White Christmas

So I am in Alva enjoying this scene.
Christmas Eve Service tonight. 7pm (GMT)
I will go to visit my family on Christmas Morning
at Elizabeth's grandmother's home in Carron
(where we had our wedding reception).
If the roads are passable.

Thank you for praying for us
and for Alva Baptist Church where we serve God.
God is faithful. God is good.

Merry Christmas

Sunday 6th December: Blessable

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Still Standing

I am weary and hopeful.
Liz is encouraged and feeling stronger.
and we still have trouble.

Please pray specifically for our family.

I started with how Liz's decissions afflicted me.
Then I decided "poor Liz she is afflicted and she is affecting me"
Now I realize "poor Liz, I totally afflict her".

Its never one-sided, but God is showing me how important it is to be obedient to Him despite what we think or feel about others we share life with.

God has called me to love my wife to the point of laying down my life for her.
I am facing the reality that I failed to love Liz like Christ loves the church and she is right to point it out.

I brought you all in on this episode of our lives.
It's a bit embarassing and I would rather keep it all quiet.
But I feel we signed up for a life on display as missionaries
and cant reconcile just sending out postcards of happy children and church-folk at BBQs.

And for this entire post I have struggled
with wanting to plead my innocence and justify my sin.
And point out the messy web of genuine offenses and sinful responses.
Satan's got the whole room in a big cream pie throwin fight!

This messy bit of life is God working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

We hope to see evidence of that soon...

Please pray,
David

Feeling the Love

You guys are great!
I applaud your support and prayers.
Especially those who are lovingly reaching out to Elizabeth.
Liz and I are encouraged.
God is using you.

Nobody mentioned it, but I feel convicted that I complained about a choice that Liz made without owning up to choices I make that are equally wrong. Liz is hurting just like her husband. and we are blessed with friends like you. Pray with hope and thanksgiving for what God is doing over here in our hearts.

Thank you.

Crisis

2 1/2 years since we went out from Metro to serve in Scotland.
There has been extreme grief as friendships ceased with our departure.
It's a busy life. We are all busy.
It's a challenge to keep on top of even that which is right in front of us isn't it?

The support that we truly depend on hasn't been financial or relational.
Jehovah-Jireh -- The Lord our Provider

But it is hard to keep sight of this in relative isolation from the people we grew up with. Liz and I have had a VERY hard time adjusting to missionary shock (David), re-entry shock (Elizabeth), post natal depression, the stress of reorienting to a denominational church culture where we believe God has placed us, raising sons, home maintenance, general christian growth...

This next bit may come as a shock.
Elizabeth has decided to separate from me.
we are working with the counselor we have been seeing for months now.

I do not agree with Elizabeth's decisions.
I cannot control this; or fix it.
I have decided to move into a flat so the rest of the family will experience as little additional disruption as possible.
It sucks.

God causes ALL things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I believe this and I am not feelin it.
I am struggling with grief and pain and shame and frustration and anger and fear and renewed hope as they wash over me in oscillating waves.

I have shared this with the fellowship here in Alva,
with my prayer partners;
and with a couple of strangers I just met who are planting a church nearby.

And now you are more specifically aware of how you can pray.

I considered whether I am qualified to continue in ministry.
(an overseer) must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1Ti 3:4-5 ESV)

I am not sure that I have failed to manage my own household well.
I am convinced that I am not able to 'manage' Liz.
I offered to step back from commitments, to quit ministry entirely;
but Liz is making this decision for her reasons.
Her family supports this
I feel quite alone in my insistance that this is wrong.

But God is holding us up we both want to perservere and see victory.

This has deeply affected our family in Alva.

Please be praying,
David

This last Sunday's Sermon was on suffering in crisis.

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Pray for Us

We are really going through a storm right now.

The place, the Man, the sign.

We had a guest speaker Preach on John 5:1-18
Norman Rollo is a neighbour and friend here in Clackmannanshire

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Autumn

The world is pitching and heaving!
There is so much going on with kingdom significance.

I could start with the Family Club that served kids and their parents last night. We had a sports medicine educator come and speak to kids about strength and fitness, specifically, warming up before exercise. Then we played some games pertaining to the life of Daniel and showed a bit of an animated feature on the life of Daniel.

We also have seen the Kids' Church grow with unlikely additions from the neighbourhood kids. Partly as a result of the outreach but also, I think, resulting from the sincere love that God has placed in our hearts for this community. We know its all God, and Jesus saves. And yet, we know He insists on His church 'carrying the arc into battle'. Andrew introduced Peter, didn't he?

Our coffee morning gathers 10 or 20 people together on a Wednesday. At this gathering, we are positioned to get to know and pray for our neighbours. We feed free tea/coffee and cakes and allow for a donation toward costs, but really we love on these mostly retired folks and moms with small children.

On October 25th we start our 'One Day Through the Bible' Study.
4 Sundays, from 3-5pm, through the main plot of the whole Bible.

Please keep praying for our family and the work!

The world is watching the news, our neighbours look to the front office to see if their jobs are in danger, our children are reading our faces to discern the meaning of things and the Lord is refining His church for the harvest!

Do you see that the time is here when the judgement is begining with the house of God?

I suppose it is possible that this is merely a projection of my own autobiography onto this blank screen of a blog, but outch! Lord!? May I please just agree with You and be seared with a coal from your alter, already!!?

I am convicted that the work in my heart is for public consumption. Your responses over the last few months have expressed encouragement and support and even relief that others are going through refining fire; relief that you are not the only one.

Still, when we ask 'How are you today' we don't really want our neighbours to unpack their emotional baggage. But I am being seriously smelted here!

I am really coming to grips with the rebellious nature I have held-onto in my Christian walk. As if Christianity was a rebellion from the world system. Then I, as a rebel from the world, affiliated with others; IN REBELLION. I am convicted that I was, until recently, on any team because we both were against the Devil! I reflect on my past Christian service with grief! I am seriously convicted that it was mostly in vain, except that my deepest desire was to serve God. I am called to serve God, to line-up under His authority. And affiliating with people submitted to Him is proving to be challenging. Christians everywhere, but so many rebels; so many angry lone rangers; so few men of God. Are any of us?

This last year of my life has been increasingly characterized by conviction and repentance. This is so NOT fun. I am a poor man. I am undone. Dont feel sorry for me, I was like this when you knew me. In me dwelleth NO good thing.

Everything is on the block. My neck, my marriage, my children, my ministry; the pronoun tells the story: none of these are mine! God took me to the backside of the desert to slap me to the wheel. (to mix two biblical metaphores)

I told God I was ready for an adventure.
He agreed.
But oh, what important realities are not in the recruitment brochures for Christian service!

Many admired the courage of our setting out.
You all knew I had character flaws when I left.
But I am here to say that the depth of God's work has gone beyond what I ever wanted to admit or face. This could easily kill me if I hold on to anything of myself as God blasts it away.

Its not like I was in secret sin or something; I am just convicted (with a diminishing sense of grace) about the absence of a heart for the fullness of God's spirit to bring forth love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. God has raised the bar and every time I dont clear it I am getting thumped! And I am better for it, but things look pretty bruised right now. Please pray for us!

God wants us to lift HOLY hands.
Are you holy? Did you think you could leave that part out?
I stand before the solar wind of God's refining fire and more of me is burning off than I bargained for. Is anybody else really, really, REALLY going through this?

Please pray for us.
There is fruit and the Gospel is preached.

Honestly, Satan is like 'just quit, you're a mess' and I almost could.
Except there is nothing else I will ever do besides preach the gospel.

My family and I need your prayers to see God transform this man into the holy man He can use to reach: his family, people in Alva, and perhaps even Clackmannanshire, Scotland, Europe and the world. But I am in the way and we need your prayers as God is already well into the surgery.
- Elective Soul Surgery

Please pray for us.

The Big 'If'

In the face of Crisis, where do you turn?

What constitutes crisis in your life?

In our lives, in my life, David's life, there is a growing urgency.

Its not just money, or politics, or religion.
The financial crisis, the middle east crisis or a crisis of faith.

As I draw near to the Lord, there is less of me that is demanding my 'rights'. But it took episodes of what I still look upon as injustice, and the resulting frustration, to rouse me beyond the idolatry of self in the persuit of God.

DREADFUL, the face in the mirror demanding from God what God has chosen to withold!
"its not supposed to be like this!" cries a fixated and petulant child.
My Lord learned obedience, shall I resist?

Crisis calls us to humble ourselves, pray and seek God and turn from our wicked ways. and God promises to hear from heaven, forgive us and heal our land.

Ministry is not for wimps!
The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!" (Pro 22:13)
There IS a roaring lion outside!
Dont step away from the shepherd!

Please keep praying for us,
Dave & Liz Fraser

Podcast on iTunes and the sidebar.

Win \ Win

Part of my growing willingness to consider the UK (which is how we got moving to be able to end up in Scotland) stemmed from a unique experience at a party of a friend in LA.

The party overflowed into the yard and while we all milled about chatting, my son Daniel crouched down and tried to pick up the root of a tree as if it were a stick. "Sad urban child" I thought :) Then I taught him something new about roots and sticks and got on with life.

But it highlighted a desire in my heart to see boys as future scouts, hunting frogs by the river, learning to respect and eventually fire a 22 at a potato at 30 yards, camping out on random hills, etc...

I didnt know God would lure us to Scotland with hopes for urban Edinburgh and land us in rural Alva to bless our socks off! And we couldn't have planned it this well.

Lately, we feel so far from our friends in LA. All our lives continue day-to-day. For many of us, our fellowship was only ever established by the constant contact. Over time this intimacy fades. I sometimes mourn the loss of relationships.

Then when I feel sad for myself and my family, I see this picture of boys in dirt and sand by the river Spey and God brings the memory of the tree root in LA. He speaks to me of my heart's desire in a moment when I wasn't particularly asking God to help me in any special way.

Now, I know there are rivers in CA that are not paved over. This scene could have come from somewhere pretty near LA. But isnt it cool that while God is using the willing, that He is willing to bless along the way! Its no big deal to God to stop in a moment and say "I saw you when you were under the fig tree" 'I care about what you care about'; 'I'm here'; 'This is all really happening'; 'I am with you'

I peeked at the end of the story and God wins. But there is also victory along the way!

Summer is Over

Heaven's Kitchen Holiday Club

We were fairly successful in reaching the children in the neighbourhood who we are most likely to see on Sundays and at kids clubs.

We scheduled it at the end of the summer this year and perhaps unfortunately saw alot less kids as a result.

The trade-off is that we will see those kids who did come next week in school.

Sadly we had to cancel this year's LCI trip to Scotland. Not enough people signed up and things weren't working out here on our side. We trust God with His timing and hope to see Him at work with us again over the next year.

On the horizon is a Sunday afternoon Bible study through the whole Bible in 4 weeks. David plans to cover the bible in four Sundays from 3-5pm. Please pray for the communication efforts so that people recognize that this is happening and for God to help them recognize the opportunity to gain a Bible overview. We are still calling it 'Through the Bible in a Day' even though its 8 hours over 4 Sundays. Go figure...

Later in August, we will have an induction service for the newly hired YMCA Youth Worker: Cheryl Robson. She is a strong Christian and views YMCA and a means to reach children with the gospel and serve them by helping them to reach their full potential in life.

School starts next week (18 August) so the Chaplaincy will resume as well at the Scripture Union meeting for teens. Both happen on Tuesdays (West Coast Americans pray on Mondays please :)

You can go to http://www.alvabaptist.org/ to hear our very first podcast!
(just OK sound quality first time out of the chutes)
We have begun recording sermons for podcasting.
You can find the RSS feed on http://alvabaptist.podbean.com/
We have also submitted the feed for ITunes and expect to hear back shortly.

Daniel starts 3rd grade! Josiah starts big-boy school for full days! (Yay 4 mom!) Aaron almost stands unaided, scuttles about in a walker, and says lots of words through a mouthful of teeth!

Pray for us (Liz and Dave) to get focused on each other as the last two or three years has really worn us down. We recognized recently that we have drifted maritally and due to the myriad of tasks and practical responsibilities. SO date nights are no longer expendable. (they never were, but we skimped :( Many of you, no doubt are solid, and we are happy for you; but we discovered that we were in need of remedial instruction in things we had once considered all figured out.

Because we lack close friends our age here in Alva, we decided to take ourselves to a Christian counselor once a week (which apparently doesn't count as a date either! j/k) It has been a really illuminating experience and we are growing after nearly 8 years of marriage in areas that just weren't thriving. Can anyone out there relate to this?

It is a dreadful feeling to sense something is wrong and perceive cracks in the foundation while life is still cranking away at full speed. There is fear and shame and worry that things will just fall apart. But God has been faithful to us and we want to encourage you all to let someone know if you need help. It all gets better in the open when we agree to approach it on God's terms.

As I mentioned we decided to see a trained counselor, who is a christian counselor that works with the principles in the Bible, not just a counselor who calls themselves a Christian and spouts godless myths and psychology. We are really seeing results and being set free in areas of blindness and deception about things we hadn't considered. I considered not mentioning this to missionary supporters, but we decided the honest testimony of God at work is important and our humility yeilds His glory.

Over all, the community continues to embrace us and we are growing as a family and the Gospel is preached in Alva. We are focusing more and more on the Lord and less on all that we'll do for Him. He wants the whole package in order and glorifying Him. Let Him do it. :)

Love,
Dave & Liz Fraser
44 (125) 976-0415
david@firstlove.org.uk
metrobabe1@hotmail.com

Well….

So here it is, May!
Where has the time gone?
We are so busy with God, Family and Ministry.As our friend David Simpson at Calvary Motherwell has said:” if you get your priorities straight with God, the other parts fall into place”

On the one hand, David is learning to seek the Lord and follow; rather than bound forward to show Him what he is willing to do in His name. On the other, is a desire to be found diligent and faithful. The healthy balance between ministry to family and to community is struck in a place of constant tension.

Elizabeth is catching a rhythm with the three boys and school and church (and Judo). We have carved out some time for sane, quiet (snot-free) mommy-time. She is moving into a time of rest, focusing on homemaking and artistic expression through writing and photography. Being near to family is a blessing.

We are getting over the fact that, while the grass may in fact BE greener on the other side of the Atlantic, it is not the panacea that one might have imagined with regard to our hopes for change in the pace of life and the intimacy of family relationships (though there has been some free baby-sitting!).

Easter was just GREAT! We saw one fellow baptized on the Sunday morning and several other baptized believers joined us in the mission of the church. Alva is a congregational church, so membership gives people a say in how we pursue ministry together. Not easy to pastor, but not as miserable as a benevolent dictator might think. Still, it is odd, but that’s where God has us right now.

We see people responding to the gospel.
Salvation, yes.
And discipleship too!
This old church is growing in grace and love.

We saw one family that was growing so near to us, just, up and walk away.Ostensibly attributed to the Hymns and lack of youth work.What can we do but reach out to families and pray for a worship team and some young Christians?

It kind of hurt to be identified as the lame church and left for better offerings. I had hoped that they would be part of the start of a new church culture.

Please pray with us for relevant worship music and youth work. We currently enjoy a children’s ministry of two women and ad-hoc helpers and are planning a crèche with two ladies for infants (we have three babies in the church!)

On the action front:
1. David was honoured to be invited to sit on the board for a new Hillfoots YMCA trust. Together they raised over 50,000 pounds (mostly through other members' grant writing) to hire a youth worker for three years to work in the towns along the Hillfoots area (Menstrie, Alva and Tillicoultry). As part of his service, he was also asked to sit on the hiring committee for the worker and then was chosen for the three person panel to interview the worker. In the pinch we were able to influence the choice for a competent, experienced person who was the right fit for the community to get the job (and very strong Christian as opposed to a person who merely ‘ascribes to the YMCA ethos’). God willing, assuming that the references and background check turn out fine, this person will start in mid-July.

2. With regard to the Chaplaincy at the local public high school Alva Academy, David comes home every week like a happy puppy having run in the park for an hour! They let him come into the lunch room and hang out with the students answering Any Question about God or the Bible they may have. He is a resource to the school for crisis counselling and also takes morning assemblies where he gets to speak to the students about the word of God and what it says about subjects relevant to life. It’s an amazing open door!

The Scottish government has presented a guideline to schools called ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ which requires that Christianity be taught in schools as an expression of the tradition that is part and parcel of Scottish life. Other world religions are taught as a sort of cultural tolerance issue, but the truth of God stands firm in the marketplace of ideas.

3. The mid-week Bible study is running strong. We have worked through Ephesians, Colossians and are now wading into 1 Timothy.

4. We are planning to start a Sunday evening study through the entire Bible starting with Genesis this summer. Outlines are done and some sermons are brewing. Please pray for opportunity and ready soil for the Word implanted. The way I envision it is Bible survey on Sunday night, a topical Sermon the next Sunday morning drawn from the previous Sunday night text and home groups that week discussing the chapter and the sermon that followed.

5. We have had a multi-church, multi denominational worship service at the church in April and plan to again in June. Folks from several Baptist, several Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), Bretheren!, and Free Charismatic churches all got together with music and banners and the word of God and prayer (and tea & biscuits) and raised the roof! Nothing wild, but everybody saw unity as the fruit and suffered the differences in culture and method while we lifted up Jesus Christ as Lord and praised our Father in heaven. It was well cool.

We will stop here so you will come back some other time.

Prayer:
· For our little boys to be protected (heart, mind & body)
· Priorities in ministry
· For stoney hearts to hear the gospel
· For the elderly of our fellowship: health,
encouragement and inclusion in the life of the church
· For worshipers
· For youth workers.

Thank you all for your prayer and financial support,

Dave & Liz Fraser

Never Fails

God shows up every time you make room for Him in your life.

Resolve every day to find the opportunity to share the gospel!

We are firefighters lugging the limp bodies of people overcome by the toxic fumes of life. Just a few words about God's provision for repentance and forgiveness of sin.

today I took the boys to visit Stirling Castle. Alongside the castle is an old cemetary which the boys enjoy wandering through. There we met three young boys, one of whom knew me from our kids club on Friday nights. Of the three, one was too young and just wanted to be silly, but the other two were ripe for the answer to the major question of life: How do you get into heaven.
It was their question.

All I did was point out that angels in the bible are always male and that it seemed odd to me that so many headstones depicted female angels. And the train kept a rollin...

Jake and Ross prayed for God to forgive their little boy sins, convinced that any broken commandment is the same as murder. Stolen cookies and cheeky attitude toward parents was enough to be moved to ask God for forgiveness because Jesus died for all sin on the cross.

Ross said: "I wont remember this, I learn stuff on TV all the time and I dont remember that stuff either" I pointed him toward a cross headstone and said: "See that cross? Just remember Jesus paid for your sin by dying on a cross and remember you are forgiven. And live as a friend of God. Jesus rose again on Easter and we all live forever. And you will definitely be invited into heaven because when you meet God you will have been forgivien."

Will you pray for Ross and Jake to remember what happened today?

This Sunday night we will have the first baptism in the church in a long time. This Monday we will have the first wedding in the church in a long time!

The Gospel, Declarations of faith, Life-long covenants, signs of abundant life in Scotland! It happens all the time.

Love never fails!
~D

Prayer:
Please pray for Liz and David for prioritization in life.

And our marriage as we learn to love well in the midst of an often tumultuous life in service.

Also Dave is on study leave from 9-22 March as he plans for an evening study and Sunday Morning Sermons through the book of Genesis.

And for Liz as she makes friends in and around Alva.

And for the boys as they grow up and are increasingly influenced by the world around them.

New

We are so encouraged.

It seems to follow hard times, but these times of refreshing are a tree of life.

The year started with another funeral, for a person we really could have known better and loved better and served alot more; with whom we just failed to build a relationship.

But it also has come with continued opportunities to reach into the community:

The Chaplaincy is bearing fruit with more invitations to come and speak to kids;
David met with about 200 2nd year students (12-13) to talk about the Bible as a tool to navigate unsure times (Isa 55:8-11). How much could you share in exactly 10 minutes?

Dave then spent 15-20 minutes with the Deputy and Head teacher (who's name is 'Mr. Meany' :) talking about how much we want for these children to be empowered to live significant lives and how David has come to trust in the promises of the God of all creation, and His son Jesus Christ for real and lasting change and wisdom. We also talked about scraping ice from the windshields and how one guy lays newspaper the night before and just peals it off in the morning. What a trip!

The Scripture Union (SU) Christian Club is growing as a new format takes hold:
Any Questions is a no holds barred: Donahue, Oprah, Jerry Springer format where we take questions from a 'suggestion box' and a blog site called (brace yourself for the sheer originality)http://www.bibleanswerguy.com/
This Tuesday's question is "Are you a fundamentalist?"
Feel free to annonymously 'seed the clouds' at questions@bibleanswerguy.com

We extended an invitation to LTW to come along side this work. Lighting the Way Worldwide is an apologetics ministry run by a dear friend of ours from Venice, CA who we met through Life Connections International and the Westside Pastors' Luncheon. They have agreed in principle to help us collect some really useful material for the kids at the secondary school, and perhaps to do more to reach the local Stirling University.

We have already set the date for this year's LCI Mission Trip to Scotland from 25 August to 5 September more information here. If God wills it, we will see some of you here this year. Its a big thing to get up and out of your Comfort Zone. and it is more than a glorified vacation. We plan to see a busy time of ministry to the local community; to get the Gospel preached a bit more of a spectacular, event-based way.

We are enjoying the growth of relationships at our small town's pace, also.

Our coffee morning is now a staple event in the lives of some people in Alva. And we always get to pray for people and see some new visitors each week. It's always perfect. And some people who make the cakes and coffee are really building relationships with one another. Please pray for Carole & Jim and Iona

Our weekly Mums and tots group is bearing fruit with a family coming along to church on Christmas Eve and Sundays since. Hallelujah! Please pray for our leader Amy.

David is meeting with one great guy who wants to grow more in respect to his relationship with God. David actually has had one person, whom he baptized in a local waterfall, ask him to please come by often and could they be friends not just ministry acquaintances. This is purely an answer to prayer. Dave needs friends and not merely associates. Pleas pray for Dave & David and Patrick.

Liz iz seeing light at the end of the tunnel as we enter our eighth month of thee-boys-edness. There are other moms who have passed through or are at a similar stage of life, who have come alongside her. Family nearby is a real blessing. (a challenging blessing) ;)

Daniel is going to start Judo this week with one of his buddies! Ki-yah!
There is a node of like 5 or six kids from solid Christian homes in Daniel's class at school.
We are praying about how to build an anchoring identity into them from an early start.

We are praying about applying for grants to get funding for a community worker based in the church to coach football for the local kids. There are already plans underway for a YMCA Community worker locally, and an SU Schools worker County-wide.

The kids Club on Friday night has about 25-30 kids coming each night. We are overrun!
Pray for training and equipping of the helpers so that Dave is not the go-to guy for EVERY eventuality. AND FAST! Pray for David, and David, and John & Valerie, and Bill & Ann and Jim and Robert; and for Jacqueline who expressed interest and has come under a cloud lately.

We so need a worship leader! We currently have a fabulous keyboard accompanist (Bill) and David sings. Who'd a guessed THAT would ever happen. (Dave's OK, but not good) Today when our keyboardist couldn't make it and there were no replacements available, David had to provide iTunes worship with PowerPoint lyrics. It was just OK. Worship, like Pizza, is still good even when its bad. But good pizza....better still good worship...God digs that.

We are planning to have a Men's Breakfast in February at the Church. Just bacon rolls, coffee and a manly Bible chat. There are guys coming to church!

David is on the verge of finishing preaching through John, the first book of the Bible endeavoured on Sundays. It is apparent that we will go through Genesis next so please join us in praying for the outline and approach.

This week is a deacons' meeting where we get the business done (pray for David, John, Hilary, Carole & Jim, Mary and Moira) and next week is the whole church meeting where David hopes to fling a cravin' for life and ministry upon the whole family.

Keep praying for the Frasers! (It works!!!)

God can do this!!!
Dave & Liz

PS without your generous support we would be alone with God in a strange land (which, lets face it, worked out pretty well for Abraham, Joseph, Moses, etc.), but thank you for your prayer and financial support.