Hey all! Ben Peters here updating you on what’s going on here in Scotland. First of all I would like to apologize for not updating the blog more frequently this past month and a half. In this post I hope to cover a lot of what has been going on the past month or so here in Inverness.
At the end of August we were very blessed to have our good friend and brother Marty Miranda visit us for a couple weeks. Marty has spent the last year serving at a Calvary Chapel in South Hampton, England. During Marty’s time here we got to do a significant amount of exploration around the Highlands of Scotland. We had a wonderful time of fellowship as we climbed the tallest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis, and we were also able to take one of the guys from the youth group and spend a day out on the Isle of Skye together. It’s always refreshing for me to spend time with Marty because he has so much joy in the Lord and I am so thankful for his friendship and how the Lord ministers to me through our fellowship. Please pray for Marty as he continues on with the work down in South Hampton http://www.calvarychapelsouthampton.co.uk/.
This past month has been an absolute blur. As most of you probably know already, Nate and I are both returning to the States. Between all the going away parties and the packing and shipping of bags and boxes I feel like I’ve barely had a chance to stop and breathe. Thankfully though this last week we cancelled most of our weekly meetings in preparation for our return to the States. I am very sad to leave my Scottish brethren and I will dearly miss the youth here. God has shown me so much in my time here, He has grown me so much as a man and as a teacher. Though it is hard to leave the people we’ve invested so much of our time and hearts into, I am still very excited about the new direction the Lord is leading me in. Please pray that the Lord would provide for Nate and I as we take this new step in continuing our educations by returning to school in the States. Also please continue to pray for Leo Rose and his wife Cheryl as they continue the work that God has called them to here in Inverness. The Lord has really been greatly blessing this work. Over the past year we’ve seen God raise up leaders from within the church and we’ve seen extraordinary growth not only in the size of the youth group but most importantly in the spiritual maturity of the youth who are attending. Please pray that God would raise up replacements to come in and continue investing in the lives of the youth here in Inverness. God truly has lit a beacon of hope in this dark place. Help stoke this fire through your prayers.
BP, Signing off.
Sunday 28 September 2008
Friday 8 August 2008
Scotland: Coffee Shop Gospel pt 2
Hi there! You are reading the words of Nate. The past few weeks has been pretty hectic, we've had 3 weeks of running a coffee shop and on the last week we ran the CYC by ourselves on top of it! We didn't have all that many unchurched folks coming in to the coffee shop much to our disappointment, but whoever came in that didn't know about God we gave a gospel of John.
At the end of last week we had an evangelist by the name of Al Terhune (http://takinit.org/) staying with us. It was an awesome time of ministry, we hosted a “kidz club” outreach and he gave the gospel and a bunch of kids got saved! About 3 adults got saved while he was here as well. He was definitely a very gifted evangelist, and his constant focus on the gospel really encouraged us. Almost everyone he came in contact with received the gospel! I've been praying for more open doors for the gospel in my own life and God has been faithful to answer that prayer.
Yesterday I went for a run and decided not to take my ipod (which I always bring) so that I could pray. As I was running I passed an older man who was walking his dog, he seemed very friendly and seemed to be enjoying his walk. I turned around at the end of my run and caught back up with him and his dog walked up to me, so I prayed “Lord open the door.” and He did! We got to talking and I found out that he was an ex-church of England guy who had been burned by religion, and now that he was getting older he was afraid of death and started thinking of getting back to church in hopes that he might get to heaven. We didn't get to walk very long because his car was only about a quarter mile away, but by God's grace I got to explain the whole gospel to him! He listened very intently and thanked me for telling him that and got in his car and drove off. I can only hope and pray that he called on the mercy of God for salvation once he got home, but I know for sure that God ordained that conversation.
The lost are all around us, God is sovereign, pray that He would open doors for the gospel and open the eyes of the lost through not only us but you as well!
At the end of last week we had an evangelist by the name of Al Terhune (http://takinit.org/) staying with us. It was an awesome time of ministry, we hosted a “kidz club” outreach and he gave the gospel and a bunch of kids got saved! About 3 adults got saved while he was here as well. He was definitely a very gifted evangelist, and his constant focus on the gospel really encouraged us. Almost everyone he came in contact with received the gospel! I've been praying for more open doors for the gospel in my own life and God has been faithful to answer that prayer.
Yesterday I went for a run and decided not to take my ipod (which I always bring) so that I could pray. As I was running I passed an older man who was walking his dog, he seemed very friendly and seemed to be enjoying his walk. I turned around at the end of my run and caught back up with him and his dog walked up to me, so I prayed “Lord open the door.” and He did! We got to talking and I found out that he was an ex-church of England guy who had been burned by religion, and now that he was getting older he was afraid of death and started thinking of getting back to church in hopes that he might get to heaven. We didn't get to walk very long because his car was only about a quarter mile away, but by God's grace I got to explain the whole gospel to him! He listened very intently and thanked me for telling him that and got in his car and drove off. I can only hope and pray that he called on the mercy of God for salvation once he got home, but I know for sure that God ordained that conversation.
The lost are all around us, God is sovereign, pray that He would open doors for the gospel and open the eyes of the lost through not only us but you as well!
Sunday 6 July 2008
Scotland: Coffee Shop Gospel
Hey everyone, Ben here with this weeks update. Boy do we have a great couple of weeks lined up. Let me lay it out for ya. Nate and I are taking over the CYC for the next three weeks and we have recently obtained all the equipment we need for the coffee shop. So what better way to start things off than with a grand opening of the CYC Coffee Shop! Nate and I have received training on the machine and are now espresso and latte` making experts and we’ve enlisted an army of students from our youth group to help us run the place for the next three weeks! God really is blessing us here. The CYC is strategically located on the bank of the river Ness and there is a heavy amount of foot traffic in front of the building. Please pray that God would bring people in to get some coffee and that He would open up doors to present people with the gospel.
BP, Signing out
BP, Signing out
Sunday 15 June 2008
Scotland: An Extraordinary Encounter
Hey everybody, this is Nate reporting in for our bi-weekly update. An interesting thing happened to me the other day while I was working at the Christian Youth Center in town. It was a rainy day and I had just come in from washing the windows when I heard the doorbell ring. It was too early for it to be any kids from the school, so I went down to see who it was. I opened the door to find a man there who had piercings and tattoos all over and had cuts on his arms. He was very troubled looking and he asked me if I could talk to him, so I said yes and invited him in to have a chat.
He told me his name was Stuart, and he said “Oh don't worry about these cuts, they're just self harm” He went on to tell me that he was a paranoid schizophrenic and he had run out of money to buy food recently and hadn't eaten in two days. And since he hadn't eaten in two days he also hadn't taken his pills in two days! Since he hadn't eaten in two days I took him down to the corner store and bought him a sandwich.
After we got his sandwich we headed back to the CYC and I asked him if he had ever heard the gospel before and he said no. So I told him the gospel and he was extremely interested in it. He told me that what I was saying seemed like it might be the truth and I assured him it was. He had to go quickly because he didn't have his pills with him and he was anxious to get back home and take them, but he told me that he really wanted to hear more and that he'd come back later. So I gave him a tract and a Bible and sent him on his way. Please pray for Stuart that he reads his Bible and gets saved, and also that he would be healed from his schizophrenia and that we'd get another chance to talk to him.
God is such an amazingly intricate planner. It's mind blowing to think of all the things that went into me giving that man the gospel. First someone had to tell him about the CYC, then through a long series of events God brought him to a place of desperation where he had nothing left and then God brought the CYC to remembrance and he had to get on a bus and get over there at exactly the time that I was there that morning. And on top of all that God had to fill me with His truth and give me the words to give Stuart. Truly God is sovereign, His works are unfathomably vast.
Oh yeah, and we've got a bit of a praise report, God provided two men to drive for the Creation Fest trip with the youth. Please continue to pray for that trip that God would provide the funding and make it a life changing trip for the youth. As always thank you so much for the prayers! God bless and don't forget to tune in next bi-week! Same bat time, same bat channel!
Nate
He told me his name was Stuart, and he said “Oh don't worry about these cuts, they're just self harm” He went on to tell me that he was a paranoid schizophrenic and he had run out of money to buy food recently and hadn't eaten in two days. And since he hadn't eaten in two days he also hadn't taken his pills in two days! Since he hadn't eaten in two days I took him down to the corner store and bought him a sandwich.
After we got his sandwich we headed back to the CYC and I asked him if he had ever heard the gospel before and he said no. So I told him the gospel and he was extremely interested in it. He told me that what I was saying seemed like it might be the truth and I assured him it was. He had to go quickly because he didn't have his pills with him and he was anxious to get back home and take them, but he told me that he really wanted to hear more and that he'd come back later. So I gave him a tract and a Bible and sent him on his way. Please pray for Stuart that he reads his Bible and gets saved, and also that he would be healed from his schizophrenia and that we'd get another chance to talk to him.
God is such an amazingly intricate planner. It's mind blowing to think of all the things that went into me giving that man the gospel. First someone had to tell him about the CYC, then through a long series of events God brought him to a place of desperation where he had nothing left and then God brought the CYC to remembrance and he had to get on a bus and get over there at exactly the time that I was there that morning. And on top of all that God had to fill me with His truth and give me the words to give Stuart. Truly God is sovereign, His works are unfathomably vast.
Oh yeah, and we've got a bit of a praise report, God provided two men to drive for the Creation Fest trip with the youth. Please continue to pray for that trip that God would provide the funding and make it a life changing trip for the youth. As always thank you so much for the prayers! God bless and don't forget to tune in next bi-week! Same bat time, same bat channel!
Nate
Sunday 1 June 2008
Scotland: Summer Plans
Howdy folks! Sorry for the slowness of updates, we've been a little busy this past week with a couple of friends from Michigan visiting, but we're back on track and we're picking up the slack! This week I'm going to fill you in on our super-secret plans we've been cooking up for the past few weeks. Ben and I are pretty excited about what God's got in store for the coming months.
First off, we are cooking up some plans for two more Bible studies. One will be a guys discipleship group studying through the book of Judges. And the other will be a Bible study we'll be starting up at the local college. The guys discipleship is very likely to work out, but the college study is dependent on whether or not we can get in to the college. So pray that God would work out all the details of these two studies, especially the college study because there really isn't much ministry going on in that age group in Inverness.
Next up on the agenda, we're planning to help open up a Christian coffee shop in the Christian Youth Center (where we do Thursday night Bible study). It'll be a few weeks and we'll be having music and giving a gospel presentation on the weekends God willing. So pray that God would prepare the hearts of those we'll be reaching out to.
And finally, we're planning on taking the youth group on a trip down to England for a big festival called Creation Fest, it's a three day Christian music extravaganza! It's going to be a total blast and a great opportunity to spend time with the kids. It's also going to be a chance to see some of the youth step into positions of leadership, so pray that God will use the trip to raise up leaders within the group.
So there it is, an exciting inside look at the top-secret plans of Ben and Nate. These are all up in the air, but we're working to make them a reality. Thanks so much for your prayers and thanks for reading! We love you, good night!
Nate
First off, we are cooking up some plans for two more Bible studies. One will be a guys discipleship group studying through the book of Judges. And the other will be a Bible study we'll be starting up at the local college. The guys discipleship is very likely to work out, but the college study is dependent on whether or not we can get in to the college. So pray that God would work out all the details of these two studies, especially the college study because there really isn't much ministry going on in that age group in Inverness.
Next up on the agenda, we're planning to help open up a Christian coffee shop in the Christian Youth Center (where we do Thursday night Bible study). It'll be a few weeks and we'll be having music and giving a gospel presentation on the weekends God willing. So pray that God would prepare the hearts of those we'll be reaching out to.
And finally, we're planning on taking the youth group on a trip down to England for a big festival called Creation Fest, it's a three day Christian music extravaganza! It's going to be a total blast and a great opportunity to spend time with the kids. It's also going to be a chance to see some of the youth step into positions of leadership, so pray that God will use the trip to raise up leaders within the group.
So there it is, an exciting inside look at the top-secret plans of Ben and Nate. These are all up in the air, but we're working to make them a reality. Thanks so much for your prayers and thanks for reading! We love you, good night!
Nate
Sunday 11 May 2008
Scotland: Children of the Most High
Hey everybody. Sorry about not having an update last week. Nate and I traveled down to York, England to visit the Calvary Chapel Bible College right after church last Sunday. Considering the amount of outreach that we had done in the past month Leo thought it was OK for us to take a bit of a breather so we hopped a train and headed for England. The outreach team that came to Inverness met us at the train station and showed us around the city of York. It was really refreshing to meet all the bible college students and just to have that fellowship with other likeminded young people. While we were there we attended classes from Romans and Revelation to Apologetics and Church History.
We had opportunities to look around the town. Everything was in bloom and I often found myself just sitting on the wall staring at the beauty of Gods creation. We got to see some awesome sights like the Minster but even the magnificence of the building paled in comparison to the beauty of Gods creation in bloom. Every night while we were there the team would cook dinner for us and we all sat down and ate as a family. Its awesome to know that when you become a child of God you get adopted into a huge family that’s always eager to take care of you. The family atmosphere was so prevalent that someone felt it was alright to start a food fight! We had so much fun!
Nate and I are really excited. We ordered some proper bibles for our Thursday night kids and they have finally arrived! We had each kids name printed on the bible to make this gift even more personal. Please pray that they would develop a hunger for God’s Word and that they would be faithful to read it. We also have a guys discipleship group in the planning so please keep that in prayer.
Don’t forget to hit up our prayer section and our photo gallery.
This is Ben signing off for Team Scotland.
We had opportunities to look around the town. Everything was in bloom and I often found myself just sitting on the wall staring at the beauty of Gods creation. We got to see some awesome sights like the Minster but even the magnificence of the building paled in comparison to the beauty of Gods creation in bloom. Every night while we were there the team would cook dinner for us and we all sat down and ate as a family. Its awesome to know that when you become a child of God you get adopted into a huge family that’s always eager to take care of you. The family atmosphere was so prevalent that someone felt it was alright to start a food fight! We had so much fun!
Nate and I are really excited. We ordered some proper bibles for our Thursday night kids and they have finally arrived! We had each kids name printed on the bible to make this gift even more personal. Please pray that they would develop a hunger for God’s Word and that they would be faithful to read it. We also have a guys discipleship group in the planning so please keep that in prayer.
Don’t forget to hit up our prayer section and our photo gallery.
This is Ben signing off for Team Scotland.
Sunday 20 April 2008
Scotland: More outreach than you can shake a stick at!
Hey everybody, this is Nate checking in for our semi-weekly update. Ben and I have had quite a busy two weeks, you'd think things might slow down a bit after the York team left, but that just wasn't the case. Last Friday we had a team from Atlanta come and put on an outreach event we called Connect. It was a lot of fun, Ben and I ran the lighting and powerpoint, the team did a great job keeping things exciting and Leo closed the night with a gospel presentation. We had free Bibles sitting on a table and encouraged the kids to take them, and 20 or so took them, so pray that these kids read their Bibles and come to know the Lord if they haven't already.
Just last night we had yet another event (I know, 3 in a row! We must be crazy!), we put on a Christ-centered passover banquet with a messianic Jewish family that we know. Several of the kids from the Thursday night Bible study came along and we all had a great time serving at it. About 50 people turned out for it and everyone enjoyed learning about the passover. No lambs were harmed in the making of the meal.
The Thursday night Bible study has been going really well too, the kids have been asking a lot of really great questions and by the grace of God Ben and I have been able to answer them from the Bible fairly well. God has also been growing Ben and I as teachers more and more every time, so that's been awesome. We'd like to disciple the kids more one on one and really pour into them in that way, so please pray that God would really make that fruitful and pray that we'll see these kids grow in God tremendously.
That's all for now, thanks for being so cool!
Nate
Just last night we had yet another event (I know, 3 in a row! We must be crazy!), we put on a Christ-centered passover banquet with a messianic Jewish family that we know. Several of the kids from the Thursday night Bible study came along and we all had a great time serving at it. About 50 people turned out for it and everyone enjoyed learning about the passover. No lambs were harmed in the making of the meal.
The Thursday night Bible study has been going really well too, the kids have been asking a lot of really great questions and by the grace of God Ben and I have been able to answer them from the Bible fairly well. God has also been growing Ben and I as teachers more and more every time, so that's been awesome. We'd like to disciple the kids more one on one and really pour into them in that way, so please pray that God would really make that fruitful and pray that we'll see these kids grow in God tremendously.
That's all for now, thanks for being so cool!
Nate
Tuesday 8 April 2008
Scotland: The Ultimate Team
Welcome back blog enthusiasts! Ben here. When last we left you we were expecting a team from the Calvary Chapel Bible College in York, England. I’m here to report to you everything that went down during our time with the team so buckle up because you’re in for a long bumpy ride!
The team arrived by train on Saturday March 29th and were here for 9 days. Two of the team members, Aaron and Tess, are gifted in leading worship so they took over worship for Sunday morning while two other team members, Brooklynn and Taylor helped me with Sunday School for the little kids. Having 6 extra people around gave us a big opportunity to do a lot of practical ministry. On Monday we took the team to the Corbett Centre where we have our Sunday morning services and we put them to work on a section of the garden that had been previously untouched. The amount of work completed in that day alone would have taken Nate and I at least 3-4 days of work by ourselves, so that was a huge blessing. We spent Monday night packing up bible gift packs that we then distributed in the areas surrounding the Corbett Centre on Tuesday. We were able to give away almost 500 bibles as well as promote our kids movie night and kids club events for the weekend.
On Wednesday we packed up a rented 16 passenger van and hit the road. Having already had 3 teams up from the bible college, it has become tradition for Leo to take the team on the grand tour of Inverness, and the Northern parts of Scotland. The day was a sweet time of fellowship and sightseeing. I was particularly struck by God’s awesome creation and how you can see His beauty everywhere you look. It was a time of refreshing and rejuvenating for me personally.
We jumped right back into the practical ministry on Thursday when we took the team down to the CYC for a complete cosmetic makeover of the interior of the building. Nate and I also got to have a break from teaching the youth bible study. The night started out with some testimonies from Robbie and Tess and then Pam shared out of John 10 about how Jesus is the good shepherd. The youth were completely gripped and completely attentive to the study. It really was amazing to see them focused on God’s word like that. But the biggest blessing for us was having the girls from the team interacting with the girls in the youth group. We don’t have any female leaders in the youth group so often times we find it hard to connect with the girls, so having the girls on the team there really made the night awesome.
Friday and Saturday were our biggest ministry events of the week by far. On Friday we had a free movie night for the kids in the area surrounding our church. This was the half of a big outreach to the children in the community. We showed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. After the movie we each sat down at a table with some of the kids and explained the gospel to them using the examples set forth in the movie. As it turns out, a lot of the kids knew about how Aslan represents Jesus. We were faithful to give the gospel and a response time. There wasn’t a response, but a seed was planted. The next day we had our kids club outreach to the same community. This involved a craft time, a bible lesson, game time and concluded with activities like face painting, balloon animals, and a bouncy castle. It was such an amazing two hours. Of that time, forty five minutes was spent in the bible lesson. At the end of the lesson the gospel was given and we saw an overwhelming response of forty children! Praise the Lord! God is so faithful.
We really were abundantly blessed to have the York team with us. The work that was done, the ministry that we shared in and the friendships that we developed will forever live on in our hearts. Please check out the photo album for a plethora of pictures over the past 9 days.
This is BP signing off.
P.S. We love you York team!
The team arrived by train on Saturday March 29th and were here for 9 days. Two of the team members, Aaron and Tess, are gifted in leading worship so they took over worship for Sunday morning while two other team members, Brooklynn and Taylor helped me with Sunday School for the little kids. Having 6 extra people around gave us a big opportunity to do a lot of practical ministry. On Monday we took the team to the Corbett Centre where we have our Sunday morning services and we put them to work on a section of the garden that had been previously untouched. The amount of work completed in that day alone would have taken Nate and I at least 3-4 days of work by ourselves, so that was a huge blessing. We spent Monday night packing up bible gift packs that we then distributed in the areas surrounding the Corbett Centre on Tuesday. We were able to give away almost 500 bibles as well as promote our kids movie night and kids club events for the weekend.
On Wednesday we packed up a rented 16 passenger van and hit the road. Having already had 3 teams up from the bible college, it has become tradition for Leo to take the team on the grand tour of Inverness, and the Northern parts of Scotland. The day was a sweet time of fellowship and sightseeing. I was particularly struck by God’s awesome creation and how you can see His beauty everywhere you look. It was a time of refreshing and rejuvenating for me personally.
We jumped right back into the practical ministry on Thursday when we took the team down to the CYC for a complete cosmetic makeover of the interior of the building. Nate and I also got to have a break from teaching the youth bible study. The night started out with some testimonies from Robbie and Tess and then Pam shared out of John 10 about how Jesus is the good shepherd. The youth were completely gripped and completely attentive to the study. It really was amazing to see them focused on God’s word like that. But the biggest blessing for us was having the girls from the team interacting with the girls in the youth group. We don’t have any female leaders in the youth group so often times we find it hard to connect with the girls, so having the girls on the team there really made the night awesome.
Friday and Saturday were our biggest ministry events of the week by far. On Friday we had a free movie night for the kids in the area surrounding our church. This was the half of a big outreach to the children in the community. We showed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. After the movie we each sat down at a table with some of the kids and explained the gospel to them using the examples set forth in the movie. As it turns out, a lot of the kids knew about how Aslan represents Jesus. We were faithful to give the gospel and a response time. There wasn’t a response, but a seed was planted. The next day we had our kids club outreach to the same community. This involved a craft time, a bible lesson, game time and concluded with activities like face painting, balloon animals, and a bouncy castle. It was such an amazing two hours. Of that time, forty five minutes was spent in the bible lesson. At the end of the lesson the gospel was given and we saw an overwhelming response of forty children! Praise the Lord! God is so faithful.
We really were abundantly blessed to have the York team with us. The work that was done, the ministry that we shared in and the friendships that we developed will forever live on in our hearts. Please check out the photo album for a plethora of pictures over the past 9 days.
This is BP signing off.
P.S. We love you York team!
Sunday 9 March 2008
Scotland: Laying a foundation to build on.
Greetings Brethren! Ben here just stopping by to fill you in on the latest news. Nate and I have had several opportunities to hang out with our Scottish homies these past two weeks. We feel that effective discipleship starts with a solid relationship with your disciples. Jesus called the disciples first to be with Him, so in a like manner, we are taking every opportunity we can to spend time with the kids.
Our first adventure out of the city of Inverness took us to a Battle of the Bands competition at a local high school in Fortrose. Two of the “core” kids in the youth group are in a band called Sanctus Incendia (which we are told means “Holy Fire” in Latin) They describe their music as “Neoclassical Black Metal” a very interesting style indeed. The thing that struck me most was that when the boys took the stage, I heard several people in the audience saying, “Oh no, it’s the Christians!” and several people were booing them. The boys did very well despite the negativity and technical difficulties. With a little work they might be the next big Christian band out of Scotland!
One thing we take for granted in the states is how, for the most part, there is practically no persecution in our schools toward Christians. In getting to know these kids, I’ve come to find out that naming Christ as your Lord in school brings more than just verbal abuse, but physical bullying as well. I am so encouraged to see that despite the bullying, some of the kids still carry their Bibles with them to school.
In other news, we will be hosting a team of students from Calvary Chapel Bible College: York in 3 weeks time. We are currently planning several practical ministry opportunities for the team which include bible distribution, gardening, and a door to door prayer opportunity. The team will also be leading worship for the bible studies throughout the week as well as for Sunday morning service. Nate and I are also extending the opportunity for the team to lead the Thursday night group in worship, testimonies and a bible study. We are very excited and feel very blessed to have this team come and serve with us!
We are very excited and encouraged to see that God is growing the Thursday night study group. We now have a consistent group of about 10-12 kids showing up to hang out and hear God’s word. However, several of these kids are not saved, please keep praying that God would bring them to a point of salvation and give them a hunger to know Him.
Well that’s all for now! Sorry no pictures this week, but perhaps next time! Keep those prayers going!
This is Ben Peters signing off for Team Scotland.
Our first adventure out of the city of Inverness took us to a Battle of the Bands competition at a local high school in Fortrose. Two of the “core” kids in the youth group are in a band called Sanctus Incendia (which we are told means “Holy Fire” in Latin) They describe their music as “Neoclassical Black Metal” a very interesting style indeed. The thing that struck me most was that when the boys took the stage, I heard several people in the audience saying, “Oh no, it’s the Christians!” and several people were booing them. The boys did very well despite the negativity and technical difficulties. With a little work they might be the next big Christian band out of Scotland!
One thing we take for granted in the states is how, for the most part, there is practically no persecution in our schools toward Christians. In getting to know these kids, I’ve come to find out that naming Christ as your Lord in school brings more than just verbal abuse, but physical bullying as well. I am so encouraged to see that despite the bullying, some of the kids still carry their Bibles with them to school.
In other news, we will be hosting a team of students from Calvary Chapel Bible College: York in 3 weeks time. We are currently planning several practical ministry opportunities for the team which include bible distribution, gardening, and a door to door prayer opportunity. The team will also be leading worship for the bible studies throughout the week as well as for Sunday morning service. Nate and I are also extending the opportunity for the team to lead the Thursday night group in worship, testimonies and a bible study. We are very excited and feel very blessed to have this team come and serve with us!
We are very excited and encouraged to see that God is growing the Thursday night study group. We now have a consistent group of about 10-12 kids showing up to hang out and hear God’s word. However, several of these kids are not saved, please keep praying that God would bring them to a point of salvation and give them a hunger to know Him.
Well that’s all for now! Sorry no pictures this week, but perhaps next time! Keep those prayers going!
This is Ben Peters signing off for Team Scotland.
Sunday 24 February 2008
Scotland: Teaching the Word and Experiences in Ministry
Hey saints! Nate here to fill you all in on what's going on out here. Sorry we didn't post anything last week, we've gotten several concerned E-mails asking if we died or something (for those of you who couldn't tell by the tone of my type, I'm kidding), which I guess I can understand, but the reality is if we do this blog every week we'll just end up filling the blog with a bunch of stuff you won't end up reading anyway. So we've decided to post every other week so that our blog posts don't end up sounding like this...
Hey guys... well here we go again, another week gone by in the highlands, life sure is exciting out here, Ben and I are having some real personal strife, we've been out here for 4 whole months and Ben finally came out and told me that he likes creamy peanut butter, and I definitely prefer crunchy. Please keep Ben in fervent prayer that the power of God would break this demonic stronghold in his life...
We'd much rather tell you about the highlights and keep things interesting on a bi-weekly basis rather than bore you on a weekly basis. So at any rate, life is great out here, Ben and I have been helping out at the Christian Youth Center where we do our Thursday night Bible studies. It's always good to serve in that way, and it gives us a chance to listen to some sermons that Leo gave us for a discipleship class we're a part of. You can see a couple of pictures of Ben and I moving some rocks outside the CYC in our photo gallery.
Ben and I got to serve at a Valentines day banquet that Inverness Bible Fellowship put on, so our experience serving in the kitchen at Horizon North County and catering for Jon Little came in handy, and a fun time was had by all. Some of the kids from the youth group came and served along with us (you can see the pictures of this in the gallery as well), so that was great, we're having fun getting to know the kids.
The teaching has been going well, so thanks for the continued prayer in that area, Ben and I are alternating teaching days, so I'll teach Sunday one week and Thursday the next week and Ben will do the opposite. We are going through the book of Mark with the Thursday night group and we're going through Proverbs with the kids that come on Sunday. Both of the days have a different dynamic to them, Thursdays are typically more fun because the kids are older and know a little bit more about the Word so we're able to go a bit deeper with them, and Sundays we typically teach in the range of 2-5 kids, and most of these kids are unsaved, so pray that God will break through their hardened hearts and give them new life in Him.
In other news, Ben and I have now tasted the savory flavors of haggis... A unique highland experience indeed. For those of you who don't know anything about haggis (specifically what it's made out of) check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
So thanks again for keeping us in prayer. More coming soon, stay tuned!
This is Nate signing off for Team Scotland.
Sunday 10 February 2008
Scotland: God Works Even in Tragedy
Hey all! Ben and Nate here. Just wanted to give you this weeks updates on what God is doing here in Inverness! If you read our last post you’ll know that our arrival here was in the wake of tragedy as one of the students of a local high school had been killed in an accident. This incident has really shaken the students. In an attempt to console the school has brought in a few alcohol counseling agencies, but the kids can see right through them. The lack of love and compassion that is being shown amazes me to no end. The director of the school actually told some of the students to “Have a cup of tea, stop crying and get over it. Roddy would have wanted it that way.” But we are seeing God work through this tragedy in the lives of the students.
On Thursday we had our first youth meeting at the Christian Youth Center since Roddy’s death. A group of about fifteen kids or so showed up, most of them were first timers. We wanted to be sensitive to the situation so we offered our ears just to listen to the kids. What you must understand about the highlands and Scotland in general is that people are very private about the way they feel, especially in regards to faith. None of the kids wanted to talk, so Leo continued on with the message for the night out of Luke 15: The parable of the lost sheep. As the study was drawing to a close, Leo transitioned to the gospel and upon giving the invitation there were seven kids who responded publicly. The next day on Friday, we took over sound and video responsibilities for the memorial and Leo conducted the service. Once again, Leo shared out of Luke 15 and when he gave the gospel message somewhere between forty and fifty people responded publicly. God is absolutely amazing! Among the people who responded was Roddy’s mom. Not only did she take a bible afterwards but she expressed an interest in continuing in the decision she had made.
God is so faithful! We’ve been asking Him and praying for Him to bring many to salvation through all of this and He has! Thank you so much for your prayers. Now we would ask you to continue praying for these people. Pray that their decision wasn’t just an emotional response like the stony ground but a true conversion, pray that they would come and hear the Word of God that it may take root in their lives and that they would bear fruit.
Nate and I would also ask you to pray that God would enable us to confidently step into the role of teachers, as we will be fully taking over the youth ministry starting this week, and that God would grow us as teachers of His Word and fill us with His Spirit. Also we have a couple new pictures and in case you didn’t know, you don’t have to be a registered user to make comments on our blog posts, it’s open to the public. If you want to read the news articles on Roddy’s death, you may do so by clicking these links: Article #1 Article #2
Keep lifting up the prayers!
Team Scotland
On Thursday we had our first youth meeting at the Christian Youth Center since Roddy’s death. A group of about fifteen kids or so showed up, most of them were first timers. We wanted to be sensitive to the situation so we offered our ears just to listen to the kids. What you must understand about the highlands and Scotland in general is that people are very private about the way they feel, especially in regards to faith. None of the kids wanted to talk, so Leo continued on with the message for the night out of Luke 15: The parable of the lost sheep. As the study was drawing to a close, Leo transitioned to the gospel and upon giving the invitation there were seven kids who responded publicly. The next day on Friday, we took over sound and video responsibilities for the memorial and Leo conducted the service. Once again, Leo shared out of Luke 15 and when he gave the gospel message somewhere between forty and fifty people responded publicly. God is absolutely amazing! Among the people who responded was Roddy’s mom. Not only did she take a bible afterwards but she expressed an interest in continuing in the decision she had made.
God is so faithful! We’ve been asking Him and praying for Him to bring many to salvation through all of this and He has! Thank you so much for your prayers. Now we would ask you to continue praying for these people. Pray that their decision wasn’t just an emotional response like the stony ground but a true conversion, pray that they would come and hear the Word of God that it may take root in their lives and that they would bear fruit.
Nate and I would also ask you to pray that God would enable us to confidently step into the role of teachers, as we will be fully taking over the youth ministry starting this week, and that God would grow us as teachers of His Word and fill us with His Spirit. Also we have a couple new pictures and in case you didn’t know, you don’t have to be a registered user to make comments on our blog posts, it’s open to the public. If you want to read the news articles on Roddy’s death, you may do so by clicking these links: Article #1 Article #2
Keep lifting up the prayers!
Team Scotland
Wednesday 6 February 2008
Scotland: The Begining
Hey everyone. Ben here. I just wanted to update all of you on our situation here in Inverness Scotland so here it goes!
God has really thrown us right into the heat of things here in Inverness. Let me explain. As evening was upon us after our first full day, Leo(the pastor) received word that one of the boys in the youth group called Roddy was killed by a train the night before. Roddy was just about to turn 17 so his friends pressured him into getting drunk for his birthday because he had never been intoxicated. When the kids drink here they will add anything they can to the alcohol including meth and cocaine just to get completely destroyed. Roddy had wondered away from the party and was walking down the train tracks at around 3 in the morning when he was struck and killed by a snow-plow train.
I prayed that God would give me compassion on these kids before we came to Scotland and through this event I must say that my heart is completely broken. The thing that stings the most is that no one really knows if Roddy had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. But through this tragedy God has opened the door for the Gospel to be taken into the local school where the memorial service will be held. While Roddy’s parents are not Christians at all but they are open to Leo giving the Gospel at the memorial service. A lot of the kids are really shaken up over Roddy’s death. We are expecting the majority of the school to turn out for his memorial.
Obviously this will be a huge opportunity and we are praying that God would move in a miraculous way. Please join us in praying that God would soften the hearts of these kids to the Gospel and pray that many of the students would repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
God has really thrown us right into the heat of things here in Inverness. Let me explain. As evening was upon us after our first full day, Leo(the pastor) received word that one of the boys in the youth group called Roddy was killed by a train the night before. Roddy was just about to turn 17 so his friends pressured him into getting drunk for his birthday because he had never been intoxicated. When the kids drink here they will add anything they can to the alcohol including meth and cocaine just to get completely destroyed. Roddy had wondered away from the party and was walking down the train tracks at around 3 in the morning when he was struck and killed by a snow-plow train.
I prayed that God would give me compassion on these kids before we came to Scotland and through this event I must say that my heart is completely broken. The thing that stings the most is that no one really knows if Roddy had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. But through this tragedy God has opened the door for the Gospel to be taken into the local school where the memorial service will be held. While Roddy’s parents are not Christians at all but they are open to Leo giving the Gospel at the memorial service. A lot of the kids are really shaken up over Roddy’s death. We are expecting the majority of the school to turn out for his memorial.
Obviously this will be a huge opportunity and we are praying that God would move in a miraculous way. Please join us in praying that God would soften the hearts of these kids to the Gospel and pray that many of the students would repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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