When I was a kid, I had some health needs and I was taught Murphy's law. "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Benson and Christina just had a trip like that. We awoke yesterday morning expecting to see their flight landing in London and instead we saw it circling over Atlantic City and then landing in NYC. They circled for 5 hours. Their rebooked flight arrived today...late, making them miss their next flight. Their rebooked flight got to Edinburgh circled and was diverted to Glasgow because Edinburgh air traffic control was down. (We got back just in time for the PM service with 5 minutes to spare.) God's good. We're glad they are finally here.

The Lord gave us a great morning as we had our first baptisms in our new sanctuary. We baptised a family of 3. The 11 year old's birthday was today making it even more special.

In Sunday School they shared their testimonies and then a couple other people shared their's as well. It took all of SS plus five minutes to do that. It was a blessing.

I preached this morning on, "The Joy of Jesus" from Isaiah 12 which speaks of the Lord's second coming and setting up of his Millenial Kingdom. 

We had a good week. We had two adults visit on Wednesday PM and enjoyed having them back out for the SS hour as well. 

It was a good evangelism week as well. I did leafletts in our village on Monday. Tuesday was street preaching. Wednesday was with Don Dillman in Livingston. The Lord gave an unusual opportunity to lead a man to Christ. Don has his contact details. On Saturday we put out Christmas Carol Sing flyers.

Thank you for praying for our church and family. It's been a tough week in some ways, but a great week as well. 

Our family is more spread out today serving God than ever before. Kay Lee and John are serving today in Virginia Beach. Benson is serving in Spartonburg, SC. Logan, Parker and Nelson are serving today in Spain. (They are at a missionary kid's camp and participating with the other young people in music ministry today at a local church.) Mac, Katie and I are serving in Scotland. PRAISE GOD - WE ARE ALL SERVING HIM.

God gave us a great morning. Our attendance was good and we have an exciting schedule in front of us. We have a family of three being baptised next Sunday. The following Sunday evening we will be voting to receive them and possibly others into our official church membership. This is glorious and we thank God for His goodness.

I preached this morning on, "Keeping forcused" on your ministry for the Lord. The points are; Don't stop serving God, exhalting Christ, and proclaiming the Gospel. The text was John 3:22-36 and the example was John the Baptist. There was a great response in the invitation time and it's thrilling to see God working in the hearts of His people. Please continue to pray for the grace and power of God in our ministry.

The boys return on Wednesday. Benson and his girlfriend, Christina, arrive back here on Saturday. So, we are looking forward to some fun family times in the near future. Thank you for praying for our family and ministry. God's hand is wonderfully evident.

We are enjoying fun church times and have just enjoyed great family times. Katie's sister's family are now off to the USA. They are currently over the Atlantic. God gave us such a wonderful time with them and we're thankful for believing family who are walking with the Lord. 

Some of the fun events - my nephew golfing at St. Andrews and getting an eagle on a par 5. (I was videoing as his third shot hit the flag and dropped into the hole.) Missionary Amanda Baker was with us for a few days as she always comes to our's for Thanksgiving. We all enjoyed a concert at Usher Hall on Friday night. A blind pianist, Ethan Lock, who is only 20 years old, was amazing as he played with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

We also enjoyed a wonderful midweek service as a church with good attendance and enjoyed our AM services this morning. God brought an adult visitor and some good decisions are being made by our church family. I preached this morning on, "Escaping Corruption" from 2 Peter 1:1-4. Thank you for praying for our ministry and for the preaching of God's Word.

Tonight, after the Lord's table is observed, we are going to decorate the church building for Christmas. We have a 10 foot tall tree that we have set up for over a decade. We look forward to putting that and other decorations up. 

It snowed yesterday, but thankfully it cleared in time for church this morning. We enjoyed God's blessing of snow, but Scotland is not as prepared for winter events as places that see a lot of snow. Snow could have hindered our services, but thankfully it did not. It was actually about 50 degrees (10 degrees C) today.

The excitement today was not the weather, but the fellowship meal and baby shower after the AM service. It was a joyful time together as a church family. Our attendance was very good today with only a few missing. With Katie's sister's family of 7 we had 36 in attendance. Praise the Lord. Please keep praying for God to grow His work. We love the people He has brought to Southside Free Baptist Church.

I preached a message this morning which has a theme that is vital in the day in which we live. The message was, "Church and State" from Esther 4. Eshter had a voice which she used to protect God's people from wicked legislation. Sadly, many bills currently passing throught the government, greatly impact the health of the church. In Scotland we have had, Hate Crime Legislation, anti-smacking legislation, all of the sexual perversion legislation, abortion legislation, and now Euthenasia is being tabled. Please pray for God to overrule those who would seek to overthrow His church. May God help us each to do our part to be light in the midst of all of this darkness.

We are enjoying having family here. We have "adopted" family arriving on Monday as Missionary Amanda Baker will arive to spend the Thanksgiving week with all of us. Amanda usually is at our home for Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing her. On Wednesday night we are going to show a film and enjoy some pumpkin pie with our church family. Thanksgiving is such a good Christian holiday that we enjoy educating our church family about it annually.

God is doing a great work at SFBC. Thank you for your vital part in it. (The pic is from last night.... all gone this morning.)

The weather has definitely shifted into a colder pattern and there is talk of snow. We don't get a lot of snow below 200 meters and so we'll see what is in our future. (The boys are living in hope.)

We're learning how to heat the church and it was cozy this morning for our services despite the cold. God has encouraged our hearts with some attendance increases. A father vistied with his family for their first time on Wednesday PM and his first time at church. It was great to have them all there. We also had a first time visitor out for our SS and AM services this morning.

The message this morning was, "Worship Diagnostics" from Psalm 138. We considered 10 questions which were helpful in evaluating our walk with God. There is a good spirit in all of our services and we're thankful for the work the Lord is doing in our church family.

In other news, Katie's sister and her family arrive this week on Thursday for ten days. We're excited to have family with us for a little while. Thank you for praying for our family and our church family. Your prayer are much appreciated.

Our world calls many things "mental health" that are not. Many are rooted in sinful thinking and sinful behaviour. We enjoyed considering this morning how to have good mental health from Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. (Philippians 4:2-9.) It was a very insightful study which I believe was very beneficial for our church family. We also enjoyed our study of the appointing of deacons.

Today is Rememberance Sunday in Great Britain and we observed a 2 minutes silence at the beginning of our 11:00 AM service. We thank God for our soldiers past and present, and for their sacrifices which have protected our liberties.

We have a wonderful praise today as a man trusted Christ as His Saviour following the morning service. Please pray for God's grace as this new believer learns to walk with God. Thank you for praying for Southside Free Baptist Church and our family. God is blessing in answer to your prayers.

It's good to have Katie home, even though she wasn't gone for very long. She enjoyed speaking at a session at a ladies' retreat in Ireland. She was blessed by the fellowship and time away. It's nice to live close to an international airport as she didn't get back until 11PM.

We have some great things happening at church. One of the best things, is the fellowship time after the services. It's wonderful to see God's people spending time catching up with one another. We had a young man visit this morning and he enjoyed a cup of tea with some other men after the service.

I preached this morning on, "Jesus' Final Message" from John 12:44-50. That text is the final discourse of Christ to the multitiude before His crucifixion. 

Life returns almost to normal this next week after a busy month of October. The only extra thing this week for which we'd appreciate your prayers, is a day of prayer in Blair Atholl on Tuesday. I'm thankful to be in a place of prayer on a date that will be historic no matter what the outcome. Please pray for God's rich blessings in prayer as I meet with several other ministers.

In home news, Logan passed his driver's test on Friday. This is a great accomplishment as the test here is very difficult. We're half way in teaching  our children to drive. Three down. Three to go!

Thank you for your interest and intercession. There are several ways in which God manifisted Himself this past week.

British Summer Time ended today and we are into the heart of autumn. God has given us some beautiful weather this past week. We enjoyed the sunshine this morning.

Our attendance was moderate and we have some out with illness. We look forward to getting past illnesses as they have definitely impacted our church attendance the last several weeks. A first time visitor from last week came again this week and we had a visiting family from Wisconsin with us. It's always a blessing to have visitors in our services.

I preached this morning on, "Maintaining Your Course" from the testimony of King Josiah. God's Word clearly gives a timeline of Josiah's obedience which is instructive as you read about a man who did not deviate from following after God.

We have one more big event coming up this week and then we have a more normal ministry schedule. Katie is speaking at a Ladies' retreat in Ireland on this Thursday. Other women will be speaking in the other sessions. Please pray for God's grace for all of those speaking and for Him to do a great work in the hearts of the women. Thank you for your prayers.

First Baptist Church in Gillespie have been a great encouragement to us. We've enjoyed the fellowship and their great work ethic. We have two big projects taking place. The front entry landscaping project was completed this morning. The kitchen remodel is going well and should be completed by the end of the week.

In ministry news; there was an afternoon Tea on Saturday that went really well, the team shared their testimonies in SS. Sunday morning and Evening Pastor DePoppe preached. All of this was a great encouragement to our church family. Monday morning the team did a one day Holiday Bible Club. We didn't have high attendance, but the kids loved it. We had one first timer and we hope he can come to church on Sundays. We also had a first time visitor on Sunday.

Tomorrow morning we hope to do street evangelism and night we are doing a film night. On Friday, we have a youth activity planned. Thank you for praying for our very busy, but good week.