I was able to put flyers out again this morning. I listened to a some good messages while I was walking. (Last week I downloaded several messages by Pastor Phelps.  On Sunday we learned of the death of his son. It's amazing to me how many times in these recent messages he referred to God's grace for trials. We are continuing to pray for those affected by this heart breaking loss and those who were injured.) The Lord helped me get out several hundred flyers.

This afternoon our friends who are helping us with HBT arrive. We are excited about this children's ministry next week. Please pray for God's blessing on each child who attends.

Our hearts broke this morning to learn of the tragic bus accident in Indianapolis. Most of you are probably aware that Colonial Hills Baptist Church lost 3 precious lives in the accident and that many others were injured. We know the families of two of those who died and have been praying for God's super abundant grace for all.

God gave us a good normal Sunday. These are the building blocks for the future and God gave us a solid day. I preached this morning on the lost coin and the lost sheep in Luke 15. Next Sunday I am preparing to preach on the lost son. I was encouraged today to realize that the Son of man has come to SEEK and to save that which was lost. Praise God He is active in pursuing.

Tonight we looked at the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8. God had a plan to take the Gospel to Ethiopia and it involved a strategic encounter with a man seeking God and the man of God. Thanks for praying for our ministry. These are days where you are just trusting the Lord for another toe hold to get His work done. We appreciate your prayers.

A friend from our community who visits the church assisted me today as I put out flyers. It was good to have his help. His wife has been attending our ladies Bible study and he has been coming to a men's prayer time on Monday nights as well. It's good to have older Christians who are interesting in still serving the Lord.

The Lord gave a couple of very good opportunities. In our prayer time on Monday night we prayed for God to use the trials of life to bring people to Himself. I men a woman this morning who is going through a severe trial. Please pray for her. I gave her a copy of John and Romans and prayed with her that God would help her to know Him through His Word. Please pray that this will be a turning point in her sorrow and that she will find joy in Christ.

I also spoke with a man whose background in geology has led him to unbelief. It is sad because geology ought to lead people to the knowledge of a worldwide flood and a realization that there must be a God Who created and designed this world. He had grown up in what I believe was a Christian family.  His name is the same as the first man, whom he does not believe in. Please pray for God to open His eyes.

I spoke with three others for whom I have prayed. One indicated a desire to come and visit the church. Please pray for Him to follow through. Thanks for praying for our ministry in Loanhead.

My feet know that the flyer distribution has begun. I put flyers out this morning for close to 4 hours. I enjoy getting out in the community and today I also enjoyed listening to several messages while I walked. The Lord allowed me to speak with a couple people for whom I have been praying. I also had a few opportunities to speak to people about the Lord. Thankfully the hot spell has broken and we are enjoying more seasonable temps in the low 60's. Please pray for children to come in response to the flyers.

The Lord gave us a very nice time with family this past week. We spent a lot of time with Kirk and Carrie, Carrie's mom and brother and Katie's mom. We enjoyed the hottest weather Scotland has experienced in a long time. We hit 84 degrees on one day. That is almost ten degrees hotter than the hottest day we had ever previously experienced in Scotland. It has also been very dry. I purchased a sprinkler today. (I never thought I would do that in Scotland.)

God gave us a great day. It was a very normal good ministry day. I preached this morning on the Maniac's Message from Mark 5.  (I know that lends itself to jokes about the preacher....)

Tonight I preached on Simon in Acts 8. He looked saved but showed by his fruit that he was not a true believer.

God's good. We're very thankful for family time. We've been here for 3 and half years without returning to the States. Please pray for wisdom as we seek to do a furlough possibly the end of next year. We can only be out of the country for a total of 6 months in our first five years or we jeopardize our visa situation. Thanks for your prayers.

Parker turns 6 today! Wow! It seems like yesterday we were on deputation and heading out to Colorado with a ten day old for an 8 day missions conference at Beth Eden Baptist Church.

We are enjoying sharing the day with family. The kids and Katie went into the national museum to meet the rest of the family. I'm following them shortly.

I wanted to show you our HBT (VBS) flyer and encourage you to pray for our upcoming Holiday Bible Time. (It looks fuzzy in the photo below but the print is actually very clear.) We have a ministry team from Bethel Baptist in Shaumburg arriving on 30 July. We are praying that God will give us a great turn out. 

The Lord also gave me a great opportunity to witness to a Muslim young man in Dundee on Monday. I invited him to a tent meeting at the local park where I met him. (A good church in the area is having special meetings there this weekend.) Please pray for their outreach and that he will attend.

Katie's ladies Bible study on Monday nights is going really well. She had six ladies this past Monday.

God has given me some interesting opportunities this year. One of those is to be a guest contributor on revival focus blog. My newest post was put on yesterday. If you are interested in reading it, you can access it here.

I was also given a chance to be interviewed for a local Christian radio broadcast. Please pray for the right people to tune in as that airs on Black Diamond Radio on Sunday 28 July at 802 am.

Yesterday morning we picked up my mother-in-law at the airport. We haven't seen her for 3 years and we are enjoying having her with us. Kirk, Carrie and Brodrick also came down from Dundee.  And Carrie's mum and brother flew in Yesterday afternoon. So, we are enjoying having some guests in our home.

The Lord gave us a good day yesterday. I finished preaching on Romans 3,  "The Only Way to Heaven."  We had good attendance with some out of town. Pastor Edgar from Dundee, Kirk and Carrie's pastor, surprised us by visiting last night with his wife and son. 

Thank you for praying for our ministry. I prayed on Saturday night for God's special enablement for those praying for our ministry. You are a vital part of what God is doing on our field.

It was a beautiful overcast cool morning today. The sun has popped out now (mid-afternoon) and it is heating up outside.

The Lord gave me several good opportunities to share the Gospel. The first opportunity was the best. Please pray that God will water the seed sown in this young man's heart. He offered to give me his name and number and we are hoping to do a Bible study. He also indicated that he will visit the church. I was praying for an opportunity to use Romans 3 in witnessing today and this was that opportunity. We went through the last half of that chapter as we considered how God's law through conviction points us to grace for Christ's righteousness. 

I handed out about 250 flyers and had a few other good opportunities. I'm always a bit overwhelmed in Edinburgh because there are so many directions you can go to give the Gospel. The harvest is great and the laborers are few. 

We have had hot weather (low 70's) for the past couple of days! It has been wonderful. This morning I put out flyers early to get done before the heat came.  Thankfully I was finished before the sun broke through the morning haze.

The Lord gave me 2 good opportunities. One was with a 15 year old paper boy. I was surprised by his age as he was about a foot taller than me. Please pray for this young man. He has never read the Bible or gone to church. The other opportunity was with a middle aged woman who attends a church of Scotland. She hopes that she will go to Heaven. Our conversation was brief but I encouraged her to read I John 5 to see that she can know that she'll go to Heaven.

The Lord gave us a good Sunday. It was our 3 year anniversary of planting the church. We began on the first Sunday in July in 2010. I preached yesterday morning on "Navigate to Glory" from Romans 3. We didn't finish and will have a continuation of that message next Sunday. I've always gone to Ephesians 2:8-9 when speaking to those who believe good people go to heaven. I now hope that God reminds me to go to Romans 3 which deals with this topic in depth. It is an excellent argument against man's goodness and for man's need for God's grace.