Today was a special Sunday. We gave a thank offering towards the building fund. We scheduled this as a building fund offering, but changed it to a thank offering after God supplied the funds for the building itself. (Note: we continue to pray about the building, but will not know until they either accept or reject our offer. We have already been informed that our offer was not the highest, so we need a miracle if God wants us in that building.)

Our people gave generously and we gave £2,745 to the Lord tonight as an expression of our gratitude to God for His goodness. We want everyone who has given to this project to know that we are very thankful for their help in obtaining a permanent location.

It was special night as well, because Benson and Kay Lee fly out tomorrow morning to the Bill Rice Ranch. They have their negative covid test document and everything else needed. Please pray for safety and for God's grace as they get to where they need to be. They have layovers in Amsterdam and Atlanta.

I preached tonight on, "Obedient Children" from 1 Peter 1 (currently uploading) and Peter's challenge to the church to live holy. There was a good spirit in our service. An older sister of one of our church kids came out to the service. This young lady used to attend frequently and it was good to have her back.

Thank you for praying for our family and ministry. We get to see the fruit of your prayers.

We had not heard anything yet regarding our offer and so our solicitor asked the seller's agent for an update this morning and received the following.

"It can take the Bank up to 2 weeks to get internal approval and carry out some checks on prospective purchaser etc…

This is not yet complete however, I can tell you your client was not the top offer so unless something unexpected happens you can assume you were unsuccessful I’m afraid. 

Many thanks for your offer and apologies for the delay."

With regard to our offer, we offered £12,450 more than the suggested starting price. We knew that others would likely do more.

We are content to let God close the door. Please pray for God's leading if He does in fact close this door. When we bought our house, our offer wasn't the highest, but the seller selected our offer. Would this seller, a bank, do this? It seems unlikely unless God intervenes. 

Proverbs 21:1  The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

God provided waterproof shoes for me a couple weeks ago and they have come in handy this May. It's been a very wet May and it continues today. I enjoyed getting out into Loanhead this morning. I had a divine appointment with a family who is dear to our church. (They had moved house.) Please pray that God will keep working in their hearts. We have a good friendship.

We had some great news on Sunday night. The Loxley family's little girl, Abigail, trusted Christ. We knew she was close to salvation. Katie does an excellent job teaching our children and her parents do a great job teaching her as well. It was obvious to all of them that she would soon be saved. In fact her dad and I prayed specifically for her salvation in our men's Sunday afternoon prayer time. Praise God. The angels are singing again!

God is answering other prayer for our church. Our newly saved man, Lewis, got employment today. Another lady in our church, Glenda, also was given a job. We have been praying much about these requests and we rejoice in God's provision.

There is still no word (as of Tuesday at 10:43AM) about the bank building. Please pray until we get word back from the seller regarding our offer. God has given us many Scriptures to encourage our hearts in His leading. We appreciate your prayers very much.

Also, we praise the Lord for His abundant supply of funds for the purchase of the building and the remodel of it. (We will not fully know God's purpose regarding this property until He has allowed us to have our offer accepted and have closed on the property.) God has done great things for us whereof we are glad! 

God blessed us with good enough weather for our outdoor baptism this evening. We knew rain was coming but God held it off. Stacy and Lewis testified through baptism of their receiving of Jesus Christ as their Saviour. We are excited about what God is doing in this family. Please pray for grace and wisdom as they grow in the Lord.

It was a special night. Amanda Baker, a missionary friend of ours from Peterborough, is here for a few days. Our family enjoyed ministering in music with her this evening. She also sang a solo in our service.

I preached a message on Acts 9, Before and After. We looked at Paul's actions and testimony before and after his conversion. In the baptismal service I preached on how Saul of Tarsus was converted. Thank you for praying for our church. God's hand has been evident.

We are still waiting to hear back about the offer. Meanwhile, our family enjoyed a wonderful holiday up in the Highlands near the Isle of Skye. We got out on the island while we were up there.

Here is some photographic evidence of the great time God gave us away.

We submitted a cash offer on the property today at noon. As of 5PM here, we have not received any word from the seller. They did let our solicitor know that they will seek to have a decision within five working days. I said to my family, "It's like asking a girl to marry you and her having 5 business days to get back to you." You want an answer now, but you have to wait.

God's hand has been very clear in getting us to this point. We anticipate His continued leading. Since God's in control, we can wait with patience. I will update this blog as soon as we hear back from them. Thank you for continuing to pray as the seller (bank) makes their decision.

If this is confusing, please read previous posts.

We want to praise the Lord that He has provided a significant enough gift to our building fund that we will be able to make an offer this Thursday. While this is thrilling and we stand in awe of God’s provision, we need that money to be in our account by this coming Wednesday. (By Thursday we need to show proof of funding as we make an offer.)

prayer request:

1) Pray that the funds can be transferred in time.

2) Pray that we make the right offer. (It’s bidding between us and other interested parties.)

3) Pray that the bank favours us regardless of whether we are the highest bidder or not.

Thanks for your prayers.

I thought I'd share an email I just sent to the church. It will provide the update on the witnessing opportunity prayer request.

Dear Church family,

Well.... there are unexpected things in life and this is one of them.

We were just notified by the seller of the bank property that they have set a closing date of THIS Thursday on this property. I've asked if there is any possibility they can move it one week to give us a bit more time.

A closing date means that we have to have an offer put in and show that we have the funds to cover the offer. (Meanwhile our famiy is heading on holiday (vacation) up in the Highlands and won't be back by this Thursday.) 

God is not surprised. I'm praying about what to do. Please pray with us. If they can't move the date, I'll be sending out an email update to our prayer supporters letting them know of our plans. 

God's good. Every day. All the time. We'll see what He wants to do about this property. Thanks for praying.

PS. I have an evangelistic Bible study at 3:30 our time and would appreciate your prayers for that as well.

This morning Tommy and I starting putting the new Gospel flyer out in Loanhead. It was a beautiful morning to get out. We enjoyed good fellowship and some short opporunities to share the Gospel. We also caught up with several people whom I know in the community.

Interestingly, I found out that the miner's community centre (our church location for 10 years) will likely never be available to us again. The committee is considering making it into office space. That is just further confirmation of God's leading with regard to purchasing the bank property. Please continue to pray for God's provision, blessing and guidance. 

Last Saturday God gave a great opportunity to speak with a man who grew up in a muslim home. He said he would email me a few questions. Please pray that he will follow through. I'd love to see Him get saved. Thanks for your prayers for divine appointments.