Nelson, Mac and I finished cleaning up the garden at church yesterday. I don't have a picture of the final product since we worked in the dark last night. But, I have some pictrues of the wall coming down and the very full skip (dumpster.)

The Lord also allowed me to do street preaching yesterday morning. It was a beautiful day to be out and God gave liberty to declare His Word. A Christian man whom I met intends to come to church tomorrow evening. I hope that he does. The ladies' meeting last night was well attended and there was a good spirit. Thank you for praying for them.

I enjoyed preaching this morning from Jesus' Parable of the Sower, a message on spiritual productivy. Interestingly, I've only ever focused on the soil as being man's response to the Gospel. This morning we considered the soil of our hearts in light of the truth of God's Word. As believers, our hearts can get hard, stones can kill growth, and weeds can stop productivity. How needful to guard the soil of our heart by being good spiritual farmers.

This morning was not record high attendance, but close to record lows. We had several who let us know they are ill. Please pray for grace and that God would protect our young congregation. Church planting is always ebb and flow. We like the flow tide and not the ebb tide. Please pray for grace and patience to endure.  There are some great things happening.

This afternoon is our care home service. I'm going to preach on the Good Shepherd and His sheep from Psalm 23. Praise God - he is our shepherd individually and also corporately as the Head of the Church. He will not let us want anything needful, will give us rest, provision, mercy, goodness, etc! Glory!

Thank you for praying for our ministry. May God give you liberty to pray in power for His good hand to do a great work here in Scotland and in Southside Free Baptist Church.

It was a blessing to have a Christian from Ghana visit our service last night. He's lived in the UK for just over a year. Nelson and I met him on Saturday as we were cutting the grass on the church property. Last night he came about 40 minutes early and was also able to join us for our prayer time. He said that he will see us again next week. 

This morning I did street preaching in Edinburgh. I didn't get my usual spot, but ended up preaching at another favourite location.  I had a good outing and the Lord gave me liberty to preach His Word. I very much appreciate your prayers for the power of God to open men's hearts to the Gospel and for the Lord's enablement every time I street preach. God has proven Himself faithful time and again and I'm thankfulf for His continued leading in this ministry. Thank you for your prayers!

British Summer time ended today. It's nice to get an hour extra rest. The downside is that the sun will set at 4:45 this evening. S.A.D. is a real problem here in Scotland. Please pray for everyone to stay encouraged and that God will help us reach people who are struggling with the long winter nights.

It was good to have a young girl, who has attended for 7 years, join us for an AM service. She primarily comes on Wednesday nights, but has come on Sunday PM's before. This was her first Sunday morning and she enjoyed SS and church. She's at our home for the afternoon. So, she will have a full day of church.

This morning I preached on, "Finding So Great Faith" from the Centurion in Caesarea who trusted Jesus to heal his servant. We enjoyed a focus on, "faith" this morning. Please pray for prayer warriors to grow up in our ministry. What a blessing they will be in years to come if God works in their heart regarding prayer.

Our youth activity on Friday went well. We enjoyed attending the Royal Scottish National Orchestra after having a Bible study and eating pizza at the church. Thanks for praying for God's blessings upon these events.

This week, Katie and Allison, a member of our church, are heading to Ireland for a Ladies' retreat. Katie gets to speak in one of the sessions. Please pray for the power of God upon this good work and for Jenny Hill as she organises it.

God gave us a really special night last night. It makes me praise the Lord that we have a Sunday evening service. We've struggled with our Sunday night attendance and may still struggle going forward. But, we had a good group last evening. 

We also had three generations of our church represented. Two young women who attended our church for 9 years in their childhood when we started the church were present. A young man who worked on his Masters until 2020 was back visiting. We had another couple visit who found us onine as they were on a two year anniversary trip. On top of that two families who don't normally attend the PM were present. Praise God! It's what it is all about - Worshipping God together!

God has also given a good start to our evangelism this week as I street preached this morning. It was a good outing. I had one incident where a man spoke into my head mic (photo below). It's not unusual to have opposition and there was not any danger. But, I appreciate your prayers for the power of God upon this ministry. I believe it is a vital part of what God has called us to do and pray that God will call more men to street preach. Sermon Audio has now put an "open air ministry" tab on their sermon categories. We have 80 outings recorded there. Please pray that we stay faithful even though the weather is turning colder and that God will give opportunity to get out.

God has blessed us with a great week. Thank you for praying for our Holiday Bible Club. We started with 6 children, then 8 and then 9. Although this is not high attendance, there were no problems during the week and the children were very attentive. Two of the children had never attended our church before and they came with their mum each day. It was a blessing to get to know them. Mac and I had met them at ASDA (Walmart) and had invited their family to attend. We're glad they chose to do so.

God also blessed our afternoon service last week at Whim hall (care home.) It was well attened and we hope that some of the staff will soon visit our church. We had a wonderful conversation with a couple of them following that service.

Katie and I enjoyed good visits yesterday at several homes as we followed up with church attendees and new visitors. One of the families who visited recently indicated that we will see them occassionally. Another woman who has not yet visited said that she still intends to come.

This morning our attendance was better, even with one family who would have been present being away for the weekend. I preached on, "Courageous Obedience" from Isaiah 53, with Christ as our example. If you are involved in your church ministry, leaning into God's good work, this example from the life of Christ would encourage you to press on.

Please pray for the mercy of God for the Scottish people. Praise God the harvest is not over yet. Please pray that we can reach many for Jesus Christ.

God gave us a good morning in his house, despite unusually low attendance. Obviously, we'd love to have had more of our church family out this morning.  But, despited lower than normal attendance, God gave us a great time in His Word and with one another.

This morning, we looked at an interesting subject in God's Word as we considerd, "You and Jesus." But, the title could have been, "You and Truth." Jesus and "truth" can often be used synonymously. The theme word of 3 John is, "Truth" but it all has to do with Jesus. You can not have a good relationship with Jesus and not have a good relationship with the truth. This consideration is helpful for a proper evaluation of our walk with the Lord.

This is our busy weekend of ministry. And so, after the morning service, we loaded up the minibus with the digital piano to take to our afternoon service at the care home. Tomorrow is our monthly Ladies' meeting.

And, tomorrow we begin a 3 day holiday Bible club during our October school break. We appreciate your prayers and trust God will give us a great week of ministry.

Yesterday, we left home at 8:30. I didn't return home until 8:00PM because I had an extra ministry opportunity at a sister church in the afternoon. Our good friends, the Dillman's, are in the States on a short trip. Their pulpit supply ended up in the hospital and Brother Don asked if I could help. Their church is only about 25 minutes from us in Livingston, Scotland. I enjoyed catching up with their church family as I shared a Bible study from this past Wednesday night. ("Effectual Praying" Our first study on the life of Elijah.)

Yesterday, was, "Harvest Sunday" in the UK. We enjoyed focusing on God's many blessings as I preached on, "Taking Stock of God's Goodness," from Psalm 103. We focused God's work and God's ways. We then enjoyed a wonderful fellowship meal at the church. It was our joy to have a family visit. They received a Gospel leaflet through their mail slot this past week. Please pray for God's leading for them as they seek His will.

This morning I was able to get out to do street preaching in Edinburgh. God gave me a good outing. I had some opposition, but the Lord helped me through that and gave me liberty in my preaching.

Next weekend is also a busy weekend as we have our monthly care home ministry, monthly Ladies' meeting and have a 3 day Holiday Bible Club starting on Monday. The children here have an October break from school and we seek to have some activities for them at that time. Thanks for praying!

God has given us a fun ministry weekend. We had a youth activity on Friday which began with a Bible challenge and a meal. We then hiked up the "mountains" near our church. They are called the Pentland Hills, but in many places in the world these "hills" would be called mountains.

Saturday, we took the church minibus up into the Scottish Highlands on a church activity. 12 of us participated and we all had a great time. God kept the rain away and it was a really fun day.

Today, we didn't have any visitors, but we are seeing some growth in some of our members. That is very encouraging and what ministry is all about. I prreached this morning on, "The House Rules" from Deuteronomy 6. It is a GREAT passage for Christian parents as they seek to establish a Godly home. 

This week is a normal week. However, next Sunday will be a special Sunday called, "Harvest Sunday." We'll have a carry in meal and will focus on thankfulnsess for God's goodness in our morning church service. The Monday - Wednesday following that will be a 3 day Holiday Bible Club during the October school break. Please pray for God's rich blessings upon these special ministry opportunities. Thanks for praying!

It was a joy to have a visitor yesterday in church. A young lady who is working on a business Master's degree visited with her friend who attends our chruch. Our church ttendance was pretty good, and we're thankful for what God is doing in the hearts of those who desire to follow Him.

I preached yesterday from John 13:31-14:11 on, "You need Jesus as your Saviour and as your Lord." It was an interesting study from the Upper Room as Jesus began to prepare His disciples for His departure. We looked at 7 questions from the text to help us answer the questions, "Is Jesus my Saviour and my Lord?"

This morning, we awakened to a heavy frost on buildings and on cars. Wow!  I guess it's that time of year. Although it was significantly cooler, there were clear sunny skies this morning. I enjoyed street preaching in Edinburgh. This was my first outing since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. One thing I'd say about this morning is that the spiritual warfare was evident. I'm thankful for the grace that God always give me, but very much covet your prayers for this ministry. Would you please pray for God's Word to do a great work in the hearts of those that hear it? Would you also please pray for God's leading and enablement for each opportunity?

Now, we have a somewhat busy week as we have a youth activity on Friday and a church outing on Saturday. These are fun busy things and we look forward to what God is going to do. Thank you for upholding us in prayer.