Church News - May 2023

May 2023

As I write this news letter (finally), I have just returned from three weeks of Mission’s Conferences and preaching meetings in Washington State, Idaho and Montana!Wow! It was a whirlwind tour, but Nita and I were so blessed by the spirit and joy amongst the believers in every church that we got to be in! If you have never been in a Bible believing Baptist church in the Northwest United States, you have missed some great churches! My thanks go to the churches that flew us in, and had me preach! I was truly encouraged, and enjoyed all the preaching I got to hear as well! Praise God for faithful preachers, and faithful churches!

Back in April, I conducted our annual Christian Men’s Camp here in Ireland! Nine Irish Baptist churches (including ours) brought together 72 men where we focused all the preaching on Walking with God like Enoch did, and looking forward to the Rapture at any moment! It was probably one of the best Men’s Camps we have ever had! I was so glad that 25 men and their sons from our church attended! We all were hungry to learn to pray as Christian MEN, to enjoy God as Christian men, to depend upon God like Christian men are supposed to! The few days together as Christian men were some of the most encouraging we have ever had!

We are back up to averaging 100 in church every Sunday. Covid really cut into people’s ideas about how a church should operate, and whether we all should be physically together, or just enjoy church “virtually” over the internet. It is sad that some of the people in our church who stopped coming because of Covid still have not returned to this day. But, I am so glad for new visitors who have come and stayed, and several who have solidly returned! My efforts now are to get our Wednesday Prayer meeting to the 100 mark as well! Oh how we need REVIVAL in our midst!

Evangelism Continues! Several of us go into Cork City every Friday and talked to people face to face about their need to be saved, answer their questions, and convince people that they are more than just flesh and bone. Sometimes we even sing Gospel songs and preach! We love street evangelism and enjoy making the Gospel so public!

Currently I and several of our church people are preparing for our annual Youth Camp in the end of June, and our big Children’s Bible Club in August! These are huge events and take a lot of work, but I ask you to labour with us in the place of PRAYER! Pray for young people and children to hear the Spirit of God speak to them about their souls, and about living a long life of Christian Service for Jesus!

Other Upcoming Events and people you can pray about… 1) for the wife of a dear Missionary friend of mine named Shiloh Beier (Missionaries to Australia) who is being treated for an aggressive form of Leukaemia. She needs healing, so she needs us to pray!

Your friend and fellow-servant,

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

---