Day 6: HBC - Day 2

1 Thessalonians 2:4, "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts."

After just getting back to the Annabella B&B from hearing some traditional Irish music, it is good to reflect over the day we had today...

At Holiday Bible Club we had a total of 134 today, and that was with at least 20+ children from yesterday that could not attend today (so we might have our hands full in the coming days!). Having 50+ children in two of our classes and almost 30 in the oldest class has been a stretch, but our team is working hard and doing a fantastic job! We haven't had any major issues thus far, and the weather has held out enough for us to do outdoor activities... pray that this would continue!

Over the last couple years, the dismissal of the children has always been the most difficult and chaotic, so this area has had the most attention and focus. We want to make sure the parents can completely trust us to get their children to them properly and orderly. The Mallow Bible Fellowship leaders have done a great job strategizing in this area, and now we are just working out the plan and making adjustments and tweaks together. This is extremely important, so please be praying with us about this area!

As expected, we've seen God working as well as the enemy working in our midst. We have had more opportunities to explain the gospel than ever before, and the enemy doesn't like this at all. Please pray that our team would continue to be humble, selfless servants toward the children and each other and 100% united in our common mission of speaking and living out the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the children. We need to make sure each of us has the mindset of Philippians 2:3-8:

"3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

All for His glory!
-Stephen

Day 5: HBC - Day 1

Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

Today was the start of Mallow Bible Fellowship's Holiday Bible Club, and we had such a great start! From 2-5pm today we had the opportunity to share our lives and the word of God with 126 children ranging from 5 to 12 years old. This year the church did not provide transportation due to some new laws, so we were pleasantly surprised that the decision did not impact the number of kids that came. More than half the children were back for their 2nd time, and we still had several that had now come back for the 3rd year! It was such a blessing to see these children again...

Similar to the messages for the teen camp, this week the children will learn about the Lord Jesus Christ - his birth, his words and works, his death and resurrection, and his disciples. By the end of the week each child would have had heard a clear presentation of the gospel. In the previous years we found in incredibly difficult to teach some of the children for 2 reasons... 1) Many of the children have been very unfamiliar with the bible or even how to use a bible; 2) Since many children have had nearly no exposure to the bible, we found it difficult to teach lessons that were focused on a bible character, correlate those stories to Jesus and the gospel, and then correlate everything to their lives. Since these two things were challenges to us in the past 2 years, this year we decided to focus completely on Jesus Christ. Today alone we have seen many children be more receptive to the lessons. We even had one girl in the oldest class approach one of the leaders and ask, "So what do I need to do to be born again?" Praise God!

Please keep praying! We are a few things to be praying specifically for...

1. The hearts of the children to be soft towards the gospel and the bible lessons
2. As we continue to plow, that God would use our words and actions to impact the lives of the children in any way he desires
3. That our team would be humble servants, able to be flexible as we try to tweak and fine tune the overall HBC structure

-Stephen

Day 3 and 4: Teen Camp!

We just got back a few hours ago from Killarney National Park after spending 2 days with 10 teenagers... and it was a blast! In the 36+ hours we spent together we:

• Played some fun and crazy games
• Soccer
• Avenger Ball (Ultimate Frisbee using a cheap $2 ball from a local store... and it was actually quite fun!)
• Assassin (everyone's new favorite night-time game)
• Skip-Bo

• Walked and hiked around the National Park
• Ross Castle
• Muckross House
• Muckross Lake
• Torc Mountain
• Torc Falls

...and most importantly...

• Opened God's word together 4 times as a group
• Message 1: Jesus - His Birth
• Message 2: Jesus - His Words and Works
• Message 3: Jesus - His Death and Resurrection
• Message 4: Jesus - His Disciples

Each and every person that attended the 4 sessions had the opportunity to see what the bible says about Jesus Christ:

#1) How amazing it is that the holy, perfect, eternal Creator and Sustainer humbled himself, and became a human in order to save us from our sin*

#2) How Jesus proved that he was God by his words and his works, for we are unable to save ourselves; only God can save us*

#3) How great the love of Jesus Christ and the Father is toward us - while we were yet sinners and enemies of God, he selflessly took the sin of the whole world upon himself, suffered the wrath of God that we deserved as sinners, died upon the cross, and rose again from the dead so that everyone would have the opportunity to receive his gift of salvation* 

#4) How ordinary men were willing to believe the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore God redeemed them and used them to do some amazing things to bring him glory* 

*There are way too many scriptures to put with the 4 statements above, so if you want a copy of my notes, let me know and I will gladly send them! :)

Please be praying for the teens that came, and for all those that heard the word of God. The Lord has promised in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Investing the words of God into another person is never a waste of time, for it will always accomplish what God sends it forth to accomplish... the investment will never return void.

-Stephen

P.S. - Pictures to come later! (it's already past midnight here... time for bed!)

Day 2: Sunday Morning Service & Further Rest / Preparation for the Week

"For God so loved the world, that he gave he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ~ John 3:16

We started our morning by hearing the Word of God preached by Stephen at Mallow Bible Fellowship. The sermon was based on John 3:16 focusing on the word, WHOSOEVER. Salvation is freely offered to ALL, no matter the sin. Our sin bearer carried ALL the sins of the world on His shoulders, so that we may have the gift of eternal life. Powerful! The congregation total today for Mallow church was 80 and they were responsive to Stephen's message. There was not an alter call or a straight forward invitation to salvation. Today we learned that it is borderline illegal to proselytize (evangelizing or persuaded someone to convert to your beliefs) in Ireland. Stephen ended his sermon simply saying this,"Now it's your choice... What will you do with what you've heard today?"  After the service we had the opportunity to continue fellow-shipping with the local church in Mallow. Its always amazing to see that even though we are cultures apart, we have an immediate connection though Christ, as if we are family. 

After the service, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at our favorite restaurant (Peppers), followed by more needed rest and additional preparations for the week to come. 

Tomorrow we begin our 2-day teen camp. We are not exactly sure what to expect, so please pray for us... We will begin Holiday Bible Club this Wednesday afternoon. Thank you for your continued prayer for us!

-Meg

Day 1: Bunratty Castle and Park & Getting Settled In Mallow

Once arriving at the airport in Shannon, we spent a little bit of time at Bunratty Castle and had lunch at Durty Nellie's... Now we are finally in Mallow! All of us are extremely tired from the 30+ hours of travel, but very excited to arrive in our "Jerusalem" for the week (Acts 1:8). We are settling in at our town favorite B&B, Annabella. We still have some work to do to prepare for the very busy week with the teenagers and children, but first we must do a very most important thing... rest. Please continue to pray for each of us! The enemy of God is alive and well, and he does not want us to be successful this week.

Enjoy some of the pictures from the last day or so!

We've Arrived!

We are in Shannon, alive and well! Thank you for all the prayers... Let's see what God has planned.   :)

-Stephen

And We're Off!

Coming to you from the heights of the atmosphere, we are officially departed and heading to Atlanta! We have a long day of travel ahead of us... and many of us only have a few hours of sleep in us (some none!). Please be praying for us! The enemy is already at work trying to throw distractions in our way. We know the Lord shall direct our path, so we can trust him completely. I am reminded of one of my favorite references...

Proverbs 3:5-6, "5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

We're excited to see what God is going to do!

In Christ Alone,
Stephen