It has been a rough week this past week. I went on the OM weekend away and that turned out to be quite difficult. I was asked to come along so that I could sponsor some kids from Tallaght. I thought, yeah this will be great. The first night was a nightmare. I could not keep track of the kids, they would not listen to a word I said, and they kept getting into trouble. The main leader with the church I went with ended up having to take control of them and I was left to help another leader with his kids. I felt terrible. I was asked to do a job and was unable to do it. I spent most of the weekend wondering around by myself feeling like a looser. I did not know anybody. When I would try and talk to new people they were nice for a while, but then went back to their normal group. I did get to know some of the kids, and it was great to meet some kids that were not from Tallaght. I began to wonder, am I really called to Tallaght? Can I actually handle things their at all?
The last day we were in Kilkenny I came down with the flu and am still battling it today. I was also sitting there doing nothing and all of the sudden my pad on my glasses fell off. This is very random, but funny enough to mention. I came home from the weekend a bit discouraged. Hammy is a friend I have made here, and it was his kid, nephews and niece whom I was watching. He has been a Christian for four years now coming out of a drug dealing lifestyle. He is a great guy and loves the Lord. Even though I had not met the kids before, I thought I could handle them because he is such a great guy. Hammy was very encouraging to me as were many others.
Last night I was alone at the church at around 6:45 working on the Bible study for that night. Four guys broke into the church. One was in his mid twenties and the others in their early teens. One of the put his hand on my throat, made a fist, and told to give him my wallet or he would kill me. I was very confused at this time. I thought, do people really say that. I thought it was only something you hear in the movies. It was quite surreal. Anyway I had no money in my wallet. I told him that and gave it to him. Then they went through the pastor office tearing it apart looking for cash. Chris, the man who is in charge of collecting the offering has been gone for the past three weeks and so I had collected it. They took all of that money along with the youth account box. In total I believe they took around 350 euro. They tried to take my laptop but I asked him nicely to let me keep it since they were getting away with all the money. I guess my please persuaded him and they did not take it. Amazingly they did not take any of the computers, the stereo, my guitar, or anything other then the cash. I am fine. I am not hurt or injured in any way. Praise the Lord! All of these things seem to be discouraging me away from Tallaght. I wonder who might want me out of here? Reality has sunk in and I know now to take more precautions for safety. However, we must be doing something right to get all of this opposition. It is obvious that the enemy does not like what is happening here. Bill has been changing. Ever since he had that talk with Kevin and we all began to pray, his heart has slowly began to soften. He and Kevin were discussing yesterday a new way forward in order to be more affective spiritually. He is beginning to realize that Sunday mornings are doing nothing for anybody. It is great. God is on the move! Praise the Lord!
So there is the story. It has been a rough week, but things are continuing to progress. I do not know what to do about Friday night because one of the kids that broke in I recognized from that group. He has only been there a couple of times, but I am not in a hurry to run into him again. On the other hand, none of the other kids had anything to do with it, and I still believe that the Lord wants me to share the gospel with them. You know, get that seed planted. And obviously Satan does not want me to share it with them. Please pray with me as I try to understand the Lord’s plan for all of this. His kingdom come, His will be done. Thanks for all your love and support.
His grace and peace be with you all.
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
February Pictures
Putting up the curtains.
A split picture: before and after the curtains were up.
A final Picture of the hanging curtains.
Glasgow.
Ross: the Irish tour guide!
Steo and I in front of the Glasgow Modern Art Gallery. February Update
I find it amazing how God works. It is funny that I have come to Ireland in order to serve and to minister to others. And yet through my experience thus far, I have found that the Lord has been using Ireland to minister to me. It just amuses me that we go expecting to minister to others and through it God ministers to us. My prayer is that I am being affective to minister to others as God continues to mold and grow me.
I have yet to receive a greater joy than when the Lord gives me revelation through the Holy Spirit. These past few weeks the Lord has poured out His Spirit on me in order to teach me more about Him. It actually began a couple of months ago when I began to pray for understanding regarding grace verses the law. All throughout the New Testament we read from Paul and through Christ’s teachings himself the importance of obedience. We learn about the ways to which we are to achieve Holy living among other steps to help further our walk with the Lord. Then we read in passages in Galatians that we are not saved through the law but yet we are saved through the grace of Christ. This appeared very confusing and even felt a bit contradictory. The Lord, through His grace has granted me further understanding in this subject.
One point that He taught me was based on a matter of motives. Why do I seek to follow the commands of God? Am I striving to be obedient to God simply because I believe that if I try hard enough then somehow the Lord will count me as righteous? The truth of the matter is that there is nothing I can do to make myself righteous. It is through the grace and blood of Christ we are made righteous. My motive should be that I love Christ so much, that I submit to His will above my own. I strive to live a Holy life because I understand that this is what pleases my Father in heaven, and I want to do all I can to please Him. If I truly love the lord with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, then I want to obey out of love for my Father; not out of religious duties. I do not desire simply to know of Christ, but to know Him personally.
Kevin and I had a late night last week discussing God’s kingdom. This once again shed further light on to this subject. Jesus spoke numerous times on the Kingdom of heaven (ex. Matt. 4:17). It is important to understand that God has complete sovereignty in heaven. By this I meant that everything in heaven is obedient to God’s will. However, here on earth God has chosen to let go of complete sovereignty in order to give us a free will to follow Him or not. However, when we accept Christ and give Him sovereignty in our lives, we then enter into the kingdom. It is through grace that we enter the kingdom. Once we are in the kingdom, we need to understand how the kingdom works and how we can live in the kingdom. It is through the teaching of the Holy Spirit and the Word that we can understand how to live in God’s sovereignty in His kingdom.
This is a very brief statement compared to the many thoughts that I have on this. The other night I was unable to sleep because the Spirit kept leading me to write things down. I would be lying in bed trying to fall asleep and my mind was racing. It was absolutely wonderful. I hope that eventually I might be able to talk to some of you about this more. For me, this has shed new light on how I view the Bible and even how I share the gospel with others.
Last weekend Kevin, Shirley, Dave, and I all went to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was a wonderful chance to get up to the North and I noticed that it was actually quite different from Dublin. Our purpose for traveling to the North was to go to a large Christian bookstore. When we arrived in Belfast, and I quickly realized that there are several Christian bookstores that we could choose from. This was amazing compared to our one here. It was interesting, although I was only there for a short time, to notice the small differences in culture between the two cities. Being under British rule, the streets were cleaner and things were simply handled differently. Even the accents were completely different. It was made more apparent to me the deep rooted culture of Catholicism that lingers here in the Republic of Ireland.
It is by no coincidence that the Lord has been teaching me what He has. The Spirit has been leading me to share the gospel with the kids on Friday night. I have been looking deep into all the aspects of the fall of man, the crucifixion and resurrection, and what we are called to do as Christians. What I am beginning to realize is that those not in the kingdom cannot understand anything other than Christ. How can we expect them to understand what it means to live a holy life before they have entered the kingdom? This is a foreign subject. Furthermore, if I overload them with information they will not remember much of anything anyway. I am planning on teaching them the good news. This good news is that through the power of Christ we can be unified with God which is the reason we were created. Please be praying as I will be doing this in two weeks time. I am looking forward to presenting this message to them, and am praying that they will have hearts to receive. Pray that the Spirit will move in a mighty way and touch the lives of these kids that so desperately need to know Christ.
A few kids showed up at my house the other week wondering if there was still a youth club happening at the church. Apparently they used to be a part of the club Kevin and Shirley used to do two or three years ago. They certainly startled me when they knocked at my door. I have been talking with them and am hoping to start up another night that will be more suitable for them. They seem like really nice kids. The struggle I am having here is lack of leadership. I feel alone. Here I have kids literally coming to my doorstep, and I am helpless because I do not have other leaders to be involved. How disappointing this is. However, I am not giving up by any means. Please pray that God will raise up more leaders who love the lord, love kids, and want to serve both with all their heart. Also pray that the Lord will lead how to affectively teach these kids.
A man named Hammy who I know through Kevin attends the West Tallaght Fellowship. This is a church that is just down the road from us. He has asked me to take some of his kids and nephews on a weekend away next weekend. I gladly agreed as this is a chance to get to know more of the youth here in Tallaght. The weekend is through an organization called Operation Mobilization. I do not know for sure what all the weekend has in store, but I am looking forward to how the Lord moves through this situation. I do ask for you prayers for this weekend because I have not even met the kids I am taking yet. I do not really know where I am going or what I am doing. It will be quite the adventure!
Some of you may remember Ross and Steo from when the Irish came to the States. I had the privilege of going with them to Scotland this last week for a couple of days. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see Glasgow; but furthermore, it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the guys a little better. I was able to chat with them both about where they are in their walks with the Lord. Both of them have different issues that are blocking them from following God. Keep them in your prayers. It will be through the power and work of the Holy Spirit that they will come to know Christ in a real and deep way.
The congregation here in Tallaght has been studying prayer on the Wednesday night Bible study. As a result, we are trying to start a prayer meeting on Sunday mornings before the church service. It was supposed to begin last Sunday but no one actually showed up for it. I am sad that I will not be here next Sunday because I will be on the weekend away. Please pray that this new fervor for prayer does not fizzle out. Satan obviously wants to do all he can to stop this from happening. Prayer is vital to every aspect of ministry. We need to be praying together.
We are still having the same issues and same conversations on Sunday’s when Bill is present at the service. It is astounding the difference in the flow of a Sunday morning when Bill is speaking as apposed to when Kevin is speaking. I find myself frustrated and often wonder if I am wasting my time. A couple Sunday’s ago I was leading praise and worship and found myself pleading to God for forgiveness. It appeared that the service was simply a waste of time. The body was simply going through the actions of church and nothing was coming from the heart. I am not saying Kevin preaching every Sunday is the answer. However, something needs to change. I do not want what happens on Sunday to be a waist of time. Please continue to pray for the spiritual health of the church as well as the spiritual health of Bill and his wife Val.
Kevin has begun to go to Bible College this last month. It has been a struggle for him to get into a routine of school. He does not consider himself an academic person and struggles with deadlines, and format, and all of these things. He and I have both enjoyed the learning aspects of it; it is just the academic work that is the trouble. Pray that the Lord will help him with time management. Pray also that He will continue to teach him and help him grow as he deals with school, family, and his role as pastor at the Methodist Church.
I am looking forward to the beginning of March because my parents and my niece will be coming over to visit for a week and a half. This will be very refreshing, and it will be nice to be able to show them a little bit of what happens here in Tallaght. Please join me in praying for their safe travel. Also pray for Eliana (my niece) as this will be her first extended trip away from here parents. It will be a true blessing to have them over here and I am struggling to contain my excitement!
We were finally able to purchase curtains to go behind the stage this last month. It was nice to get them hung up. They do help improve the look of the stage as well as help with the trapping of sound. It makes the room look more pleasant when you are starring at curtains rather than cinderblocks. They also catch the sound where the cinderblocks kept bouncing the sound everywhere. There is not to much more to this accept that it was nice to get the job done that we had been talking about doing for some time now.
We keep having issues with kids sneaking in to the Church during the day and trying to steal things. Once they are in it is very difficult to get them out. They keep giving threats and different things as can be expected. It is actually a very tough and frustrating situation to handle. Again I ask for prayer for these kids as well. I understand that beneath the hard surface is a very lost youth that need Christ just as much as me.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and financial support. It is very comforting to know that you are all supporting the ministry that is happening here. You are a key element to all that happens here. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers.
I have yet to receive a greater joy than when the Lord gives me revelation through the Holy Spirit. These past few weeks the Lord has poured out His Spirit on me in order to teach me more about Him. It actually began a couple of months ago when I began to pray for understanding regarding grace verses the law. All throughout the New Testament we read from Paul and through Christ’s teachings himself the importance of obedience. We learn about the ways to which we are to achieve Holy living among other steps to help further our walk with the Lord. Then we read in passages in Galatians that we are not saved through the law but yet we are saved through the grace of Christ. This appeared very confusing and even felt a bit contradictory. The Lord, through His grace has granted me further understanding in this subject.
One point that He taught me was based on a matter of motives. Why do I seek to follow the commands of God? Am I striving to be obedient to God simply because I believe that if I try hard enough then somehow the Lord will count me as righteous? The truth of the matter is that there is nothing I can do to make myself righteous. It is through the grace and blood of Christ we are made righteous. My motive should be that I love Christ so much, that I submit to His will above my own. I strive to live a Holy life because I understand that this is what pleases my Father in heaven, and I want to do all I can to please Him. If I truly love the lord with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, then I want to obey out of love for my Father; not out of religious duties. I do not desire simply to know of Christ, but to know Him personally.
Kevin and I had a late night last week discussing God’s kingdom. This once again shed further light on to this subject. Jesus spoke numerous times on the Kingdom of heaven (ex. Matt. 4:17). It is important to understand that God has complete sovereignty in heaven. By this I meant that everything in heaven is obedient to God’s will. However, here on earth God has chosen to let go of complete sovereignty in order to give us a free will to follow Him or not. However, when we accept Christ and give Him sovereignty in our lives, we then enter into the kingdom. It is through grace that we enter the kingdom. Once we are in the kingdom, we need to understand how the kingdom works and how we can live in the kingdom. It is through the teaching of the Holy Spirit and the Word that we can understand how to live in God’s sovereignty in His kingdom.
This is a very brief statement compared to the many thoughts that I have on this. The other night I was unable to sleep because the Spirit kept leading me to write things down. I would be lying in bed trying to fall asleep and my mind was racing. It was absolutely wonderful. I hope that eventually I might be able to talk to some of you about this more. For me, this has shed new light on how I view the Bible and even how I share the gospel with others.
Last weekend Kevin, Shirley, Dave, and I all went to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was a wonderful chance to get up to the North and I noticed that it was actually quite different from Dublin. Our purpose for traveling to the North was to go to a large Christian bookstore. When we arrived in Belfast, and I quickly realized that there are several Christian bookstores that we could choose from. This was amazing compared to our one here. It was interesting, although I was only there for a short time, to notice the small differences in culture between the two cities. Being under British rule, the streets were cleaner and things were simply handled differently. Even the accents were completely different. It was made more apparent to me the deep rooted culture of Catholicism that lingers here in the Republic of Ireland.
It is by no coincidence that the Lord has been teaching me what He has. The Spirit has been leading me to share the gospel with the kids on Friday night. I have been looking deep into all the aspects of the fall of man, the crucifixion and resurrection, and what we are called to do as Christians. What I am beginning to realize is that those not in the kingdom cannot understand anything other than Christ. How can we expect them to understand what it means to live a holy life before they have entered the kingdom? This is a foreign subject. Furthermore, if I overload them with information they will not remember much of anything anyway. I am planning on teaching them the good news. This good news is that through the power of Christ we can be unified with God which is the reason we were created. Please be praying as I will be doing this in two weeks time. I am looking forward to presenting this message to them, and am praying that they will have hearts to receive. Pray that the Spirit will move in a mighty way and touch the lives of these kids that so desperately need to know Christ.
A few kids showed up at my house the other week wondering if there was still a youth club happening at the church. Apparently they used to be a part of the club Kevin and Shirley used to do two or three years ago. They certainly startled me when they knocked at my door. I have been talking with them and am hoping to start up another night that will be more suitable for them. They seem like really nice kids. The struggle I am having here is lack of leadership. I feel alone. Here I have kids literally coming to my doorstep, and I am helpless because I do not have other leaders to be involved. How disappointing this is. However, I am not giving up by any means. Please pray that God will raise up more leaders who love the lord, love kids, and want to serve both with all their heart. Also pray that the Lord will lead how to affectively teach these kids.
A man named Hammy who I know through Kevin attends the West Tallaght Fellowship. This is a church that is just down the road from us. He has asked me to take some of his kids and nephews on a weekend away next weekend. I gladly agreed as this is a chance to get to know more of the youth here in Tallaght. The weekend is through an organization called Operation Mobilization. I do not know for sure what all the weekend has in store, but I am looking forward to how the Lord moves through this situation. I do ask for you prayers for this weekend because I have not even met the kids I am taking yet. I do not really know where I am going or what I am doing. It will be quite the adventure!
Some of you may remember Ross and Steo from when the Irish came to the States. I had the privilege of going with them to Scotland this last week for a couple of days. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see Glasgow; but furthermore, it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the guys a little better. I was able to chat with them both about where they are in their walks with the Lord. Both of them have different issues that are blocking them from following God. Keep them in your prayers. It will be through the power and work of the Holy Spirit that they will come to know Christ in a real and deep way.
The congregation here in Tallaght has been studying prayer on the Wednesday night Bible study. As a result, we are trying to start a prayer meeting on Sunday mornings before the church service. It was supposed to begin last Sunday but no one actually showed up for it. I am sad that I will not be here next Sunday because I will be on the weekend away. Please pray that this new fervor for prayer does not fizzle out. Satan obviously wants to do all he can to stop this from happening. Prayer is vital to every aspect of ministry. We need to be praying together.
We are still having the same issues and same conversations on Sunday’s when Bill is present at the service. It is astounding the difference in the flow of a Sunday morning when Bill is speaking as apposed to when Kevin is speaking. I find myself frustrated and often wonder if I am wasting my time. A couple Sunday’s ago I was leading praise and worship and found myself pleading to God for forgiveness. It appeared that the service was simply a waste of time. The body was simply going through the actions of church and nothing was coming from the heart. I am not saying Kevin preaching every Sunday is the answer. However, something needs to change. I do not want what happens on Sunday to be a waist of time. Please continue to pray for the spiritual health of the church as well as the spiritual health of Bill and his wife Val.
Kevin has begun to go to Bible College this last month. It has been a struggle for him to get into a routine of school. He does not consider himself an academic person and struggles with deadlines, and format, and all of these things. He and I have both enjoyed the learning aspects of it; it is just the academic work that is the trouble. Pray that the Lord will help him with time management. Pray also that He will continue to teach him and help him grow as he deals with school, family, and his role as pastor at the Methodist Church.
I am looking forward to the beginning of March because my parents and my niece will be coming over to visit for a week and a half. This will be very refreshing, and it will be nice to be able to show them a little bit of what happens here in Tallaght. Please join me in praying for their safe travel. Also pray for Eliana (my niece) as this will be her first extended trip away from here parents. It will be a true blessing to have them over here and I am struggling to contain my excitement!
We were finally able to purchase curtains to go behind the stage this last month. It was nice to get them hung up. They do help improve the look of the stage as well as help with the trapping of sound. It makes the room look more pleasant when you are starring at curtains rather than cinderblocks. They also catch the sound where the cinderblocks kept bouncing the sound everywhere. There is not to much more to this accept that it was nice to get the job done that we had been talking about doing for some time now.
We keep having issues with kids sneaking in to the Church during the day and trying to steal things. Once they are in it is very difficult to get them out. They keep giving threats and different things as can be expected. It is actually a very tough and frustrating situation to handle. Again I ask for prayer for these kids as well. I understand that beneath the hard surface is a very lost youth that need Christ just as much as me.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and financial support. It is very comforting to know that you are all supporting the ministry that is happening here. You are a key element to all that happens here. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers.
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