March 2010

Hope all is well with you. We’re readying for St. Pat’s big day here.

I thought I’d fill you in on a couple of very wonderful events we’re doing right now. In our church, we’ve started a terrific course that is streaming live on our web site: www.abundantlife.ie. It’s Experiencing God by a gentleman named Henry Blackaby. We’re so excited about it. We started on Feb 18th. I preach the course every Thursday at 8pm, Irish time. If you’d like to watch, just go to our site and you should find the link there, (if your computer experiences any buffering or sound problems, simply watch it the following day). If you need the notes to catch up, just contact the office and they’ll get the first few weeks to you straight away. We obviously can’t do more than that because of copyright infringement laws. By then you can pick up a copy of the book for yourself if you’re interested. The study is truly amazing. It’s about “finding and doing the will of God for your life.” The class is a little less preaching and a little more interactive with the congregation. WOW! It’s really terrific, and we’d love it if you’d tune in. Even though you will have missed some of it, the services will all be archived on our page so you can start at the beginning… it wouldn’t make as much sense, otherwise. Check it out and give us some feedback, too. Thanks!

Also, I’m now on FACEBOOK!! Yea! I resisted for as long as I could, then one of our staff convinced me of the benefits. Well, I’ve been running down the stairs every morning since Friday to see how many new ‘friends’ I have! I’m beginning to realize how interesting it is catching up with old friends and acquaintances. People I haven’t seen in years are all over the place. So, I’m proud to say, I have 129 “friends” as of this morning on my personal page, and 80 “fans” on my ministry page! I’ve never had a fan before and feel very popular all of the sudden! Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with all our friends and family as well as reaching some old ones for the Lord!

Now, here is just a thought from our special Valentine’s services: what you believe will influence your behavior. To illustrate this point, Heather and I showed a video clip from a marriage ministry DVD to our singles. The ministry couple on this DVD tell a story, which is set in a beautiful old church, with a beautiful bride, on a perfect day, complete with a little boy carrying a pillow with the rings on it. This little boy was normally perfectly behaved but, while he carried the pillow down the aisle, going and coming, he would stop at alternate steps and growl at the congregation. Everyone thought this was such strange behavior from an otherwise perfect little kid. It wasn’t until later when they asked him what he was doing that it became clearer to all present. He was doing his utmost to be the very best ‘Ring Bear’ possible. Funny! But when we have a false understanding on something, like marriage, our behavior will follow our understanding, not protocol or reality. The point is that we must have a Biblical understanding of what marriage is so that correct behavior will naturally follow. Marriage was never designed to be the “source” of happiness. As one preacher said, “God would never give you something to replace Himself in your life.” Happiness is, however a beautiful “consequence” of the God-given gift of marriage. Marriage was given to complete you! That’s why man was not the crown of creation -marriage was! That’s why God said it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Till next time, we send our love from Ireland.
Kevin, Heather and family