It has been an encouraging week as we got ready for some special events tomorrow. Pastor Don Dillman will be preaching our 6PM service as we charter our church. In our Sunday School hour (5PM) we will have a baptismal service. Abby (11) is getting baptised and our Mac (6) is getting baptised. At least two adult visitors are supposed to be in attendance. Please pray for God to work in all of our hearts.

Praise the Lord, the weather is good and we have the baptistry (portable hot tub) set up and warming up. It is going to get cold tonight (32) degrees. Please pray that all goes well overnight. :) It should be mid 50's for the baptism tomorrow...with MUCH higher water temperatures - that is the nice thing about a hot tub.

We had special encouragement today as a church gave $1600 towards our building fund. We are praying earnestly for God to make a way for us to purchase the bank building. I know that many of your are praying as well. God is able. Please keep praying with us.

May God bless each of you with His manifest presence in your Lord's day services with your local church family. Thank you for keeping up with our family and ministry.

The weather is perfect for getting out to do flyers. Don and I enjoyed getting out today near his church in Livingston. We didn't have any divine appointments, but we enjoyed some good fellowship time.

Yesterday Tommy and I put out flyers in our area about 2 miles from Loanhead. We also didn't speak with anyone, but got a good number of flyers put out. We stopped to see a contact Don and I had made 3 weeks ago. He's had two strokes since we met him. Please pray that he will get out of hospital and that we can follow up on him.

God gave me a great divine appointment with a young father. I've had one Bible study with him so far. Please pray that we will see him saved.

Thank you for your continued prayers about the bank building. We continue to pray for God to make a way for us to purchase that property. 

It was another good Lord's day. Our attendance was down a little bit. Our visiting father was there the past two Sundays but was absent tonight. Please pray that he will keep coming.

Intersting Scottish weather fact: Tonight was one of the first Sundays since we got back (In October and not counting the lockdown Sundays) where it wasn't raining on Sunday evening. :) It has been amazing to us how many times we were carrying things into and out of the centre in the rain.

Katie said that the kids classes went well tonight. That's a blessing. I think the kids are getting into the routine.

I enjoyed preaching a message tonight from 1 Samuel 14 of Jonathan called, "Go and Achieve." It's an interesting progression of desiring to achieve something for God up to actually accomplishing that for God's glory. God blessed it to my own heart and I trust to the hearts of His people. Thank you for praying for our ministry.

We continue to wait on God regarding the bank building and asking God to make a way forward. We appreciate your prayers in that regard as well.

The Journey season 3 is finished with 14 episodes about God. I put the following paragraph on facebook as I posted the new trailer for the journey on Youtube.

"The Journey channel was developed for local churches and for individual believers to share the Gospel. Please download the videos or share the links. For an example of how to use the content as a church, please visit our church webpage. https://www.freebaptistchurch.org/you-can-believe/"

Thank you for your prayers for the extra work involved in preparing these videos. God helped me all along the way.

I've been working today on a new tract (baseball card size) that links to the Journey channel. It has a very simple Gospel message on the back. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of those who receive it.

We saw the bank building today and it would make a great church. Katie just wanted to stay and start cleaning for church. :) Please pray with us about this facility. It is in the heart of Loanhead and could immediately suit the needs of our congregation. Please pray that if there is a way forward that God would make that known to us.

Here are some pics....

We are still really enjoying being back together and now we are getting into a bit of routine. The kids are doing well obeying in their class and everyone is getting back to our old schedule. It's great!

We are preparing to charter the church. So, last SS we looked at the church constitution. Today I took us half way through the Baptist Distinctives. 

God put on my heart tonight to preach a message on, "The Tithe is the Lord's" from Malachi 3:6-11.  If you don't tithe, I'd encourage you to listen to this message. I'm very thankful that my parents taught me tithing as God has richly blessed it in my life. You can also see Benson leading the singing and hear a song I sang this evening, "Unworthy." If you have time to view something from our service, I trust it will be a blessing to you.

We are indebted to those who have put us over here and who uphold us in prayer. May God greatly encourage your hearts in Him.

The Lord blessed our business meeting last night and they church voted to form a charter membership. We'll seek to get a date on the calendar in the next two months for a chartering service. 

The Lord also answered prayer regarding plans for Kay Lee for the summer. We weren't sure when she should head to college (Ambassador Baptist) or who should travel with her. We've prayed often about it. This week Kay Lee was accepted as a counselor at the Bill Rice Ranch for the summer. Benson was also accepted to be a ranch hand for the first half of the summer. They will travel together and then Benson will return here mid July. Kay Lee will head to college after counseling. We're excited for the ministry opportunity ahead of them and appreciate your prayers for them this summer. (Please also pray for wisdom as we book flights during the pandemic. We had several last minute changes to our travel itinerary last summer.)

Our midweek service is a study of Hebrews. Last night we made it to Hebrews 11 and the history of men and women of faith. I preached a message on True Faith. I'm looking forward to this part of our study as we examine what men and women have done by faith. Thanks for praying for our ministry.

Don and I had a some opportunities today to speak with people as we put out flyers. Two separate opportunities were with older women who lamented the inability to sing in church. (The government restrictions have caused many churches to stop singing.) I told them the Bible commanded singing, "Come into His presence with singing." Our church is obeying God in this regard, though we are socially distanced and the congregation is wearing masks. 

Eph 5:19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Please pray that they will want to visit the church. Both were kind but answered clearly that they were not born again. (That is very sad when you realize that they are in a denomination from which many great Gospel ministers have been sent.) I shared John 3:7 with them and I hope they will get in their Bibles and study John 3 for themselves.

Don struck up a conversation with a man named Scott. Please pray for this man. We spoke with him for 25 minutes and I believe that Scott is close to salvation. It seems that others have been speaking to him about the Gospel. He is in his mid 60's and is disillusioned with the religious system which has been his since birth. Please pray that he will have the courage to visit our Baptist Church. He's a very nice man and a good listener. We asked if he wanted to trust Christ right then. He answered that he needed some time to consider it. We left him with a John and Romans as well as the link to The Journey. (Thanks for praying for divine appointments. Prayer works because God works when you pray. :)

There were snow flakes flying this morning as I went to meet Tommy to do flyers. The 30MPH winds didn't help warm us up, although the sun was out for a bit of our time. We put flyers out for about an hour and got a good bit done.

This morning The Journey segment was, "Known God." We looked at Paul's message to the Athenians from Mar's Hill. He taught a lesson on who God is from the altar of the "unknown God." If you would like to view it, here is a (Youtube link) (Sermon Audio Link) (Facebook Link.) 

Last week we advertised the segment, Faithful God. It's been amazing to us how much negative feedback that segment is receiving. If I have dealt with controversial truth, it was not in that video.... I thought. However, man is contrary to the faithful God and quick to stand in judgment upon Him. Please pray for the hearts of these who have been pricked by God's Word that they will submit to God's authority and recieve His love. Your prayers for God's blessing on The Journey are much appreciated.

The Lord gave us a great Easter Sunday. Although snow is forecast tomorrow (!) we had a nice sunrise and the rain stopped for the kids to do their Easter Egg Hunt. It's fun to be together again as a church family. 

God blessed us with a visiting father tonight. It was good to see him back in church. He was very ill this past year, but his health is somewhat better. Please pray for God to reach this family.

You won't be surprised that I preached an Easter Message, "He Arose" from Matthew 28. I enjoyed going point by point through the conclusion of the greatest event in human history, our redemption. Praise God, He is risen indeed!

This Thursday is an important business meeting for our church as we vote on whether or not to charter the church. Your prayers are much appreciated as we consider this need. Thank you for praying and for keeping up with our church ministry.