The closest part of Edinburgh to Loanhead is LIberton. Pastor Dillman and I were able to finish a large part of this area today. We didn't have any significant opportunities until we were waiting in the line for lunch at Costco. God allowed us to speak with a lady and to find out that she works with someone who attends our church. Please pray that God will help her to see the significance of our conversation and get back to God's Word. We'd love to see her visit our church with her co-worker. Thank you for praying for divine appointments.

Thank you for praying for our time under the ministry of Dr. Bud Steadman. God gave us a good turnout for the meetings and great encouragement from the Word of God. Dr. Steadman preached on going forward. Friday night was, "Going Forward in Impossible Situations." Saturday night was, "Going Forward to Healing." Sunday night was, "Going Forward to Battle." If you take the time to listen to the audio from our meetings, they will be a blessing to you.

God gave us a good Sunday. I preached yesterday from Daniel 2 on "Life and Death Praying." Daniel and his companions had to pray as if their life depended upon it... because it did. They had to know the king's dream or they would perish. They were men of prayer and they delivered themselves and all the other advisors to the king because God answered them. I said to our church that we don't need prayer warriors, we need a praying army. We appreciate those who are a part of the prayer army behind us and our ministry.

Thank you for your prayers for these special events. The next thing on our calendar of special events is a mission team from Tabernacle Baptist Church arriving next Wednesday. On Saturday 8 June, we will be hosting a teen football tournament. Please pray for the power of God to draw young people to this tournament and to open their hearts to His great news!

It was a slower morning, it seems, for evangelism in Edinburgh. People seemed slow to take the flyer today. The Lord did give me a few witnessing opportunities. One was with a woman who lives quite near Loanhead. I witnessed to her for about 20 minutes and she was thoughtful. She said that she would think about visiting the church. She knows our location.

I met a few believers today. Sadly, the first looked more ungodly than most the other people around her. But, she said she got saved when she was seven and that she faithfully attends her Baptist Church. I was frank with her and hope that God speaks to her heart about separation from the world. Another man I met is Brazilian and has only been in Scotland for two months. He is from a different denomination but was born again as a teenager. I encouraged him to come visit the church and he said he would find the location online. Please pray that Philip will visit.

One of the sadder conversations today was with a man who is 43 (I'll be 43 in July). He is an alcoholic. I went through the Gospel with him and left him a John and Romans. When he told me his age he said that he feels 73. (He looks much older than he is.) Sin has hurt is life. Please pray that He will obey the Gospel and find the victory which Jesus has promised.

My family had a busy day yesterday as we left at 8 AM to visit another minister's family, Don Clough, up in Lossiemouth. It's a four hour drive up there. Their church in Fochabers was having special meetings with Evangelist Ted Alexander. We enjoyed fellowshipping with both families and attending the 6 PM service. We got back here last night at midnight after a very enjoyable time away.

Thank you for praying for our church. The Steadmans have arrived in Scotland. They will be with us from Friday - Monday. We appreciate your prayers for our Stronger Family Seminar.

We are excited to be at a week of ministry which we have anticipated for many months. This coming Friday - Sunday nights at 6:00 PM we are having our Stronger Family Seminar. Dr. and Mrs. Steadman will be arriving to spend these days in ministry with us. Please pray for the power of God in these meetings.

We enjoyed a good Lord's day. There are a number of young families in our church. Please pray for Katie as she leads our children's ministry and creshe (nursery). Please also pray that God will do a great work in these young families lives.

I preached this morning on 1 Samuel 12 - Turn Not Aside. Samuel's final address to the children of Israel as he challenged them to stay with God. Thank you for your prayers for our preaching/ teaching ministry.

Thursday night we are going to use our midweek service to be a prayer service in preparation for what God is going to do in our hearts this next weekend. We appreciate your joining with us in intercession for this week.

The Lord gave Don and I some good outreach opportunities as we put flyers out on the South side of Edinburgh in Liberton. Please pray for Peter's salvation. God is working in his heart. He has a New Testament that he has been reading. We enjoyed looking at the Gospel together for about 20 minutes.

Please also pray for two 17 year old young men (separate opportunities) to whom we spake. I gave them each a copy of John and Romans.

My children painted the train yesterday and it is looking really good. We've got some ideas for using this for additional Gospel outreach. Please pray that God will bless these endeavours. Thank you for your prayers. 

PS. We still need to add text to the train. We hope to work on that this afternoon.

We are going to do a train theme Holiday Bible Club this summer. So, that means we need a train engine for our parade. Benson and Kay Lee helped yesterday as we built the Good News Express and primed it. It is now ready to be painted. We'll be using this in a parade and Gala Day (children's fair) next month as well as in our HBC in August. Last week 10,000 HBC flyers were printed. I'll drop off around 5,000 at area schools. The rest will be handed out in the parade and on the Gala Day. We also printed 5,000 children's ministry flyers to hand out. Please pray with us for good weather for the parade and Gala Day. (The Ark from last year has been transformed into a train.)

God gave us refreshing weather today and we were refreshed in our hearts as well. God blessed us with good attendance despite some being unable to be in attendance due to illness. I enjoyed preaching on parenting this morning as I continued a series I began last week of "Getting behind God in battle to get the victory." We've looked at three battles thus far with Evangelism and Righteousness considered last week. Please pray for our families to win this parenting battle. It is very important for their, their families, their church and our community.

Please pray ahead for our Stronger Family Seminar which begins next week on Friday, 24 May. Dr. and Mrs. Bud Steadman will be with us for those meeting as Dr. Steadman preaches to our families. 

This afternoon is our trust service. We are going to look at  Song of Solomon 2:1-4 as I preach on the love of Jesus. 

The ladies' meeting went well this past week. Katie got techie and used a video connection to include some ladies who live about an hour away. It went really well. Thank you for your prayers for our ministries.

Thank you for your prayers regarding the family who needed a car. They got one and were able to be in church today. Praise the Lord. Please continue to pray for Karen's cancer treatments. She has her last one this coming Thursday.

We enjoyed a beautiful morning handing out literature in Edinburgh. All told, we handed out over 1,000 flyers with a group of 10 of us. Everyone who participated really enjoyed the outing. So, it was a blessing to us and we pray a blessing to those who received the Gospel. God gave me one really good divine appointment with a young man. He is from our home area and recognized me as I handed him the flyer. I had prayed with him and a group of children about three years ago after he told me his soldier uncle had been shot. God raised up his uncle though the bullet had clipped an artery. God is obviously working on this young man and our encounter was not by accident. Please pray for his salvation.

I was in the village of Biggar again this morning and God gave me the privilege of leading a 60 year old man to the Lord. I shared the Gospel with him at his door for half an hour before going into his living room and leading him in a prayer of salvation. I apologised for slowing his day down and he said, “This is more important.” Lord willing, we’ll see him come visit the church although we are 40 minutes from that village.

We have prayed for years that God would allow us to start a church in that village. Perhaps this is the firstfruits of that future ministry. Please pray with us for God to plant Biggar Free Baptist Church in His time. (Yes, I like the name as well.)

I had one other short opportunity which I believe was effectual. Please pray for God to awaken that elderly man's heart as well.

I want to deviate from my normal posts just for a second and say, HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!!!!! I'm so thankful for the companion of my youth. God has blessed me richly and I thank God for His great goodness. 

God gave us a wonderful morning. We had a visiting minister, (Pastor Simeon Hudson) his wife and their friend this morning. They are serving the Lord in Argentina but are from the USA. (North Carolina) 

There are many ways in which we are watching God work in our ministry. Thank you for praying for Karen's cancer treatments. She has one left and is feeling pretty good after this last one. Praise God. Please pray that God will use these treatments to heal her of the cancer. Lord willing, the family without a vehicle will be able to acquire one this week. Meanwhile, another man in our church drove an hour to provide a way for them to attend church this morning. Praise God - they were there and someone stepped up to do something for God.

I preached this morning on, Get Behind God for Victory from I Samuel 5. David got behind God as he went into battle and God gave the victory. There are 5 things that David did that helped him get behind God. 

1.) He prayed.

2.) He got a promise from God.

3.) He got God's battle plan.

4.) He stirred himself up to fight.

5.) He destroyed everything to do with the enemy.

It is a great formula for victory as we get ourselves behind God. Thank you for your prayers for our ministry. You have blessed our church and we thank you.