Church News - July 2025

July 2025

USA Travels and reporting. At the end of April, Nita and I went to the States for 9 weeks to report to 19 churches, most of which we had not been in for 13 years! We started in New Jersey and were so blessed by our sending church, First Baptist Church of Caldwell, who helped us in so many ways be able to travel over 7,000 miles to 19 churches! I still love driving the American roads, but a couple of 11 hour drives were harder than I remembered! I preached and taught 32 times! What a great honour to report in some faithful Baptist churches that have supported us prayerfully, and financially for more than 33 years! There are more supporting churches I need to get to, so if we missed you, we will get to you another time, Lord willing! We also were able to see some of our kids and grandkids, as well as my Mom and family in Austin, Texas, and some of Nita’s sisters and their husbands. We also got to be a part of our Mission Board’s 45th anniversary! It was a packed trip!

News from the church in Ireland. Bible Baptist Church in Ballincollig, Cork celebrated their 31st anniversary on July 8th with a full house and several visitors! The church has been steadily getting visitors all Summer, and many are staying around, returning week after week! The church folks also spent a few days away at a Family Retreat and even though they missed us, they drew closer to each other and to the Lord! I am so grateful for Stewart and Cindy Gragg being a part of our church and heading up so many things while we were gone. The church ran like a clock, and everyone enjoyed his shorter preaching! Sunday School classes continued, soul-winning and street ministry continued, Wednesday evening Bible Study and prayer time continued, and so many other little things just kept working! I thank the Lord!

Upcoming events! The next big evangelistic event isour Children’s Summer Bible Club! It is much like a Vacation Bible School (VBS), and runs from August 11th through the 15th. The goal is to teach the kids about trusting God’s hand in their lives to make something great out of their lives in HIS Kingdom! The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well known Bible events, but most people have never noticed all the ways that God worked on david to prepare him to face Goliath, and one day be King of Israel!

So, here are my prayer requests… 1) for our Children’s Bible Club in August, that many children will be saved; 2) For all the visitors that have been coming out to church over the past few months; 3) Pray for our church to find and purchase a bigger building for our church to meet in! And 6) pray for God’s help in everything we do – because, without HIM, we can do nothing of eternal value!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

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