Praise and Prayer

We saw six kids, about 9-12 years of age, make firm decisions to follow Jesus this week as a result of our Holiday Club (VBS)
Lots of parents came to the Sunday Service to watch their kids in a holiday club concert and they all heard the gospel clearly.
Please pray for the follow-up.

We have moved forward with removing 12 rows of pews and replaced them with some softer, more sermon-friendly chairs.
Visitors will be less distracted without the hard benches, but more importantly, this gives us more flexibility with the space for the kids club on Friday nights.

Please pray for two Christian Viewpoint articles in the local paper this August & November.

We will start up a Christian Club in Alva Academy the local High School this year Join us in prayer that our Father will draw seekers and spare us the mockers and scoffers.
I will meet with two other local ministers and the head teacher of the school on August 15 about beginning a Chaplaincy programme .

As school starts up I plan on sitting out on the main street with a Jesus Booth and a sign that reads “Information About Jesus, Serving the Community for Over 2000 Years!”
Pray for favour with the local council and the merchants in front of whom I plan to park. (AND lots of loving patience and good humour about the truth and the lies)

Lastly, I am planning to open the school year with a through-the-bible-in-a-day class on a Saturday from 9-5; followed by a through-the-bible Sunday evening study.
We may begin recording and podcasting at this point.
I hope that this will help people tap in who lack the attention span to sit in the church.

The personal pronoun “I” concerns me.
Can we pray together that God would confirm His hand in all these plans.

My family is squirming amidst all this activity. We are raising a newborn (Aaron 2 months) and two boys (Daniel 5, Josiah 4) My wife is depressed with this small town with not a lot of 20-something church-going women. A home office is a horrible temptation to do more home than ministry work; not exactly sure how much the two must be separated.

Our church labours to overcome religious performance issues and to find the Love of God in our hearts for challenging personalities that overshadow the fellowship.
God can handle it. I can’t. But I still try to, WAY TOO OFTEN.

I DO FEEL ALONE OUT HERE.
I will meet with another minister in a neighbouring Baptist church Wednesday and CC Edinburgh pastor on Saturday.
But the accountability relationships are strained by distance. Please continue to pray for a like-minded buddy-in-Christ!