The "midweek crisis" yesterday was a kidney stone. Thankfully I am fine now, although it changed evangelism plans yesterday morning. 

Another interesting event this week was meeting with a young couple who are interested in truth. They saw the negative article against our church in the newspaper and thought, "If the news is saying they are bad, there must be something good." As they read the truth for which we were taking a stand, they agreed with us. Please pray that we can be a great blessing to this young family. We had a 3 hour chat on Tuesday.

Also, there is a newlywed couple arriving from the States next week. The bride is going to be studying at the University of Edinburgh. We are seeking to find housing for them. Please pray for God's provision of housing and employment for them. They are looking forward to visiting our church.

Another prayer request is wisdom as we continue to pursue God's will for a property. There is a former property of interest which we are again pursuing. More specifically we are praying about building a church/retreat centre which may allow us to get the planning permission we need. It would also open the door for some great ministry opportunities if God is in it. Please pray for wisdom.

Thanks for praying and following along with what God is doing at Free Baptist Church.

"It is hot" is not something you often say in Scotland. Our normal summer temperatures can vary, but they are normally in the upper 50's to mid 60's with rain/wind, etc. We do get some sun, but my family remembers a July where for 3 weeks we didn't see a single spot of blue sky. Yesterday and today are sunny and hot. The forecast today is supposed to hit record high temperatures close to 90. The highest temperature that I remember since we moved her in 2010 was 83 degrees.

I was able to get out and do some evangelism yesterday on the other side of Edinburgh by the North Sea. As you can imagine many people were heading down towards that area. God gave me several divine appointments. I witnessed to a candidate (woman) for ministry with the church of Scotland. She is liberal and does not know the Gospel. Please pray for God to work in her heart. We spoke for about 15 minutes. I witnesed to a young married couple from "Palestine." (They refuse to call it Israel.) They are muslims who were smoking. That gave a good opportunity to emphasise that we don't go to heaven (paradise) by our good works, because we aren't good. They were very kind and I hope they will visit a friend of mine's church. They know right where it is located. I witnessed to a man who said, "I'm a devout atheist.... I'm from the most atheistic nation in the world." I said, "Are you from Norway?" His answer was affirmitive. Please pray that God will awaken his heart. 

I witnessed to some groups - 5 boys, 2 girls and boy, 3 men in their mid 20's. The laughter which would come into these conversations is interesting. There is such a wicked peer pressure against accepting the truth of God. Please pray that God will break through.

Today I put out the "open letter" flyer in Loanhead. Please continue to pray for the power of God upon it. "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." 

We made it. About, 2,000 miles and many blessings later, we have arrived back home. What a great trip.

The reason we go is what we get when we are there. SPIRITUAL REFRESHMENT. As much as we love seeing the beauty of God's creation as we got to travel through Scotland, England, France and Germany, the greatest take away is what God gives us through fellowship, prayer, singing, preaching and teaching. We're very thankful for your prayers. God's hand was very evident on this trip.

About camp: Pastor Tim Berlin was the preacher for the adults. He pastors Faith Baptist in Clinton Township, Michigan. Pastor Jeremy Cochran was the preacher for the teenagers and young adults. He pastor's Calvary Baptist in Huntsville, AL. Miss Cindy Bunker was the one ministering to the children. This was Cindy's 20th camp. She just retired from the financial department at Baptist World Mission. The kid's love her. 

We meet at a retreat centre in Germany. It's owned by a brethren church which meets in the property on Sundays. It has hotel rooms, conference room and a dining area. It's surrounded by woods with beautiful walks. We had 3 preaching sessions every day. One of those sessions is divided with men and woman having separate sessions. Thursday night is a fun night with skits which take a couple of hours. The afternoons are free for sports and an outing. On Thursday we went down an alpine slide.

God is so very good to give us friendships with our BWM missionary family. There were a lot of tears and much laughter. Thank you so much for praying for this time away. Please pray that we will keep every blessing God gave us this past week.

We were able to get flyers out this past week on Tuesday. God gave three divine appointments. One was with a born again Christian and his son. He said that he had been saved for 20 years, but was away from the Lord for many of those years. Praise the Lord He has gotten right with God. It was a joy to meet him. 

I also spoke with an older woman. I used an illustration of our upcoming trip to Germany. I explained that I am going to check a few times to make sure I have my passport with me. She said, "I get it. I need to make sure I have my passport to heaven." Please pray for clear Gospel understanding for her as she has been a religious person.

The third opportunity was with a retired man who is an atheist. He was cordial and we spoke for 10-15 minutes. I hope that God will spark an interest in his heart and that he will come to faith. It was a good chat.

Today, Katie and I did door to door. We had a great opportunity to share Christ with a middle aged man. I hope we'll see this man visit our church as he lives very nearby. We also met a born again man from Australia. His family attends a good Gospel preaching church in Edinburgh. It is very rare to meet believers. Interestingly, there is another believing family in this community who told us a couple months ago that they had yet to meet any believers in this area. That family also attends a church in Edinburgh.

Tomorrow after the morning service our family begins our drive via the euro tunnel to Germany. Your prayers for our safety and for God's blessing at BWM (Baptist World Mission) family camp are much appreciated. Our church will be watching a video service tomorrow night. We don't like to travel on Sunday, but it is necessary to fascilitate our family getting to camp on time. Thanks for praying.

It was a blessing this morning to have another older man from Ukraine visit with us. He's living in the heart of Edinburgh, but took bus out to our area this morning. He joined us for lunch as well. Please pray for God's grace for the many displaced people from the war. It's sad to think that they have to rebuild their lives in another country where many of them do not speak the national language.

This morning was kind of sad. Our college students who have been with us for the last two years, had their last service with us. Please pray for the power of God for Daniel and Emily. Their future plans include one another. :)

This morning in the AM service I preached a topical message on, "Godly Standards." Convictions or standards used to be normal verbage for believers. It seems in our day that this has gone out of vogue. Hopefully only the verbage has changed and not Biblical positions, but I think in many cases both have changed. Please pray that God will ground our church is good convictions.

NOTE: There is a new sermon widget on the home page where you can access our latest church services.

I've been out with flyers three times this week. On Monday, I was pretty wet when I got back to my car. I didn't have any opportunities on Monday to speak with anyone.

On Tuesday Tommy got out with me. We had a couple good chats. One man had just accepted Christ last month. That was encouraging. We also met a woman who has recently lost her husband of many years. Please pray that we can follow up with her as she was tender to the truth.

Today I was out with Don in Livingston. We had a couple small opportunities. One lady went to a Baptist Church when she was a child. She remembers her mum's baptism. Please pray that our conversation will encourage her to come out and visit the Almond Valley Baptist Church.

Thanks for praying. God has greatly encouraged us and is giving us guidance in the work we are doing.

Daniel and Emily (college students from Northern Ireland and the Republic) were back this Sunday after five weeks away in placements for the Faith Mission. They both graduated from the college yesterday and their families were with them in church today. It was a joy to get to know both of their parents and Emily's siblings. They all came over for lunch at our home and spent the day with us. It was a refreshing time. Daniel preached the PM service as well. We recorded his sermon and I'll have it uploaded in the near future.

Benson has been leading our singing on Sunday PM's for quite some time. Today he became our full time song leader and led for both services. It was a blessing for me to have him take that responsability. He also sang a duet with me this morning, "Day by Day." If you'd like to hear it, I left it on the video and audio at the beginning of this morning's message on sermon audio. 

My message this morning was from Acts 5, "Faithful Through Persecution." God gave this text to Katie and I the night we saw the article which appeared in the newspaper. It was our regular reading in our devotions that night. If you are facing some persecution, it's a great text to meditate on as the Apostle's were faithful through the persecution.

Please pray for wisdom and power as we move forward in God's will and work. You are a great source of strength and encouragement to ourselves and our church. Thanks for praying.

We enjoyed a really fun children's fair (Gala Day) in Loanhead today. Loanhead has always had a great children's fair with good family activities. Our church has enjoyed participating in it for several years. Several in our church family came out and helped.

Our group had archery (suction cup), bean bag toss, and badge making. Badge making is a big hit every year, but all of the activities were running non stop with very little lag for several hours. We had some small rain showers but that didn't seem to hurt the event.

God gave some special divine appointments with people we know. It was fun to catch up. Thanks for praying for our day.

(The image was taken after we had set up.)

I knew that I was going to be going non stop this past week and it was a blur. We had our Wednesday night service and then left Thursday morning for the men's camping. We got back on Saturday and had a great Sunday with Pastor Edgar including a fellowship at our home. On Monday we went to Blair Drummon Safari park to celebrate Benson's 18th birthday and our 22nd wedding anniversary which was on the Friday of the men's camp out. Yesterday morning I was dropped off at the airport at 6:15 to fly to Ireland for some prayer and fellowship time with Pastor Les Hill. I returned home last night at 11 PM. 

I praise the Lord for good friends in the ministry. I really needed the time yesterday with a fellow minister to strengthen my hands. We also did some evangelism yesterday afternoon. Pastor Hill's son, Josiah, and I knocked on doors, while Pastor Hill knocked other doors by himself. We had some great Gospel conversations. Please pray for fruit from our labours.

God gave me two opportunities at the airport last night as well. Our plane was delayed an hour and so I got out my Bible to read it. An older woman beside me after hearing I was a minister said to me, "I wondered how you could be so peaceful. Now I understand." She said, "Oh, you've got your book. What a nice book that is." She was referring to the quality of my Bible. 

I began speaking to her about Peace being found in Jesus and took her through the Roman's Road in the Word of God. Please pray for this lady to be saved. She knows that addictions (cigarette's/ drink) do not satisfy. 

Thank you for keeping up with our work for your prayers for our family and ministry. On Wednesday nights we are doing a verse by verse study through 1 Timothy.  Tonight our text for our Bible study is, 1 Timothy 6:12-14  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.  I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Link to sermon from tonight - "Fight the Good Fight of Faith"

God blessed us with a really good Sunday. A friend of ours, Pastor Edgar, preached a great message on the gospel. We were blessed to have him minister to us today and it was a joy to have his mum visiting with us as well. A couple who were visiting joined us for an after service fellowship at our home. God blessed us with good weather and the time was enjoyed by all.

We had another visitor this evening whom I hope will come again. It was a middle aged man whom I met in September last year in Edinburgh. He had just arrived from another country. I told him if he ever needed anything to please let me know. He remembered that and came to me because of a problem he is facing. He didn't arrive until after our service. Please pray for God to meet his need. 

Kay Lee had a great week of camp ministry. A girl in her cabin trusted Jesus as her Saviour this week. Kay Lee was really excited about that. 

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. God is faithful and we are excited about His work in our ministry.

Here is a link to Pastor Edgar's Testimony and Message. He was saved in Edinburgh as a young man.