Doors and Kids' Club

John Griffin "on the doors" in Ardagh

Monday:We had another time of team devotion and prayer. Andy encouraged us all by reading discussing Romans 10:14 with us. The passage reminded us of how we should have a heart like Christ; we should have a love for the unbelievers nad an eagerness to share the gospel with them.

After our prayer time we were back out "on the doors" in Newcastle West, following up on the delivery of the "Ireland 4You" magazines in estates (developments) around town. We were encouraged to have several good conversations, including some which may be good contacts for follow-up. It's cool to have the whole day focused on Christ when you are going door to door sharing the gospel, and you are challenged to really take a stand for what you believe.

This afternoon, we were in the nearby village of Ardagh. While part of the team continued knocking on doors, Heidi, Callie, Josh, Joan, and Andrew Shanks set up the "tent" on the green and held a kids' club. Despite the rain, several kids came out for the meeting. They started with games, and then they sang a few songs. Josh told them the story of the prodigal son. Afterwards, they had the opportunity to get points for answering questions about the story right.

After the kid's club, we had dinner at Eva and Adam's house. They warmly welcomed us into their home and we had a great time of fellowship together playing games like charades.

Sunday in Newcastle West

Callie writing...

Today we were able to attend Newcastle West Bible Fellowship's Sunday meetings. We broke bread together and remembered our Lord Jesus Christ with the local assembly. Heidi and I had the opportunity to teach the children's Sunday school classes.

I had a class from 5-8 years old and Heidi had the older children's class. It was great being able to teach God's Word, and encouraging to see how excited the younger kids were about it.

Meanwhile, Brian gave the message for the family Bible hour.

After church we were invited to Joseph and Christine's for lunch - a sweet couple from the fellowship. They have four children: Benedict, Benedicta, Rhoda, and Christabel. It was fun being able to spend time with them and get to know them more.

Assembly Ministry

One of the things we do in Ireland is serve various fellowships of Christians through teaching and preaching. For the past few years we have been conducting one day Interpreting the Bible seminars for anyone who wants to dig deeper into God's Word. This year we will be hosting three such sessions. The first two have already happened. At Shanganagh Bible Church (May 23) and Kilkenny Christian Assembly (May 30) we had excellent turn out for the interpretation workshop entitled "Romans: The Good News of Sanctification." We have also had opportunity to interact with smaller groups at Shanganagh, Kilkenny, and Waterford as we share together in prayer and the word.

Continue to pray for the Word to bear fruit not only in salvation for those we evangelized at the doors and on the streets but in the hearts of new believers as they sink down roots in their young Christian lives and for those who must face daily the pressure of living as a very small spiritual minority amongst their families and communities. Give us wisdom in the Word as we seek to encourage believers in the Faith during these challenging times.

Bookstall in NCW

The bookstall provided people with a free assortment of Christian literature that presents the gospel and keeps the focus of salvation on Jesus Christ alone.

The work continues in Newcastle West

We started the day (Saturday) off with another team devotion by Colin and prayer. Directly after breakfast half of the team delivered 'Ireland 4You' magazines to the rest of the town (total of about 2,500 magazines) while others began doing door-to-door ministry, returning to the homes where magazines were 'letterboxed' yesterday. Meanwhile, Andy and Ernie set up a NCW Bible Fellowship bookstall in the middle of town. These various activities provided team members many opportunities to present the gospel to people and tell them about the local fellowship. All of the team members began doing door to door work in the afternoon.

Door-to-door in Newcastle West

Josh and Joan head out to knock on doors in an estate (subdivision) on Saturday afternoon.

Although not everyone that we talked to today accepted the truth, we were encouraged by the few who were genuinely receptive.

A couple of examples of today's contacts:
Heidi and Brian had the opportunity to share Christ with a young lady in her 20s. The lady had previously heard about our group, and she was aware of what we were doing. So at first the lady didn't really want to open up. But Brian and Heidi were able to share their testimonies with her. The lady agreed to look at the magazine and contact someone from the assembly if she ever changed her mind or had questions.

An ex-soldier (field engineer) invited Josh and Joan in for a conversation that lasted for over an hour. He was raised Catholic, knows the Bible but hasn't taken it seriously. But he was very receptive, and took the literature they offered, as he likes to read. Opportunities like this were a big encouragement to several of our team members who have never before knocked on doors to share the gospel.

Dinner with the Rekowskis

Gregor and Marta Rekowski from the Newcastle West Bible Fellowship invited us for dinner and afterwards we watched "The Privileged Planet."

Tomorrow (Saturday) we will finish distributing the magazines (about 2000) in the rest of the town, help with a book stall in the city centre, and start knocking on doors as a follow-up to the magazine distribution.

From Shankill to Newcastle West

Hi, this is Callie from Louisiana writing...

We went to the Carolans for dinner on Wednesday night. They served us a delicious meal. After a great time of fellowship Grace shared her testimony with the team. It was especially encouraging to the team; she explained how she was saved because of the faithfulness of a young man doing door-to-door ministry.

We left Shankill on Thursday morning and headed towards Newcastle West. We made a stop in Bunratty that Ron Hampton nicely planned out for us. We had a guided tour of Bunratty Castle, and we were able to learn and see a little of Irish culture. After we saw the castle we got back on the road. The Burnetts prepared an amzing dinner for us that night. It was exciting for us to meet Colin and Natalie because we'll be spending a lot of our time with them this week.

Following dinner we went to a prayer meeting with Newcastle West Bible Fellowship, which is now meeting at the Desmond Complex (community center). We enjoyed songs of praise, Bible teaching, and a time of prayer. We were able to meet many of the brothers and sisters from the assembly. We're excited to be here and ready to start our door-to-door evangelism.

On Friday morning we sang and had a devotional. It was great to start the day off reading God's word together. Colin and Andy Shanks also briefed us on our goals and plans for the week. Next, we split up and delivered "Ireland 4 You" magazines to different areas of the town. We took a break for lunch and delivered more magazines until dinner time.

The TNT team has arrived in Dublin

Team members safely arrived in Ireland within the last few days with no interruptions or delays from Iceland's volcano, praise the Lord. Most of the members have recovered or are currently recovering from "jet lag." This years team is a lot smaller than previous years so the orientation and schedule is a little different as well.
Upon arriving at Shanganagh Bible Church, we noticed that many improvements had been made to their building. They've finally established themselves in the building. We've had the opportunity of meeting many of the church members and missionaries that we will be working with.

One of our first jobs as a team was to put labels on several thousand 4 You magazines; these magazines are really good opportunities for people to hear about Christ. On our first night here, the church served us a delicious meal. After dinner we had prayer meeting; it was good to go to the Lord in prayer with brothers and sisters in Christ from across the ocean.
Today started off with a nice breakfast, and lots of Irish history from Frank Carolan. After Frank spoke to us we were told helpful tips on sharing our testimonies with the people of Ireland. We also had a really good discussion about saving faith. After a full day of orientation and training, we are going to have dinner at Frank and Grace Carolan's tonight. We're looking forward to getting to know them better. The team seems to have started off with good harmony--having craic (Irish for great fun) slagging each other (making fun of/teasing) and laughing together. But we're still missing two members who will join us next week.

2010 Team: Ready, Set, Go!

Although our numbers are down significantly this year, the Lord has provided 10 team members who will be used of Him to serve and build up Irish believers and assemblies and reach out with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please PRAY for these team members:

Yvette Bustillos, FL
Leonard Carolan, Ireland
Josh George, AB
Ernie Imken, NY
Heidi Koppen, IA
Brian Kramer, MN
Callie Manning, LA
Joan Plympton, NY
Jim Van Dine, IA
Victor Zaki, TN

Four are first-timers who will arrive in Ireland more than a bit fearful of what they've got themselves into and worried about all that they don't know. This might even be true of some of the TnT veterans. The reality is this "fear will give way to faith" as they trust the Lord and a tremendous blessing will be the inevitable result.

Please PRAY that as team members leave home and travel to Dublin, that the Lord will over-rule their travel and all will arrive safely in Dublin (Monday-Wednesday next week). PRAY that they will be able to recover from the jet lag quickly as they will be involved in outreach starting next Thursday in Newcastle West, Co Limerick.

Thank the LORD that Jim Van Dine arrived safely in Dublin this morning and is already preparing for the first of three one-day mini-Bible schools he'll be running over then next month. Saturday's sessions will be hosted by the Shanganagh Bible Church at Glenmaris House in Shankill. Jim will hopefully have time to explain the curriculum for the day and also report afterwards.