We have enjoyed having our sending church pastor, Pastor Dan Stertz, and his wife, Mary, with us. They arrived last Friday and were with us for a youth activity. Pastor Dan preached all 3 services on Sunday. In the AM he preached on, "Pray for One Another" and encouraged our church to greater unity.

 Today was our missionary fellowship meeting. We did a split session for men and women with the Stertz's ministering to both groups. We then came back for a hymn sing and preaching time with Pastor Dan ministering God's Word. It was a blessed time.

Please pray for the great group of co-labourers in Scotland. We pray much together and for one another. It has really made us a strong fellowship.

Ministry will get back to normal starting this next week. We've had many wonderful events this month and have appreciated your prayers for them.

God has allowed me to have a good study week and has also helped me get back to doing evangelism. There is much to study for this week as we have a youth activity on Firday which gives me 5 services. Although I'm not preaching this Sunday, I'm seeking to be ready for the following one as Pastor Dan and Mary Stertz will be with us this coming week. I'm lookiing forward to showing our sending church pastor and wife our ministry and also getting them a feel for our country.

Yesterday, I headed into Edinburgh to street preach in the afternoon. It is festival season in Edinburgh and, "The Fringe" is in full swing. They say that the population of Edinburgh trebels during the Fringe. There are also more buskers (Street performers) making it difficult to get a spot.

I prayed for God's provision and had a great verse come to mind, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there ye may be also." I know that it is speaking of Heaven, but it encompasses the two things I wanted - God's place and God's presence.

After having to move because of buskers, the Lord gave me a great place and tremendous liberty to preach His word. (I don't have a video link to share with you as my video didn't work yesterday.) I appreciate your prayers for God's continued enablement for street evangelism. A man from Nothern Ireland stood on the other side of the street and I could tell he was watching and listening. I spoke with this fellow believer afterwards and was encouraged.

This morning I put out evangelistic flyers in a nearby village. I had a few short Gospel opportunities. Please pray for Brian as he said that he will attend on Sunday. He's played poker in what is now our sanctuary. I don't normally believe that those who say they will come - will actually do so. However, he seemed genuine and I feel there is a more significant chance that he will do so. Thanks for praying for our evangelism!

God blessed our time at men's camp in Cullen, Scotland (4 hours north.) The weather, the food, the fellowship and the time in God's Word, were all blessed of God. There were just under 30 of us and 4 preaching sessions. We also did an activity to an early 18th century home and enjoyed the beach front (cliffs, rocks, and caves) where this fishing village lies.

We also had a good Sunday. Friends of our's from England, (family of 3) are up visiting for a few days. They arrived before the AM service which was an extra blessing. We had thought that we wouldn't see them until later this afternoon as they were planning just to join us for the evening service.

I preached this morning on, "Spiritual Victory" from 2 Chronicles 14. I love what Asa says in his cry to God as he declares, "It is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: Help us, O Lord our God: for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God: let not man prevail against thee."

May it be so in all of our lives, our families and in our churches. We need the God of power to arise and fight or battles as we go forth with Him and for Him.

God gave us a tremendous (from our perspective) week at HBC. The spirit of the kids was good. The weather cooperated. Attendance was very solid with a high day of 17 on Friday. The parent night was well attended with several visitors. We had children in church today because of the HBC. So, praise the Lord and thank you for praying.

We have nearly literally not stopped this week. This is our busy Sunday. We're home for 30 minutes before heading to the care home for an afternoon service. Tonight we are observing the Lord's table at the end of our evening service. Tomorrow night is the monthly ladies' meeting. Thursday we head to men's camp until Saturday.

Your prayers for these great ministry opportunities is very much appreciated. It's great to be back with our church family. We had good attendance this morning in SS and the AM although several were absent.

I preached this morning on fulfilling our God given spiritual assignments. We looked at Solomon's assigment of building the temple and being the next king of Israel. There was sweet fellowship afterwards and a good spirit in church. We also had a first time adult visitor who intends to be back. We praise God for what He is doing at Southside Free Baptist Church.

Well - life has been a bit of a whirlwind, but we are now home and back into busy ministry.

God gave us a blessed trip. The wedding was beautiful and Benson and Christina Shore are happy newlyweds. We had awesome family time and God blessed us with several ministry opportunities.

I preached at two churches, spoke at a VBS closing service, gave the charge to the couple at the wedding and shared an update at another church. It was wonderful being involved in the two churches where our children minister and another where we have many family members.

Our return trip had some bumps in the road. We were supposed to arrive back on Thursday. Due to a flight change, we had to reschedule that flight. Our Friday return was cancelled due to storms in Atlanta. They could not put us on a Friday flight and so we departed on Saturday and arrived around noon on Sunday.

Thankfully, Dr. Doug Bachorik was already scheduled to be with us. I will be uploading those services in the near future, but our church was blessed to have him with us. 

We set up for HBC *Holiday Bible Club, at 4:30 Sunday afternoon and then hosted a singspiration with several people from sister churches present. Dr. Bachorik did a great job leading that time together.

Our first day of HBC was this morning and we had around a dozen children with a few first time visitors. 

We apprecate your prayers for our time away. God's hand was very evident. Thank you for your patience with the "radio silence" until our return. 

Well - we have arrived at a milestone week. Benson and Christina's wedding is this coming Saturday at 2:00PM EST in Lattimore, NC. Thank you for praying for their big day and for God to be glorified. There are many miles to travel this week for many family members and friends. We appreciate your prayers for God's journey mercies as well.

The Lord blessed us with grace for a busy Sunday. We're just back from our afternoon Care Home service which we do once a month. In a few minutes we'll head to church for our prayer time and then our evening service. Tonight we are also observing the Lord's table.

This morning in our AM service we looked at Daniel 3, "STAND for God." What a blessing to remember the 3 Hebrew young men and their faithfulness to God in NOT bowing the knee. Their faith in God is remarkable and worthy of the nod in Hebrews 11, "By Faith - quenched the violence of fire." As Nebuchadnezzar put it, "...men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power." Praise God for His deliverance of them and their triump for God.

We need a generation of believers who will likewise STAND for God and refuse to bow the knee. Would you pray for God to raise up believers like that in our church and in the other ministries in Scotland? May God bless you with the same obedience in your life and ministry.

This has been a utility week as we get ready to head to the States. God's hand has been evident and we're thankful for His help as we get ready to head to Benson's wedding.

Monday - Nelson helped me on a project that's been on my church "to do" list. We painted several of the eaves along the roof. I was concerned that if we let them go much longer the wood would begin to rot. God gave us good weather and the motivation to tackle that project.

Tuesday I was able to get our prayer letter out and catch up on paperwork. Yesterday morning, we took Duchess (dog) for a meet and greet as she will be staying with friends in our absence. This was a tremendous answer to prayer for us and our friends. They need a "therapy dog" as they are going through a medical trial. Please pray for God's grace for them.

In other news - I wanted to let you know of Kay Lee's Etsi page (LoveJoyPeace4All). It has some Bible theme gifts and other gifts. She's talented and creative. I thought I'd share the link in case anyone wanted to check it out. Kay Lee and Katie just made a SS resource alphabet book that is beautiful. Lord willing, we'll let you know more about that in the future. The printer even kept a copy for himself to show what they are able to produce.

Thanks for praying for our travels. We'll try to keep you posted along the way.

We praise God today for 15 years of church life for Southside Free Baptist Church. We started the church on the first Sunday of July in 2010. Tonight we are going to show pictures, share stories and praise God for His goodness to us.

God blessed us with a good service this morning. We have a couple of families away on holiday and another family this morning had someone at A & E. Our attendance was low in SS, but thankfully - despite the absences, it was pretty good in the AM service.

One of our newest attendees also signed up for men's camp. That's a blessing. We look forward to having him join our group in August as we head up to Northern Scotland.

I preached this morning the tenth message on our church theme, "Crucified with Him." The message was, "Crucififed with Him and Learning." We studied 1 Peter 4 on how to suffer well for Jesus sake - "Partakers of His sufferings." God gave us a good time in His Word. I also enjoyed singing a special with my boys this morning.

Thank you for praying for our church and family. We could not do what we do without you. You've made a difference in God's work these past 15 years!

God, once again, blessed us with a visitor - Wednesday night AND another one this morning. We praise God for these friends, even though both were from other countries. It was a blessing to get to know them and we hope that we encoraged them both in their walk with the Lord. They encouraged us.

The visitor Wednesday night was from street preaching. Niina joined us for a meal and then stayed for the service. Would you please pray for God's strength for her as she is a very difficult country - Finland? Her salvation was because of a friend who went to Wales, heard the Gospel and was saved. These both need a good church.

I preached this morning on the Great Commission to the church, which sadly could be called at times, the Great ommission of the church. The message was from Joshua 1, Tread Out Your Commission. Please pray for God to help our church live in light of our Gospel stewardship.

The Gala Day ministry went very well. We had 6 adults from our church helping with our family as we ran the event. God blessed us ONCE AGAIN with beautiful weather in answer to believing prayer. We give Him glory and praise for His goodness. It rained in the morning, but not during the event. We had numerous opportunities to share Christ and invite kids to our HBC. (Holiday Bible Club.) Two children were registered by last night. Please pray for this event as it begins a few days after our families return from the USA. (4-8 August.) Thank you for your prayers!

The Lord allowed me to get down street preaching in Edinbugh today. It was an interesting day. A young woman (32) stood there for about 30 plus minutes as I preached. I found out afterwards that she is a believer and was able to give her some Biblical counseling. She is from Finland and is only here until Thursday.

Towards the end of my preaching, I had a little bit of confrontation from two women. However, a young man (20) came up right then and shook my hand. He kept standing beside me and they walked away. He also stayed until the end. He is from Edinburgh. Both of these are supposed to join our family for a meal tomorrow evening. Would you pray that God would do a great work in both of their lives. They are both seeking to follow God and needed some encoruagement. 

It was obvious that God had divine appointments for me this morning. Though it was raining God still put on my heart to get down there. Thank you for your prayers for the street preaching ministry.