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!
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
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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