Northwest News!

I thought the following story taken from Austin Gardner’s blog was a good illustration of how to apply the Sunday night message on “A Good Testimony.”

Dr. Ironside,  when a  boy, helped  his widowed mother by working during vacation, Saturdays, and out of  school for a  Scottish  shoe worker  who  was  a Christian.  He posted Bible  verses  all  over  the  shop so that everywhere one looks,  he would see the Word of God.  No package went out to a  customer without a tract or a word of testimony, and many came back for salvation.

Dr. Ironside’s Job was to pound leather for shoe soles.  A piece  of cowhide  was cut  to size,  soaked in water, and pounded  in  until  it  was  hard  and dry.  After endless poundings, he was weary.  One day, he noticed that another godless  cobbler  was  not  pounding,  but was nailing the soles while still  wet.  “So they come  back quicker,” was the reply.  The Christian owner explained to Ironside:  “I do  not cobble Just for $.50 or $,75 from customers.  I do it for  the glory of God.  In heaven  I expect  every shoe returned to me  in a pile, and  I do not want  the Lord to say,  “Dan,  that  was  a  poor  Job.  You did not do your best.”

We had a great time at the youth meeting in Glengormley at Faith Baptist Church.  Pastor Martin, John, Steven, Laura, Graham, and all those other workers there are doing a great job!  They have had nearly 100 teenagers come through their doors in the last several months.  A man named Stephen Law gave a very powerful testimony last night that had our teenagers talking all the way back home.  I think we have some of the best teenagers and young people in the world, and I love spending time with them. 

Today, we had a team of 9 go out and we did 237 new house with literature.  We have done alot of homes on the Waterside but now we are really beginning to focus on the Cityside.  Please pray for God to move in hearts as we sow the seed.  This week we have contacted a total of 777 new homes!

I hope you are planning to be with us tomorrow.  We are looking forward to a great day in the Lord.  I love preaching to our church, and I am excited about the morning message called, “When Will the World End?” and the evening message from 1 Timothy 6:11-21 on “A Good Testimony.”  There will be discipleship classes for all ages in the morning at 10.30 AM, and then Discovery Zone for the ages 11 and under during the 11.30 AM service.  Also, we have a creche which is available during each service.  Come join us and experience the difference!

ANNOUNCEMENT: All the teenagers are invited back to our house after church tomorrow night, as we talk about how to read your Bible and do your devotions.

Here is a helpful article on the best way to read this blog and other blogs that you want to subscribe to.

What Is RSS? A Step-by-Step Guide to Google Reader

If you read even one blog regularly, RSS is for you. It will save you time, I promise.

Some of you may be wondering, “Doesn’t everyone use RSS?” The answer is no; less than 6% of internet users take advantage of this extraordinarily helpful technology.

I’ve read lots of posts on what RSS is and how to use it, but they’re limited in their helpfulness. There are just too many options out there to fully explain any one of them in a post that tackles RSS as a whole. So I am going to use the majority of this article to help non-RSS-users get started on Google Reader.

If you follow these instructions, you will be subscribed to your favorite sites and already saving time by the end of this article.

What Is RSS and Why Is It Worthwhile?

The acronym RSS stands for a couple things. The most helpful as far as a clear explanation of what it’s for is “Real Simple Syndication.”

RSS is a technology that allows you to subscribe to any website that has one of these in the address bar. You can then track every site you’re subscribed to without having to go to each individual site.

If you’re like me there are a couple websites that you love to read. Without RSS, I would be looking at these sites regularly to see if there were new material. Depending on how often I checked, I wouldn’t see anything new most times I visited.

With RSS, I never again have to go to a site that has no new material. I subscribe to the sites I enjoy and am updated every time they post.

(This is especially helpful for keeping track of those bloggers who we want to read but who only post every 3 months.)

Why I’m Focusing on Google Reader

If you’re not a current RSS-user and would like to be, my hope is that by the end of this article you’d have everything you need to begin. In order to do that, I need to pick one feedreader to show you how to use. (”Feedreaders” are the programs that people use to collect and manage their RSS subscriptions.)

I’ve chosen to use Google Reader for 3 reasons:

It’s free and available to everyone no matter what computer or browser you use.
It is by far the most popular feedreader that’s out there right now. On both the blogs I write for, Google subscribers are between 35-40% of the readership. The next most popular feedreader only claims about 5% of readers.
It’s really easy to use, so let’s get started.
Setting Up Google Reader

1. Create a Google account.
2. Go to Google Reader and make sure you’re signed in.

Adding a Subscription in Google Reader

1. Select “Add Subscription” from the left column.
2. Type in the address of a blog you want to subscribe to and click “Add.”

Adding a Subscription from Elsewhere Online

1. When you are visiting a site that you want to subscribe to, click on the orange icon in the address bar or on a link provided on the site.

You will either see a page like this:

Or like this:

2. On either page, select Google as the reader you want to subscribe with.
3. On the first page, you will need to click “Subscribe Now.”
4. On either page, choose “Add to Google Reader.”

Reading and Managing your Subscriptions

Reading Options

You now have a few of your favorite blogs listed in the left column of your Google reader page. The best way to go through your feeds is up to you. Here are some options.

Home, at the top of the left column, is where you can see new, unread posts listed with just a few lines of content.
All Items, just below “Home,” is where you can see new, unread posts listed with all their content.
Selecting an individual feed from the list in the left column allows you to see new posts as well as scroll down through older ones.
Scanning Options

In the upper right corner you will see tabs for “Expanded view” and “List view.” These allow you to decide whether you see all content as you scroll through your feeds or just titles and the first few words.

Marking as Read

You will mark a post as read when you click on it. Scrolling through posts will also mark them as read, although you can turn this feature off in settings if you want to. Finally, if you want to mark all your new posts as read at once, you can do so at the top of the “All Items” page.

Unsubscribing

When you change your mind about being subscribed to a blog, you can unsubscribe by going to the settings in the upper right corner.

You’re All Set!

As you poke around in Google Reader, I’m sure you’ll find more nifty ways to improve your RSSing. But for now, you should have what you need to go blog wild.

Tonight was a real blessing.  The folks there in Limavady who work at the drop-in centre are doing a good job.  They have a large hall with 4 snooker/pool tables, table tennis, several TVs with video games, air hockey, a tuc shop - a great set up.  Part way through they bring the young people in for some preaching.  12 of us from our church went down tonight.  We had a lot of fun.  They let me preach.  Then they put on a good spread of food for us just before we left.  Rodney, Christine, Leslie, Norman, and all the other workers - Thank You for the opportunity!  And keep up the good work!

Tonight, a group of us are going to a youth drop-in centre in Limavady.  They have asked me to give the epilogue which is just a short talk.

Tomorrow morning is our discipleship class at 10.30, and we will be looking at “Lesson 5: The Lord’s Supper.”  Then in the morning service, I will be preaching on “Will the Baddies Win?”  Often times, it can be so frustrating when it seem like all the bad people win and the good people lose in life.  I think the message will be a great encouragement.  You can get a sneak peak by reading Revelation 19-20.  In the evening service, we will be looking at 1 Timothy 5.

Also, tomorrow afternoon, I am planning to go up to Bethel Baptist Church in Clogh Mills to hear Mike Suptin preach. Bro. Mike is a good friend of Ronnie Smith, who has good things to say about him, so I am looking forward to hearing him preach.  I will have some space in my van, so if you want to go with me, just let me know.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:  ALL SERVICES TOMORROW ARE AT THE BROOMHILL HOTEL ON THE LIMAVADY ROAD!  If you go to the Everglades, you will be all by yourself.  This will be just be for tomorrow and then it will be back to the Everglades on a Regular Basis.  If you need directions, ring 077 7220 6876.

I wanted to just give a quick update of what happened on Sunday at our church.  We had a good time together of fellowship and growing in our knowledge of and commitment to the Word of God.  In Sunday School, we went over our Discipleship Lesson on Baptism.  In the morning service, I preached on “Who Is The Antichrist” from 2 Thessalonians 2.  In the evening, we looked at The Church’s leaders from 1 Timothy 3.

The Lord gave us 18 in Discipleship Classes, 26 in the morning service, and 17 in the evening service.  Our average attendance on Sunday mornings for the month of April was 28.5, which is up from 24 in March.  Our average attendance on Sunday evenings for April was 22, which is up from 17 in March.  God is very good!  I am excited about all that He is going to do in the future.  We are working on some new tracts, we have a great conference coming up next month, and we are going to be officially organising our church with our first members on 25 May!  I am looking forward to all of it.

We started the day with walking some of the steepest hills in Derry/Londonderry.  We put tracts and invitations through the letterboxes of 260 houses today.  Thank you, David, Teri and Victoria for your help this morning.

In the afternoon, we did a sponsored charity car wash to raise funds for our mission trip to Bury, England.  We started around 1.30 PM and quit at about 6.00 PM.  I think we washed about 20 cars and made £100! 

Mark, David, Kyle, Lorraine, Sophie, and Victoria - thank you so much for all your hard work.  We had an absolute blast!  The Lord blessed with great weather.  The hotel we meet in was very generous to let us use their car park, water, and electricity.  Many people gave generously.  We will do more fund-raisers in the next couple of months, so stay tuned for how you can help.

One thing about it, a day like today will show you how out of shape you are.  I am “shattered”.  I am looking forward to the services tomorrow as we look at “Baptism” in Discipleship class at 10.30 AM, “Who is the Antichrist?” at 11.30 AM, and “The Church and Its Members” from 1 Timothy 3 at 7.00 PM.

Again, thank you very much for your help and prayers today.  I praise God for the praying and hard working church we have.

Just a reminder about what is going on this weekend:

Youth Fellowship - Tonight 7.00 PM

• Location: Roe Valley Baptist Church (Limavady)
• Cost: 2 pounds per person
• Collection Times: Meet at church office at 6.00 PM to get a lift with us.
• Ages:  Teenagers

Community Outreach - Saturday 11.00 AM

• We are going to go out into the community with leaflets and invite people to come to church on Sunday.
• All ages can join us for fun and some good exercise.

Greeter Training Day - Saturday 1.00 PM

• We are reorganising our greeter ministry, and we need more help with greeting.
• Possible volunteer opportunities for men and women as assistance greeters, welcome greeters, and host greeters.
• Even if you are not in the greeter ministry, I want to encourage all of our volunteers to join us so that we can be on the same page and give our visitors a warm welcome.
• Food and child care will be provided.
• Location: Church Office (10 Pelham Rd, Knightsbridge)

Friend Day - Sunday, 20 April

• 10.30 AM - Discipleship classes for all ages
• 11.30 AM - Morning Service (creche and Discovery Zone)
• 1.00 PM - BBQ at Ness Woods
• 3.00 PM - Afternoon Music and Message

Sunday morning, we start a brand new message series called, “Back 2 the Future.”  For 5 weeks, we will be looking at what the Bible says about end times events.  Here are the details:

BACK 2 THE FUTURE
Sundays at 11.30 AM
Everglades Hotel (Prehen Rd)

20 April - “Is Jesus Coming Back?”
27 April - “Who Is The Antichrist?”
4 May - “Will the Baddies Win?”
11 May - “When Will the World End?”
18 May - “Where Will We Spend Eternity?”

Creche for under 3s; Discovery Zone for under 11s.

I am sitting here in our living room by myself.  My wife is coming back from our ladies fellowship and the two kids are asleep.  I am looking up at a new family photograph and thinking about how blessed I am.

I Am Blessed Because…

• God loved me enough to send His Only Begotten Son to die in my place.
• God saved me from sin, death, Hell, and a life and eternity of no meeting, no purpose, and no real joy.
• God put me in the ministry (a scrawney kid from the little village of Butler, OH, who ran around in the woods building forts, dreaming of the day he would be a preacher)!
• God allows me every day to give my whole life to reaching souls and preaching the gospel.
• God has given the most beautiful, sweet wife in the world.
• God has entrusted me with a great 3 year old son and a precious 9 month old daughter.
• God has given me a laptop to write this post on a so many material blessings.
• God has allowed me to pastor and work with some amazing, committed volunteers and men and women of God at Northwest Baptist Church.
• God knows my name, delights to hear my prayers, and speaks to me every day through His Word and His Spirit.

I could go on and on.  God is good!

When is the last time you counted your blessings?