Gearing Up!

Found a half hour to nip in an update. The past few days have been so solid! The schools were out Monday and Tuesday and Fenella took the day off work on the Monday so we took off for the day with the girls. We did some shopping (well with 5 ladies, what do you expect?) and went to the pictures. It was so nice to switch off from ministry and enjoy family. The past weeks have been tough as a family. We have had to journey through some tough choices and see Amy and Beth continue to grow and take control of their future paths. They make Fenella and I sooooo proud. To listen and hear their reasoning for not getting involved in some stuff their peers are into is a joy! They are both focused young women and are finding the keys to enjoying life and learning to avoid life's drains. As their dad, I can't believe how well they are developing - it's obvious that Fenella is an amazing mum! I must also comment that they are learning to be led by the Spirit and are showing fruit in keeping with His nature.

AT the classes we are starting to get the kids excited about campaign, which begins a week on Monday with the Harding group. Our notice board has a bunch of sign-up sheets for a "Fruit of the Spirit" scavenger Hunt, a Bowling night and a Scottish night. I must mention last Thursday night. We had our first "practice" at the Scottish dances in preparation for the Ceilidh. Anyone who knows me can testify to the fact that I have no "moves!" However, I feel that I have found my feet and had an absolute blast learning the dances. It was a great night and there were smiles on faces from the start to finish! If you have never experienced traditional Scottish dancing - you are missing out! Forget all the nonsense that goes on at clubs and disco's nowadays! A ceilidh is one of life's best kept secrets for good clean fun and enjoyment! John Campbell taught us the moves and we learned a total of six dances, including "Strip the willows," "Highland Barn dance," Gay Gordon's" etc...! We had soo much fun!

I need to mention Friday night! I am humbled to witness how God's Spirit continues to use this class to bless! We had three there on Friday night who were "lifted" because of the class. I am thrilled to witness the ways in which God provides for the needs of all at the right times. I know there are times in all our lives when we need a "lift" and it's fantastic that Friday night's are proving to be a source of encouragement for all who find it! I taught a lesson on challenging the group to question what eyes they choose to live life looking through - The worlds or God's? We talked about the distractions we cause by the clothes and "Look" we present. How we can be noticed and accepted simply by how we look on the outside. We then talked about CHARACTER and the importance of being noticed because of who we are and not how we look. Afterward we were able to play some volleyball now that the nights are longer and it's daylight till 9.30ish.

Please continue to pray for our growth. I know that God is working and that hearts are open - pray that the seeds continue to be planted! As a church family we are continuing to go through some struggles. This morning I attended another funeral. Eric Thom, who was one of the most sacrificially loving fathers I have ever known, is the fourth member of our church family to have passed away in as many months. This pattern may continue as many in our family are elderly. Our prayer is that we can discern God's plan and the Spirit's path in order that the Kingdom grows.

Just a quick note about my school ministries. I was delighted to begin a new work in Meethill School last Friday. I have opportunity to take a lunchtime club with the P4's and on Friday we had 17 come along and the time was great! I am looking forward to working with the school and developing relationships with the kids and the staff there - God is Good!!

I am delighted that George (my brother) is going to make a surprise trip over to spend some time with us. He is coming with Abby, which makes Holly and Hannah VERY excited! It will be good to see him and catch up. They get in tomorrow and will spend a week here.

God bless!

Teething Problems

We are having some pretty cool issues to get through these past days. We have been praying for our teens to get tighter as a group and for them to desire to be together and encourage each other when they are together. The reality is that our prayers are being answered, but we have some work ahead of us to get things worked out. Things were made clear on Monday nights, which is our night for the primary school kids. Steadily over the past month we have seen the teens growing in number to want to come and help out with the class. This is a dream to see them want to be there for a third night in the week. They come faithfully on Friday and Wednesday nights and now Mondays! I said we have to work through some things and here is why. There were 15 teens there to "help out" on Monday night. And for the most part they were a great help. However it became clear during the games part of the class, which is the last half hour, that the teens presence was overpowering and some tended to forget that the class is for the little ones. I am hugely encouraged by their enthusiasm to be together and to be with us at the church building, but we need to adjust things a little so that Monday's stays very much a primary school age focused class. Tonight in my class we will try to work through the process.


On the whole things are brilliant with the kids! Things continue to grow in numbers, but more importantly the group are growing in faith. Since Thomas' baptism he is showing good signs of growing. He has started to help out at Crimond school with our football after school club and is a fantastic influence with the kids. Rachel, Thomas' girlfriend is doing really well too. Rachel is growing in faith and is having a real influence on her friends. Two of Rachel's friends have started coming over the past couple of weeks. I was hugely encouraged to see evidence of growth when I see Rachel and Jessica now really good friends. Only two months ago they were arch enemies and could hardly stand to b in the same room as each other, but have allowed godly character to lead their lives and the result is obvious.


We are in full swing with our prep for this years campaign with the Harding students. I am excited at what we have planned for this year. God wiling, our vision will be in keeping with His will and the opportunity for growth and focus will become reality. Alex and I have been working with the teens to get the active things worked out and I have to say that this years scavenger hunt looks like it will be brilliant! We still have to polish the school assembly program a bit, but the skeleton is there and again we are excited that the kids will be blessed!

Just a couple of things about this past week. Our Friday night class was magic! We didn't have the numbers we usually have, but the class was special! The lesson was on transformation. I talked about a persons value in God's eyes. Everyone has the same value at all times, but it is our destination that changes when we accept Jesus and commit to follow Him.

I was preaching on Sunday night and we had the meeting in the youth hall and had a cup of tea and fellowship afterward. I asked the question "Are you a Spender or a Saver?" People who spend their life in debt to Satan, or do you spend your live laying up treasure in heaven? It was a good night.

We have had some great assemblies this week! Clerkhill is a big school and we were able to teach the P1-3's Yesterday. We talked about being moulded and the importance of not letting the right things and the right people, ultimately God and His goodness, mould us. It was fun!

I continue to enjoy my "Coffee Times" and all who come and talk have the kingdom at heart and want to see it strengthened and growing.

Enough for now - please continue to pray for the growth we are seeing and that balance can be found. God bless!

Led by the Spirit or Dragged by the World?

I have been pretty rubbish at keeping this blog up to date these past weeks. The weird thing is that there has been so much to keep up with that I could probably write a book. This truly is a good time for the church here in Peterhead as far as growth and hope. On the other hand the evidence is also unavoidable that we are a church that is changing too. This past 3 months we have witnessed the passing of three faithful and influential followers of Christ. Yesterday we said goodbye to Ella Brown. Ella was certainly one of the most active of women in the service of God. I can remember when she used to hold a class in her house for boys when I was around 10-12 years old. I have some great childhood memories sitting around Ella's kitchen table making models and rocking chairs from clothes pegs. Ella will be missed!

The truth that faces us here in Peterhead is that we are likely to be witnessing, over the next few years, a number of our elderly passing on to their reward. Only God knows the plans He has for His church here in Peterhead. Although we have a number of elderly brethren who have passed on, or who are on the final part of their earthly journey, we have huge reason to be confident and hopeful that God's Spirit is living and active here. There is a feeling of expectancy and I believe God is active in many lives who are searching and finding purpose amongst us.

We are committed to promoting and encouraging Fellowship! In the past we have neglected this area of rich blessing to our detriment as a church and it is essential for us to get back to the basic foundations that the church needs to be built upon. John and Michelle Campbell had an open house a couple of Saturdays ago and it was good. We had a good mix of the young and old there which is so needed if we are to get a close knit family. We sang for a while and Alex Swango led a devotional thought. One of the great results from that evening was the start of Rachel's journey. Rachel is Thomas' girlfriend and she is very open and close to the kingdom. We talked for a while that evening and set up a time to study further.

When I met with Rachel it was so obvious she was allowing the seed to room to grow. She commented a few times how that before she would say "I just have different beliefs," but now she sees what Christ offers and wants to follow Him. We talked for a couple of hours and I have no doubt that she is giving her life over to God's influence and, God willing, in the very near future we will have a new sister in Christ. We love Rachel's openness and her desire to be with and to be like us "Christians."

Last night when I turned the corner into the building car park I was blown away with what I saw. There was a gathering of about 12 teenagers at the entrance to the Building! It is strange how every now and again we get signs. Last night I got the sign! We have an amazing group coming to Wednesday nights now. I love how they want to be there and be connected with godliness. It's amazing how things turn around. It was not that long ago, maybe 6-8 months ago, that I had concerns about the health of our Wednesday night class. Those concerns have now been set aside and in there place there is praise to God!

Monday night was fantastic. I was feeling very run down and exhausted on Monday. We had a pretty busy weekend (read further to see why). All day Monday I was struggling to get my head together and get focused, but upon arriving at the building and seeing the energy and life that the kids bring I was refreshed and we had a great class. Again I have to mention the desire of the teens here. There were 9 teens there to help out and I am thrilled there is an outlet like Monday nights for them to influence and get involved.

This past weekend we travelled down to Kircaldy. I had been invited to speak at their annual "Social" on the Saturday and also teach and preach on the Sunday. The Social was good. There are brothers and sisters from congregations all over the country get together for a time of fellowship and encouragement. My lesson was titled "Are you being Led by the Spirit or being Dragged by the World." My personal journey in study and prep for this talk was priceless and timely. I know how much I was blessed in preparing and by the comments afterward it seems like we all needed to be reminded to "Strengthen the Stakes and Let out the Cords." We focused on Spirit and Truth. Having our lives anchored in the Truth, but at the same time allowing the Spirit room in our lives to lead us and to advance the kingdom.

On the Sunday we had a great time too and when it was time to leave I knew God had used me and that lives had been brought close to Him. Throughout the weekend I felt weak, but always found the strength when it was needed. God is our Strength! I must say a huge thank you to Tony and Joan Clark who showed my family true hospitality. We were blessed!

Have not mentioned anything about our school ministry, but that will have to wait for another time. Just know that God continues to throw doors open and we are more than willing to walk on through in His name.

In closing please keep us in your prayers. We feel that the harvest is plentiful! I have to be honest with you all and share that we are struggling. There is so much good and at the same time as I mentioned earlier so many changes that they are taking their toll. Fenella is flat out and we feel as if were on our knees. Please keep our family in your prayers. We have the campaign coming up and although the plans and prep are taking shape I fear we will not have the energy to keep on going.

God bless.

Thanks Paddy!

The past days have been a great timely source of refreshment. I can honestly say my tank is full and I have been inspired to get deeper into the word. We had an outstanding weekend with Patrick Sullivan from Dundee. He taught our Friday night teens class and took a series of three lessons over Saturday night and Sunday morning. Paddy was a true servant of our Father's! I am blessed, my family are blessed and our church family have been blessed. The only downside was that we did not get to spend some time with Gemma, but that time will come. I love it when there is a deep connection between people who love the Lord and His Kingdom. We can't wait till our paths cross again!

I am challenged to get back into the swing of keeping this blog current, but it is still a struggle to find the time and discipline to keep it up. I am surrounded by evidence that God is active and that lives are being touched and gently stirred from spiritual sleep. I am hopeful that God has some amazing plans for 2009 and I am almost expecting great things to come soon. Thomas is now a brother in Christ and is doing fabulously. I took him along this morning to our coffee gathering to spend some time with John Campbell, Alex Swango, my Dad and David Chapman. Our "Gatherings" are a great source of encouragement and challenge to get active in kingdom work. In my last entry I mentioned the significance of Thomas and how big a milestone his commitment is. He is a bit unique in that he is our first teenage guy to commit to Christ.

We are getting geared up for our campaign with the Harding group who will arrive in mid May. It is always an exciting, yet challenging time. I have been getting together regularly with Alex to work on how we get the school assembly program to connect with the kids and we are getting it down! The teens have been fantastic too - we have pretty much got the structure for our traditional "Scavenger Hunt" and this year the theme will be based on "Food Fight." Healthy V's Junk food and relate this to how we allow various influences good and bad into our lives. I have a feeling that this years will do the business - God willing!

Here are a bunch of pics from our Monday night's class. I must say a couple of things about the state and growth of this group. This past week the lesson was on David and Bathsheba and Nathan's visit. I gave the kids a test and was totally blown away with the results. Out of the 23 papers only one did not get full marks. What was impressive was the detail in the answers they gave. They pretty much told the whole lesson in their answers. This is amazing! Another pointer is the fact that this term we had 35 kids come to the class and we had 10 who had perfect attendance! I am hugely encouraged that the kids love being with us and the class is somewhere that they want their friends to know about - praise God! I must mention Nathan Best. Nathan last term was a handful, but over this past term he made a pretty dramatic turnabout and managed to get his first MVP Silver award - I am proud of Nathan's efforts! Another I need to mention is Alana Buchan. Alana has been a truly exemplary girl this term - perfect attendance and perfect scores on all the 4 bible tests over the term. Alana is always cheery and is a great example to her cousin Steph.

Alex is doing well with us. He is a lot more settled and I am sensing that he is now happy here. He has a willing attitude and will be a channel for blessing because he wants to serve. The ladies at church are pretty protective of him and feel the need to feed him at every opportunity. I think a training program will soon be high on his priority list.

Well, enough for now - God bless!

Deep Breath!

This has been one of the most challenging months of our ministry. The reason for there being no posts these past weeks is that I have not had enough fuel in the tank to sit down and begin to put into words the events of the past few weeks. Even now as I am typing this there is a heaviness knowing what I must try to express.

We lost another close friend, in fact Ali was more than a close friend, he was our #1 encourager and he had the biggest heart for kids ever. Ali was a giant among men, gentle and attentive. You never left his presence without feeling better about your God and yourself. I was richly blessed and experienced "Holy Ground" because my life was connected to Ali Park and together we were in Christ. Ali is now for sure enjoying his reward and heaven will be resounding with his laughter and maybe a spot of DIY in true Ali fashion. My heart is heavy at the loss of a dear brother and there will, until I'm called home, be an Ali Park gap in my life. However, my spirit is strengthened and my faith is by far the richer because of the "Christ like" transformation Ali lived out in his life.

It struck me that we have lost 3 huge influences in our life in these recent times. The first was Barby Smith, then there was Dean Curtis and now Ali Park. I cannot begin to tell you the impact these godly people have had of our family. The amount of wisdom, insight and instruction we have gleaned from these giants is immense. These three would certainly make up my personal Hebrews 11.

There has been so much beauty these past weeks in our ministry and of course I have no way of communicating all of it, but I will mention the journey I have shared with Thomas Dickie these past years and most importantly the last 6 weeks. Thomas has been coming to classes for over 7 years. He is now 16 and tonight he will be our new brother in Christ! I had been teaching a series of lessons on who Jesus is and Thomas responded telling me it had all started to make sense. From that point we began meeting every week 1 on 1 to study and talk through the need for Jesus in God's plan for our salvation and God's desire for our committed life to Him. After 6 weeks Thomas said he was ready to commit his life and tonight we will witness his new birth! I have spent some time with his parents, Shari and Billy, who are totally supportive and delighted at his decision.

I promise it will not be so long to post from this point forward - God willing!

Scrambled eggs!

I know it's been a few days since my last entry, but for some reason I've kept putting off updating my blog. I can't quite put my finger on the reason why, maybe I just haven't been in the right frame of mind till now. It's been an eventful past week and I remember saying to Fenella that on Saturday I was glad to have my head back to myself and don't have to be focused on a lesson and constantly have my head in books and study. I know that sounds pretty negative, but These past days I have struggled to find some freedom from lesson preparation. Since we moved the teens class from a Thursday to Friday night I have challenged myself to make the lessons as real and connective as I can. The results have been obvious and the teens are responding to the challenge from the lessons. However, I do feel a huge weight and at times almost obsessively focused on the next class presentation. I know it's healthy to respect the Word and right to make the most of the opportunity, but I worry sometimes if I don't get the balance right and that there is too much of ME and not enough of GOD in my preparation. My desire is for the teens to be brought into the spiritual realm and challenged to consider who Jesus is, and why He is so important to mankind in completing God's plan for our salvation. Our class on Friday we looked at who Jesus was and talked about the fact that it is not enough to think of Jesus as a great Man or Teacher, in fact, to think of Jesus in this way is to totally miss the point of His life and death. I used CS Lewis point that rather see Jesus as a fool or a demon or in fact Lord, but don't see Him as simply a great Man! I wish I could see into the hearts of the teens to see what they are doing with the seed! I know I need to chill out a bit and stop taking things so seriously, and have faith that God IS active and will bring the increase - IN HIS TIME.
Well, that's my heart laid bare. I know God is active amongst us and I am confident that He has hearts that are seeking Him. I pray that the harvest will come soon!

Let me change the tone from me to my family! This past week has given Fenella and I so much reason to be proud of our girls. Beth has been the talk of the high school as a result of her honesty. She found £15 at the school, handed it in and thought nothing of it. She came home at lunch time and told us what she had done and we took it for granted, thinking that was good and having a quiet sense of pride that our daughter did the right thing. However, the next day she was called out of class to meet a young girl who had been distraught at loosing the money and having to explain to her parents what she had done. The young girl was so thrilled that Beth not only had found the money, but had handed it in to be returned to her. She thanked Beth for what she had done. Later that week Fenella and I got a letter from the school expressing their delight at Beth's exemplary honesty and the sentiments of the letter was telling us that Beth had restored their faith that there is good in human nature. Beth is still wondering what all the fuss is about and says it's just "normal," but I suppose the truth is that this now considered out of the norm behaviour. The school were going to use this to promote honesty within the student body at the high school - Go Beth!!!

Amy was asked to sing at a funeral. A good man in our community died and his favorite song was "A Gaelic Blessing," a beautiful song! Amy was asked to learn and perform the song in the space of a few days. Fenella and I went to the funeral and gripped each others arms as it came time for Amy to sing. We, along with over 600 people sat there totally captivated by the beauty and blessing that was Amy's voice. Amy was most certainly a channel of blessing to us all and a very fitting tribute to Sam, who's life was exemplary!

Well, that's a cupful from the barrel that was the last week in our life and ministry.

One last thing - Please keep Billy Campbell in your prayers. Billy is John's dad and he is in pretty bad shape at the moment. He had a tumour removed from his bowel and it was later discovered that after surgery there was a part of the bowel that was not properly closed and the result was that leakage has spread throughout his body, leaving him fighting for his life. Billy is a good man and John & Michelle are struggling to get through this, so please lift them up to the Father - Thanks!

God bless!

Exciting Stuff!

I just needed to put in a quick entry about last night's class. Today reflecting on the events I have a fantastic feeling about the road ahead. I am excited for a number of reasons, firstly because I know there is no better opportunity for the seed to be sown than at this class. Last night there were around 30 teens there who are, admittedly, at varying levels along the road of finding and making faith their own, but 30 teens who listened very attentively and engagingly to the lesson. I am excited about the fact that this class gives John Campbell, Angie and David Chapman a chance to get excited and focused about outreach. I have talked with John and my dad a fair bit this week and we are all anticipating a great year for the church. I am also excited about preaching to this group. The changes we have introduced to the setting and having all boys and girls together has made this a very exciting opportunity. I spent a long time getting last nights lesson together and praise God I think it connected and challenged the teens to think seriously about their commitment to believing that God is creator and therefore His purpose for our lives needs to be taken seriously. I talked about a campaign that is running here by an atheist group who have sponsored buses to display posters saying, "There is probably no God! So stop worrying and enjoy life." At the end of the lesson I asked the teens, "Why do you think it's easier NOT to believe in God?" There were a number of responses expressing that if you don't commit to believing in God you can pretty much do whatever you want. I finished with the question, "Have you made up your OWN mind about whether or not you believe in God?" The freaky thing was that after I finished the group started clapping. I take that as a positive that they got the message. We managed to hold their attention for a good 30 minutes. We sang two devo songs and again got a good response. Over the next 3 weeks I will do 3 lessons based on the C.S. Lewis, "Liar, Lunatic or Lord." This will naturally lead to having to answer the question about who Christ really was and what to do in response.

We chilled out for the following two hours. We played some cards, table tennis, football and talked. We had 3 new faces and the feedback from the teens is all good. I anticipate there will be many more coming in the weeks ahead. I pray God continues to give us the insight and vision to maintain the opportunity for community and faith to thrive. We continue to pray for guidance on how to marry this group with church too. Anyway, I suppose it's up to us to take the small steps and leave the BIG stuff to the Creator!

I am putting the finishing touches on my lesson for Sunday night. I am again excited about where this journey has taken me. God has been leading me to some amazing stuff this past week and I pray that my heart and tongue can get it all across. I must also ask for your prayers again. Although this past week's journey has been amazing I am physically and mentally drained. Please pray that I can continue to minister effectively in spite of weakness. Fenella needs your prayers too. We've both been running on empty. Fenella is working a bit more than she needs to be and struggles to find any kind of time for herself. She does a magic job for me and the girls, making sure we all know what we are doing as well as running a physio department. Although we are struggling a wee bit, at the moment, we have much hope and anticipation for the year ahead.

God bless!