Some mid-week news

Matthew is the one wearing
a cap. Taken a few years ago!

Hello!  I am writing this post in the middle of the week as Doreen and I are off to Wales for a wedding on Saturday and so we are taking a couple of extra days to visit relatives and friends in the area.  This posting will be brief and rather cryptic.  The wedding is of Matt Ford and his wife to be, Liz.  Matt is now a farmer, working with his parents at Herstmonceux.  It has been a privilege to watch him grow up and to have shared in his journey of faith during our time of ministry there from 1990 to 2005.  Just for his embarrassment I have included a picture of him and his friend Xian. 

The baptism on Sunday went well and I will add some pictures here.  Catherine was all smiles and I have had amazing feedback from various quarters.  I am very grateful for everyone in the church who helped to make the whole event such a blessing.

I wrote part four of the four-part Bible-based sessions on Friendship Evangelism.  As it is half term the groups are not meeting this week.  If anyone wants to look at this material for their church or home groups I will gladly make it available.

Today (Wednesday) I am off to Nottingham for a joint Pastoral Care Board and Training Board meeting.  I am chairing the PCB element as our esteemed chairman is unable to attend due to an illness in his family.  This evening I will be leading a home-based Bible discussion group in Yelvertoft as we dig into Paul's letter to the Philippians.

The coming week (30/10/11 to 5/11/11)
Sunday I am taking the morning service in Gartree Prison with three friends from Theddingworth.  We usually get 30 plus to the services.  Some are committed Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit.  Others range from casual attenders to new seekers.  Please pray that God's word will be heard through it all.

Please also pray for our friend, Dr Gordon Temple, who will be taking the service at Yelvertoft.

Tuesday I will be back in prison to work with the choir - now preparing for Christmas Services.

Thursday morning I will be leading the second Bible discussion group that meets in Yelvertoft.  We have thirteen of us now meeting.  Then in the afternoon I will be leading the last of the four home group sessions on Friendship evangelism in Market Harborough.

Sunday 6th Yelvertoft.

Other matters:  Both September and October have been extremely busy and my university work has suffered as a consequence.  Please pray as I have to dig in hard and get back up to speed with this.  I am still at the stage of having to do a lot of reading so that my work can be appropriately referenced.  As this means reading several books on matters that I have been teaching and writing original material about for years this is hard for an activist!

Thank you.

Barry