartlands, the quarterly e-publication for EmpowHer, a network of Tasmanian women growing and encouraging each other in their God-given potential.
To find out about EmpowHer events and activities for women in Tasmania, subscribe to HEARTLANDS EmpowHer News.
Get your diary out and highlight Saturday 24 October, 2026
Yes! We’re gathering the women of Tasmanian once more, this time to celebrate God’s ever-flowing provision and extravagance. God creates all life AND sustains all things AND loves all humanity. Over and over and over. For all eternity.
Let’s explore that space.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:29 (NIV)
The Day of Abundance will take place on Saturday 24 October 2026 at Riverlands in Longford.
Tracy Valentine, President, Baptist Women of the Pacific – our region
The same as our previous gatherings, all women are welcome! As long you and your guests are happy to hear about God’s abundance in their lives, we’re ready to host them.
Next steps: Add the date to your diary, ask your friends/family and watch out for registration details, available soon.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Love, The EmpowHer team
L to R: Jenny Baxter (State Leader), Jenna Blackwell (N), Heidi Brosch (NW), Leeanne Garvin (S), Ann Herbert (S), Anthea Maynard (N), Carolyn Smith (NW)
PROFILE: JENNA BLACKWELL
Continuing our series: Baptist women of Tasmania
Jenna Blackwell works with the Tasmanian Baptist team as the leadership coach and co-pastors City Baptist in Launceston.
LEARN FROM PAUL’S WORDS REMINDING TIMOTHY of the sincere faith of his grandmother and mother.
Excerpt from Jenny Baxter’s Courageous Womanhood reflections. You can check out Part One as her gift to you.
MAY MISSION MONTH
What’s Love Look Like? podcast series
With Nathan Reid
The What’s Love Look Like? podcast series is hosted by Nathan Reid, Baptist Mission Australia’s Mobilisation Manager.
Throughout the series, he connects with people around the world and in Australia who are seeking to embody the Gospel and share God’s love in relevant ways.
INSPIRATION FOR WOMEN by EmpowHer State Leader, Jenny Baxter
Soul Storyteller is a reflective space for faithful women. For those who carry responsibility with tenderness. Who want their inner life to grow as strong as their outer one.
Jenny will soon send personal reflections and stories straight to your inbox, from her, directly to you. Of course, if that’s not your thing, every email will have an easy unsubscribe option.
You are reading Heartlands AUTUMN 2026. You could also catch up with past issues:
What have you received from your mother, grandmothers and others who came before you?
By EmpowHer State Leader, Jenny Baxter
“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” 2 Timothy 1:5 (NIV)
Legacy in motion
Paul’s words to Timothy always move me: I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice.
Have you noticed how faith passes through generations? A legacy of prayers, stories and belief often seems to carry through from parent to child. Or sometimes, it’s grandparent to grandchild. Timothy carried what both his grandmother and mother had given him.
Both of my grandmothers were women of faith. Like Timothy, I inherited something I never saw firsthand: a generational legacy. Sadly, one grandmother, Grandma Meadows, died before I was born. The other, my Gran, left us when I was only four. Yet, here I am today, a recipient of their legacy.
That’s one of the strange and wonderful things about legacy. It doesn’t require our presence to keep being transferred. Stories carry it; prayer carries it. A mother’s faith, held quietly over decades, passes something real to children who will one day pass it on themselves. I am living proof of that. And perhaps you are too.
A mother’s faith, held quietly over decades, passes something real to children who will one day pass it on themselves.
While I was unfamiliar with my own grandmothers, I did know Stephen’s. Grandma Baxter. Through her, I learned what a praying grandmother’s legacy looks like, up close.
The gift of being seen
A four-gen photo: Stephen, his Dad, Grandma and one of our girls.
Stephen tells me Grandma understood him better than anyone.
“When I was growing up,” he explains, “she would look into my eyes and ask how I was. And I just knew she saw me. Really saw me. It’s like she could see deep into my soul.”
To be truly seen by someone is a gift. It requires the other person to slow down, to set aside their own noise and to be genuinely curious about your interior world. Grandma Baxter gave that to Stephen. It was a consistent posture of love. Stephen still knows it. Decades on, Grandma’s affirmation of him still shapes who he is.
What are you leaving?
Even in her final years, when illness confined her to bed, her bones riddled with Paget’s disease, Grandma prayed faithfully for each grandchild. Stephen carries that legacy still, not just the prayers she prayed for him, but the way she saw him.
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
That’s the legacy we leave to the next generation, whether or not we are mothers or grandmothers. It’s not just what we say or do. It’s also about those who follow us feeling seen, known, and prayed for.
As you think about the women behind you, those who prayed, who stayed, who quietly held faith through hard seasons, why not also turn to look forward? Consciously see the daughters, granddaughters and younger women who are watching you right now. Notice the boys and men in your life as well. Like Timothy, they are already inheriting something from you. It may not be something you announce or intend. It may simply be the way you see them.
That might be enough. In fact, it might be everything.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you welcomed little children into your presence. Help me welcome them into my life and prayers as well. Thank you that my prayers for the next generation can shape their futures long after I’m gone. May the legacy I leave be one of faithful, fervent prayer. A blessing that outlives me. Amen.
The Legacy You are Leaving is an excerpt from Courageous Womanhood*, by Jenny Baxter, EmpowHer* State Leader
Courageous Womanhood will soon be released by Jenny Baxter. It contains 28 reflections to inspire and encourage you. To receive Part One as a gift, head to Jenny’s website here: jennybaxter.com.au/courageous
* EmpowHer is the women’s ministry of Tasmanian Baptists
Welcome to Heartlands, the quarterly e-publication for EmpowHer, a network of Tasmanian women growing and encouraging each other in their God-given potential.
To find out about EmpowHer events and activities for women in Tasmania, subscribe to HEARTLANDS EmpowHer News.
PRACTICAL SHOPPING! Do you know who made your clothes? What about the source of the fabric? How about thread, fastenings and dyes used? Every year, Baptist World Aid Australia asks all those questions, and more, to release a fashion report to guide you in ethical purchasing.
Hannah: Persistent Prayer in Pain is an excerpt from Courageous Womanhood*, by Jenny Baxter, EmpowHer** State Leader
1 Samuel 1:10-11 (NIV)
In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow … “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son … I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life …”
Hannah was persistent. For years she remained childless, yet she kept praying. This incident was the culmination of many temple visits and this time around, God answered. Samuel was born, becoming a major prophet of Israel.
I know Hannah’s pain. Not from childlessness but watching my beautiful daughter long for marriage. As she grew up, she could only imagine being a wife and mother. When her grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she asked him to write a letter for her wedding day, even with no potential husband in sight.
Decades unfolded and I kept praying, sometimes with tears of anguish! It was a blow when she reached her thirtieth birthday and she realised her life had gone on such a tangent.
By thirty-three, my girl was ready to give up. “I don’t think I can put myself out there anymore, Mum,” she said tearfully one day.
Then, I remembered: “There’s that letter for your wedding!”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” She paused. “Alright, I’ll give it one more try.”
Months later, she met “Mr Right” online. Within a year, she was engaged! Together, we read that letter from her grandfather, tears flowing, on her wedding day.
Remember: God hears every desperate prayer. Even decades-long ones.
Journal Prompts
Do you have unanswered prayers? Write them down, whether it is one or many. Read Matthew 7:7-8 slowly: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Now pray these words back to God, asking for Hannah’s persistent faith to keep praying, even when answers feel far away.
God’s answers to prayer come in three forms: ‘Yes,’ ‘Wait,’ or ‘No.’ Look at your list again. Which prayers might God be saying ‘Wait’ to, asking you to persist like Hannah? Which might be ‘No’, where you need to release control and trust his better plan? Ask for patience to wait and peace to let go. Read Luke 18:1-7
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, I bring you my pain and anguish about [insert your prayer here]. I come before you again today, and affirm you do have my best interests at heart, as well as that of any person I am praying for. Today, I choose to trust you with the outcome of my long-held prayer and pain. I recognise I can pray and not give up. Amen.
*The Courageous Womanhood devotional will soon be released by Jenny Baxter. It contains 28 reflections to inspire and encourage you. To get hold of it, add your name to the list HERE >
** EmpowHer is the women’s ministry of Tasmanian Baptists
Welcome to Heartlands Spring 2025! This is the quarterly e-publication for EmpowHer, a network of Tasmanian women growing and encouraging each other in their God-given potential.
UPCOMING EVENT
BAPTIST WOMEN’S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
2-3:30pm Saturday 1 November2025
Come along to Hobart Baptist Church to celebrate, pray for and support the work of Baptist women around the world.
Taking place in Brisbane just before the Baptist World Congress, the Baptist Women’s Summit was a one-of-a-kind, quinquennial (every five years) event bringing Baptist sisters together from around the world. They were there for a unified time of worship, prayer, leadership development, and ministry mobilization.
Read the report. See the photos. Which Tasmanians do you know?
Melissa Lipsett,CEO Baptist World Aid, explains the impact of women who are empowered to change their world.
It’s illegal, but 40 per cent of girls in Nepal are married before they turn 18, and seven per cent before they turn 15. The Nepalese government is hoping to eradicate child marriage by 2030, but is this even possible? Will this ever change?
I believe it will. Here’s why
I recently returned from Kapilvastu in West Nepal. It’s a region that has major development challenges and a general lack of adequate services. For example, there are no toilet facilities or running water in people’s homes. There are few opportunities for people to generate income and, sadly, high levels of gender-based violence and child marriage.
The challenges are overwhelming, but here’s the thing: communities ARE overcoming them. Baptist World Aid works with local Christian Partners who share our belief in the dignity, value and equality of all people (Gen 1:26-27).
Our Partners bring the locals together in community groups, and it’s the locals who lead the transformation of their communities. Ninety per cent of these community leaders are women. They’re known as self-help groups, and they’re courageously changing their world.
Our Partners bring the locals together in community groups, and it’s the locals who lead the transformation of their communities.
What self-help groups do
Working as a committee, with elected positions such a chairperson and treasurer, members collaborate to make the changes they want to see in their community. These women showed me how they had depolluted their pond and water source.
Some of them have started small businesses. And I heard stories of how they confronted perpetrators of domestic violence as a commanding group of 17! I saw leadership, determination and courage from the same people who were, until recently, considered less than their husbands, brothers and sons.
Emerging from poverty
Every one of these women, these “change makers”, has a story. Many married as children and didn’t have the opportunity to go to school. Quite a few are now mothers, surrounded by little people with constant needs that are hard to meet. In the past they might have given a daughter in marriage to ensure she—and her remaining siblings—would survive.
But the gains they’ve made in emerging from poverty means they now say, ‘No more! We will not allow our daughters to suffer as we did’. And they mean it.
‘No more! We will not allow our daughters to suffer as we did’.
As I travelled through the area, I could see that poverty is effectively diminished and girls attend school.
One extraordinary facet of these self-help groups is that are made up of traditionally antagonistic social groupings, but with no infighting. They are too busy changing the world.
I wonder if what would happen if we were too?
Melissa Lipsett is the CEO of Baptist World Aidand is the keynote speaker at the coming EmpowHer Day of Wonder in March 2025.
Melissa is a servant leader, playing active roles across the church and Christian humanitarian aid and development sector. She believes leadership matters, and so does the call of God on our lives. She is an outspoken advocate for the importance of hearing women’s voices and empowering them to use their God given gifts and graces for the sake of our world.
Want info about the Day of Wonder? SUBSCRIBE to Heartlands, below!
Karen Wilson, President Baptist World Alliance Women. Karen lives in Perth WA, and has a long association with women from all walks of life in Australia and globally.
The organising team are a dedicated group of women, representing each region in Tasmania. They are planning a fantastic women’s gathering just for you!
Each one has special giftings and skills in enabling, gathering and administrating events, and they are all working hard to create an exceptional day for every attendee.
North
Jenna BlackwellCity Baptist Formation Pastor; Tasmanian Baptists Mission and Leadership Coach Jenna loves encouraging people to walk courageously in their God-given calling. She also loves tea, funny animal videos, the beach, and nature in general.
Wendy MarstonTasRail – Customer Service Officer; Tas Baptist Council; Marriage and Funeral Celebrant.
Wendy is Tassie born and still loving it here. She is involved in the leadership team at Newstead Baptist church.
Northwest
Gabe FifeTeacher’s Aide, Leighlands Christian School
Down-to-earth and friendly, Gabe desires to see all women empowered and living their fullest lives in Christ. She is married to Louis, and serves alongside him at Ulverstone Baptist Church.
South
Jenny BaxterState Coordinator EmpowHer; Communications Manager Tasmanian Baptists Jenny enjoys creating connections between women locally and nationally. She also serves on the Communications team at Hobart Baptist Church, and walks a lot, mostly at the beach or in the bush.
Ann Herbert*Now retired Ann formerly managed a social policy team in the Tasmanian Government. She is now an elder and active member of the teaching team at Citywide Baptist Church.
*Unfortunately, Ann is unable to attend on the day.
FAQ for the Day of Courage women’s gathering
Will there be accommodation available?
We have secured Friday night accommodation (17th November) with the Poatina Chalet for attendees. This is a 20-minute drive from the venue. Please call or email the Chalet to book your motel room for $125. Includes breakfast. 6397 8290 | poatina.chalet@fusion.org.au
I have dietary requirements, what should I do?
If you added your dietary requirements to your registration info, then you are good to go. But if you need to change or confirm anything, please get in touch: empowher@tasbaptists.org.au
Can I carpool?
There is no official Day of Courage carpool. However, do get in touch and we may be able to arrange transport for you with another attendee: empowher@tasbaptists.org.au
What’s the parking like at Riverlands?
There is plenty of on-site parking available.
Will I need to bring anything?
Notebooks and pens will be provided. You may like to bring a Bible with you. Morning tea and lunch will be provided as part of the registration cost. While water will be available you may like to bring your own drink bottle.
Is Childcare provided?
Unfortunately there is no childcare. If you have children, we encourage you to find care for them. If this is not possible, you may bring your little one/s but you will be responsible for their care. There will be no child care available at this event.
Is this event just for Christians?
All women are welcome at this event. However, if you are not happy to learn about your God-given potential, then this gathering may not be for you.
Is there a concession rate?
There is no official concession rate for this gathering. We have subsidised the costs by finding a sponsor to make this special day affordable for everyone. However, if the cost is stopping you from attending, please get in touch to discuss: empowher@tasbaptists.org.au
Refund Policy
If you find you are no longer able to use your ticket, our preference is that you find someone to pass the ticket onto. Please let us know, so we know who to expect by contacting jenna@tasbaptists.org.au
If you are unable to find someone, or if this is too difficult for you to arrange, given the circumstances, we can arrange a refund. Please note you will not be reimbursed your booking fee.
If you need to request a refund, please email jenna@tasbaptists.org.au and state your name, account name, BSB and account number. Thank you
