September, 2003

Dear Pastor, Friends, and Church Families,

Last time I wrote you, I requested that you pray for the many activities and meetings that the Lord had put together for us here in Ireland, and let me tell you, your prayers were mightily answered! There is more than I can write about this time, so stay turned for our next newsletter!

Summer Evangelism Team! Back in July, Pastor Norris Belcher, and a team of 37 other people came from the Church of the Open Door, in Maryland to help us with an evangelism outreach that was fantastic! The entire team worked themselves (and us) to death by doing FIVE meetings every day for a week! Every day there were TWO simultaneous Bible clubs for kids, TWO teen rallies, and a Revival Preaching Meeting going on at Church every evening! Whew! The results? SEVEN solid adult salvations that have come to church and stayed, many children getting saved, and lots more who really were changed by the ministering of these dear folks here! One man, Michael O’N had been preached to for several months prior to the revival meetings, but finally realised what Jesus had done specifically for him on the cross! Another man, Sean M in Mallow also FINALLY surrendered to the work of the cross in his life. It’s amazing how the Lord sometimes has to bring in a special preacher to draw the net with some folks, but I can only rejoice!

Youth Camp! For a week in August, 40 kids, and 13 adults gathered, and we preached, and played, and hiked, and sang, and ate, and watched God transform lives! Eight of the kids got saved, and almost ALL of them surrendered their lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ for doing His will, whatever that may be!  Hallelujah!

Teen Bible Study Explosion! Following the Youth Camp, we organised our first Teen Bible Study meeting, and we had 19 people, 16 of whom were teenagers from our church! I started them in our Discipleship programme that everybody goes through here, only we added a bunch of Pizza, and some special singing to the evening! These kids are so important to reach, and get transformed by paying particular attention to them for just a few hours every other week! Pray they “reach for prize” (Philippians 3:14)!

Kid’s Church! Just for fun, I asked the young people in our two churches here to take over the Sunday Evening Church meeting in Blarney, and do everything! I wanted a taste of the Youth Camp in our church. Well, they sang, did some funny skits, prayed for our missionaries, and three young men preached to a full church-house! It was wonderful! Again, fruit from changed lives tastes so sweet!

Church Retreat! Another event in our busy schedule this summer was our Church retreat that we have at the end of summer. It is supposed to wind things down, and get us ready for School, and the grind of a normal routine. I preached every day on Rest, and we had some great rest – lots of coffee and walks, and fellowship! God is so good!

Upcoming Events to pray for! We have a set of Friend Days coming up in both Blarney and Mallow; another Revival Meeting in October; and a special Ladies’ Outreach. Please cover everything we do in prayer so souls get saved, grow strong, and that God just continues to use us, and enables us for the reaching of souls here in Ireland!

Prayer Requests

·   Keep praying for Marlene who has bone cancer, that she has a miraculous remission!

·   Praise God for all the souls who have gotten saved recently here! All the battles are truly worth it!

·   Pray for several people who need to get saved: Dina, John, Jenny, Monica, Sandra, Paul H, Charlie, and Deirdre.

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God bless you all,

Bro. Craig Ledbetter and Family