Dear Precious Friends in the Ministry!
I am so glad to being coming out of winter here in Ireland – not much snow here, but a lot of gloomy, gray, wet days that drag on and on. But then again, what did I expect? This is Ireland! And God always gives us more blessing than we deserve that make up for all the gray days! One great blessing is that Margaret C got saved! She has been coming for several months, and came up to me after one Sunday morning, and wanted to get saved – well, “was she ready” I asked? Did she understand that her church can’t save her, and that her best efforts won’t impress God? She knew she needed Jesus, and bowed her head and asked Him confidently to save her soul and make her His precious child! That’s worth everything!
There have been lots of visitors over the last three months, and several new families have become very faithful and have even requested membership! Two men joined the Church in February: Marcus L and Leon E! On top of these blessings, there are now about 11 people that are waiting for some warm weather in order to get baptized! I guess Irish winters aren’t all that bad after all!
Revival Meetings – We were so blessed to have Brother Buddy Blunkall, his wife, and three college students from Champion Baptist College in Arkansas come and stir us all up for Revival for a whole week at the beginning of March! We had 15 visitors, and one man saved in the meeting! I know I was changed along with many others through the preaching and singing and wonderful fellowship of that week!
Preaching Trip in Scotland! In February I was invited to preach in three churches in Bonnie Scotland! The first church I spoke in was in Dundee, and even though I have been there several times before for various meetings, the people were just so gracious and are such a testimony to their community of the life changing power of our Lord Jesus Christ – especially in Scotland! The two other churches were also a thrill for me to be in, and see God’s hand in their areas! Truly, God just goes ahead and keeps winning souls to Himself through faithful preachers and faithful soul-winners, no matter where they are!
Church Property Status. We have been trying for a couple of years now to buy land to build a church building on, but, the more we try to get into the property market here, the more we have to learn how to win in it. What I mean is, the right kind of property to build a church building on is extremely rare and hard to obtain unless you have a lot of money. But we continue to seek a proper place for our church in Ballincollig to build on, and we have hired a realtor to help us find it. God is always at work on our behalf, so, we willingly wait for the right place. But need your prayers, and we thank God for them!
Family News. Our oldest daughter, Sharon was able to be home for Christmas, and so blessed our hearts with her love for Bible College at West Coast Baptist College in California, and especially for the Bus Ministry and reaching kids with the Gospel! She is having the time of her life! We got to spend a while month with her here, and we soaked up every minute of it because she will be very busy all summer long being part of a College singing group touring around the western States singing in churches! God sure has a reward for young people who keep Him first in their lives! The next opportunity to see Sharon will probably be next Christmas! But times like this is what we raised her for! Amen!
Prayer Requests
Upcoming Events to pray for! Our annual Men’s Spiritual Retreat is coming up starting on the 20th of April! Men and their pastors from several churches all over Ireland will gather together for preaching and encouragement from God’s word. This year we will be studying the life of Jonah, and I can’t wait to see what God does with our men! Our Mission’s Conference begins right after the Men’s Retreat, and will focus our attention of better supporting and praying for our seven missionary families that our church here currently supports. And then there is our Victory Youth Camp in July – Oh how we want to impact the lives of our young people, and help them walk with God. Pray for many to surrender their lives completely over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ as we study the life of Joseph in Egypt!
There are dozens of people we are continually working on to get saved. Please pray specifically for Finbarr, Sandra, Bernie, James, Carmen, Sean, Nora, Michael, Ken who is seriously ill, and many others to believe the Gospel – please pray that our efforts bear much fruit in these lives here! Pray also for the folks who have recently gotten saved and started getting discipled, that they may grow and become very strong in their faith in the Lord Jesus!
Finally, keep praying that we can buy property here in Ireland! More than ever we need to find property and build for the many ministries that we have going.
We do so Love you, and Thank God for you all! Bro. Craig Ledbetter and Family
As always, up-to-date information on what’s happening here in our work in Ireland is available at: www.biblebc.com