Spiritual Close-Call

Hmmmmm. Some things just don't make sense on the day they happen. Take for example the fact that for a month we as a Church in Ballincollig were looking at renting a warehouse to use for our Drug Addiction programme, and our Teen Activities, and especially Church Dinners. But the decision of renting the building had to be put off until after the revival was finished. Many of the church folks had already gone over with me during the revival meetings to personally take a good look at the large room, and see its possible uses. The very next week (this past Sunday evening), the Church stayed after the normal preaching for a short business meeting to discuss how we were going to pay for the warehouse. We talked, and took up pledges that exceeded the cost of the building - praise God! The Church had spoken with its pocketbook that this step, even though expensive, was what the Lord would have us do! The very next day, I rang the man who owned the building, and before going too far, he stopped me and sadly told me he had JUST let it out to another man on Saturday! We missed getting the building by just two days! I was very disappointed. As I told others in the church, they too were disappointed. But we took courage that the Lord knew what He was doing, even though WE didn't know what He was doing. Well, to our greater surprise, yesterday, we were notified by the owner of the place that we currently meet (the Westgate Foundation), that rent was sky-rocketting starting in April! I mean, the cost of renting the Westgate Foundation rooms was trebling - starting in April, we would be paying THREE times the fees that we were paying just in December!
So, what's the moral of the story? Well, if we HAD gotten that warehouse, it would NOT have sufficed for us to use as a Church because it is just too small, and we would be having to go and find other accomodations for the Church, and expenses would be far too much with us still trying to purchase some land here in the Cork area soon (more about that later)! So, the Lord STOPPED us from renting that warehouse because He knew we needed to find better rented facilities, or be ready to purchase some land, and we could not do that if we also had the rent of this warehouse hanging around our necks for a year long lease! All of that exercise was to get us ready to either rent a BETTER building (with better value for money that what we currently are getting from the Westgate Foundation), or to purchase finally some land! I think we are ready!
God is so good to us! We don't deserve His intervention, and yet He does! Praise God!
Now, on to finding a better place for our people to meet! Please pray that we find the right place, and pray we can ultimately get our own property - all for the glory of God and His Son Jesus Christ!
Pastor Craig Ledbetter - Ballincollig, Ireland (www.biblebc.com)

Wonderful Changes

Four days of revival meetings, and you can start to see some wonderful changes – people realizing just how good church can be; people’s hearts softening to the gentle work of the Holy Spirit of God; a deeper love for the word of God; better awareness to the attacks of the devil, and the obstacles he sets up to keep people from getting saved and getting victories over sin. It’s all quite a lot of work to see happening in our Church.
Last night, Brother Buddy Blunkall preached on the disciples having “no” faith in the storm in Mark chapter 4, and yet still getting safely to the other side of the Sea of Galilee! He showed us that if we would just trust the Lord Jesus enough to obey Him, and just into the boat, He will get us through! The message is worth listening to (I will put it on our website in the Sermon Audio section (www.biblebc.com) , and the message is worth learning from! I was so blessed at the truths of the Bible that just never are exhausted! No matter how many times you preach something from a portion of Scripture, there is always more to learn and enjoy!
Every evening, after the singing, and preaching, the people just “hang around” and fellowship, and soak up the afterglows of the meeting. Two hours a night is normally pretty long for any kind of a meeting, but I normally have to yell at everybody after TWO and a HALF hours and tell them that we HAVE to leave now! It is so good to watch God’s people LOVE preaching and each other!
Well, a few more days – tonight, Friday, and then Sunday, and the meeting will be through. What will we be like when it is all said and done? I am praying that we will be more like Jesus – that will be good enough for me! Also praying for a few souls to get born again too! Amen!
Until later! Pastor Craig.

Revival Meeting Starts

Well, I thought I was going to be able to sit down and write this blog yesterday (Monday), but we all decided to take a trip out to Killarney and go see the Gap of Dunloe, and Ross Castle. Both were worth the effort! The Killarney mountains were beautifully snow-capped, and the group from Hot Springs Arkansas were easily impressed with the view! In a flash, Joel and Cameron, Joshua, Bro Buddy, and even the three girls were headed up the side of the Gap! The girls made it half-way, while the boys pressed on up a 45 degree incline! It was kind of cool, and the wind made it even cooler, but we enjoyed the short trek in the Gap of Dunloe!
After the trip of the Gap, we risked traveling to the Ross Castle to see if it was by chance open, and behold, it was both open and taking tours! The woman giving the tour was really a blessing and spent a lot of extra time with us.

Let me bring you up to date on the Revival Meetings so far. Buddy Blunkall, his wife Phyllis and three Champion Baptist Bible College students all arrived Saturday afternoon of course, as planned. I had planned on taking the mini-bus to go pick them up from Shannon airport, but at the last minute, the bus just would not start! I guess that the -5 deg celsius weather might have had something to do with it! The Lord worked it all out anyway! That evening, the prayer meeting was so awesome! God was busy working on us, readying us for this week!
Sunday was a full day, with all three meetings well attended, and the Lord showing His people how He was going to work on our hearts! Sunday evening’s meeting was the best so far, but that was just the beginning! Last night (Monday night), Buddy preached on believing Faith, and it was just excellent! If you are in the area, you just have to come along and experience the great preaching, and singing and fellowshipping for yourself.

By-the-way, I actually met someone yesterday that had read this blog! Wow! I was very surprised, since this is just an experiment. I hope it helps some people get a feel for the Christian ministry that goes on here in Cork, Ireland!

Be sure to check our website (www.biblebc.com) and click on the graphic for the Revival for links to photos and other information!