After 6 years we thought it was time to replace our church signs. It is amazing that our roll up banner stand signs had lasted that long.

We are very pleased with the new signs which we got this week. I'll put some pictures below.

The ladies' Christmas tea went very well last night. It was a busy day as Logan had his 11th birthday yesterday as well. It's fun seeing the kids grow up. I feel like I'm shrinking.

Katie always works very hard to give the ladies' a wonderful Christmas party. There was very good attendance last night. It was a particular blessing to have a couple neighbors present. I'll put a picture below of the wonderful treats Katie made for the evening. Thank you for praying for that ministry opportunity.

This is a busy ministry week. Sunday we also have our Trust Service (assisted living facility). I almost decided to study rather than put out flyers this morning. But, I'm glad that I was able to get out. I had a very good divine appointment with a young couple. I gave the young lady a John and Romans. Please pray that she reads it and that God opens her eyes.

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry. They are much appreciated.

PS. The second picture is one order of onion rings from the chip shop next door. If you can't tell how big they are - 4-5 inches accross. The picture illustrates what happens when your neighbor is the chippy and they love your family. :)

Thursday night we had a very encouraging service. We had another little girl visit our church and a young family of four visited as well. We've been praying for God to fill up our chairs and we were excited to make some progress. The family are young believers that we know from our community. They attend another church but decided to visit with us this past Sunday night. Please pray for God to direct their family as He see's fit. There are reasons why we beileve it would be better for them to attend our ministry.

We had good services today. I preached this morning on a portion of Solomon's temple dedication prayer. My message was, "Getting Strangers in Touch with God" from 1 Kings 8:41-43, 60. It's an interesting evangelistic passage from the Old Testament. Tomorrow night is Katie's ladies' Christmas party at our home. Please pray for God's special blessing on that evening. Thank you for your prayers.

Don and I got out in his new area of Newbridge. He and his wife are starting a Bible study to help start a church there. We had some good divine appointments as we put out flyers and knocked on doors. One man who is anti-religion was attentive as I shared with him some information about God's judgment on false religion in Revelation 14. (I was prepared for that conversation because I am preaching through Rev on Thursday nights and we are in Chapter 14 this Thursday.) I hope he will pick up a Bible and read Revelation himself.

Brandon was another opportunity. He is a young man in his 20's who professed to be an atheist. We spoke to him for over 10 minutes and he is probably thinking things he never thought about before. Please pray that God will awaken his heart.

As we knocked on doors Don had a couple good opportunities to share the Gospel. Please pray expecially for a lady in her late 60's. She is church of Scotland but isn't saved. But, she said to us, "Now my mother in law is in her 90's and she is one of those born again Christians." We told her that she could have that same confidence if she would take Christ as her Saviour. 

Please pray that God will bless the flyers we put out introducing the idea of a Baptist Church in Newbridge.

This morning I put out flyers in a couple of villages that are nearby. The Lord gave me one divine appointment with a Church of Scotland elder. He told me that he didn't think he would go to Heaven. He listened as I shared the Gospel with him. It's sad to me to meet someone who is religious but lost. Praise God Jesus came to "seek and to save that which was lost." Please pray for this man's salvation.

Please also pray for an older man who attends our church quite often. He is wheelchair bound and tipped his chair in the road last night. His head was cut and he had a couple other abrasions. Thankfully it appears that there were no serious injuries although we believe he was knocked unconscience. I went to the hospital with him last night. I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers for his recovery.

The Lord gave us a good spirit this morning with decent attendance. One young girl who missed her ride this morning walked to church with her older sister. It was encouraging to see her take the extra effort to get there. She is very faithful in her attendance even though she is only 8.

I preached this morning from Isaiah 12 a message entitled, "I'm So Glad I Am Saved." It is the song of the Jews in the Millenium when nationally they have returned to God. What a day that will be! But, what a day it is when any believer is saved. I enjoyed sharing what we have been given in our salvation.

...got out and knocked on some doors this morning. It was a bit warmer today. We've had frost on the ground for the last 4 days which never melted. The Lord gave us a few good opportunities to invite people to church and one good opportunity to open the Bible with one lady. Please pray that God will awaken her heart. 

We enjoyed our family time with the Thanksgiving holiday. Yesterday we got the house decorated for Christmas. Katie has her Ladies' Christmas meeting one week from Monday. It's always a highlight of the year and the festive decorations make for a very nice evening. Katie has already begun baking things for that evening. Please pray for a good turnout and for Katie as she prepares to share God's Word.

We had a fun youth activity last night. To have this youth activity you just need a wood or cement floor, a tube of glow sticks and some electrical tape. We put lines on either side of the room with electrical tape. We also used a couple glow sticks on the tape. We then made a bracelet with a glow stick (that was our puck) and used our feet to kick it. If you kicked the puck between the glow stick (on your oponents side of the room) you got 3 points. If it crossed the line outside the glow stick you got one point. If you kicked it over your own goal line on accident the other team got 5 points. It was basically like a combination of soccer, football and hockey. If you can figure that out - you win! 

Our family is looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow and taking time to recognize God's goodness. We want to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving. We are blessed to have strong prayer and financial supporters. Thank you for standing with our church and family!

The Lord gave us a really great day with Missionary Layton Kelly and one of his staff, Aiden Curan. It was not the day we had planned. Katie had to miss the day as Mac was unwell. (We'd appreciate your prayers for him as he has had a 6 week cold and then got the vomit bug this weekend.) Another lady had the bug and was away as well.

We had a different schedule yesterday as our morning service was followed by lunch and an afternoon service. In the afternoon service we saw pictures of the men's home and Brother Aiden shared his testimony. Praise God for their ministry to addicts in Dublin. Both of these men know what it is to be chained to a drug addiction but praise God He has set them free. They have a saying, "Those who are hurting hurt others, but those who are helped, help others." It is certainly true of their ministry.

Brother Kelly preached a message in the AM service on letting the Gospel need get into your head, your heart, your hands. 

In the afternoon I put on my tour guide hat and showed the men some of the church history of Edinburgh. We had a good time. They flew in yesterday morning and out last night. Please pray for God's refreshment for them as they had a very full day with us.

This is a good week for me to catch up on things as Brother Layton Kelly is preaching for us this Sunday. I've needed some catch up time. The Lord gave me a good divine appointment as I had an interview for my British passport. Please pray that God will awaken Paul's heart. He is religious but lost. 

I had a good discussion with him about "different interpretation" vs. "misrepresentation." When the world says, "That's your interpretation" they are really misrepresenting the Bible. I'm thinking about writing something about that in the future. If I said, "Darwin really believed in a 6 literal day creation" the world would call me a fool. But, they readily accept someone who says, "The Bible really teaches millions and millions of years."

I put my passport application in first because the Lord has opened the door for me to go to Israel in January. I'm very thankful to have had my appointment as I should now receive my passport within the next couple weeks. It could have taken up to 6 weeks which would have been pretty close to my departure. 

Please pray for Craig Hartman and Dr. Bud Steadman as they lead our tour in January. I've wanted to go to Israel since I was in college and am very excited about connecting the Bible and geography, archeology, history, etc.

I've had time this week to work on the 7 other passport applications for my family. Praise the Lord I think I am nearly done with this type of paperwork!