I will not be cancelling this blog right now, but I just will be doing all of my posting on my other blog.  Thank you for following us and for praying for us.

Lawrence Smyth, Rachel Dougherty, Jean MacFarlane, Helen Quigly, Sean Mackie, Travis Snode

This is a photograph from last Sunday’s Community Appreciation Day.  We had a special service to honour and recognise all the folks who volunteer and serve in our community.  Above is a photograph of those community servants who were with us in the morning service.  It was a blessing to hear a testimony from Jean MacFarlane from Faith Baptist Church in Glengormley.

We have Jean MacFarlane from Faith Baptist Church in Glengormley coming to testify in the morning service at 12.30pm.  After the service, we will be enjoying a cup of tea and some scones and biscuits.  I hope that you will come and join us for the service.   We will be looking into God’s Word, and I know that God is going to do a work.  Don’t miss it!

We started out the day with the morning service at 12.30pm at the Baptist church building on Fountain St.  We had 57 people in total (35 from Derry and 22 from Limavady).  David Laverty did a tremendous job leading the music.  The message was from Acts 2:1-41 on “The Wonderful Works of God”.  The wonderful works we see in that passage are the coming of the Spirit, the fulfillment of prophesies, the resurrection of Christ, and the changing of lives that is still happening today!

After the morning service, we had lunch together.  The ladies did an outstanding job with the meal.  There was tons of food and tea, and we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship.

Fellowship

At 3.00 PM, we all drove over to Richill Park Baptist Church at 67 Richill Park, Waterside for our baptism service.  I wanted to say a special “Thank You” to Brian Gillon who prepared the baptistry for us and to the church there for their generosity in letting us use their baptistry.

Baptism Service

We had two young people follow the Lord in believer’s baptism: Andrew Owens from Limavady and Megan Laverty from Drumahoe.  The water was cold, but they braved it and took this great step of obedience to the Lord!

Megan Laverty

Andrew Owens

After the baptism service, we all went back to Northwest Baptist Church in city centre for an afternoon service together.  Some folks had to leave early, so we had 38 in total at that service.  Once again David Laverty did a great job getting us into the spirit of the meeting with some uplifting singing.  Then we had some special music followed by another message from the book of Acts 4:41-47 called “Continue Steadfastly”. 

Afternoon Service

I preached about how that salvation and baptism are not the end but the beginning of a whole new way of life, and we need to continue steadfastly in nine things: the apostles doctrine (Word of God), fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord’s supper), prayers, fear, ministry, giving, rejoicing, and evangelism.

It was probably one of the most exciting days I have had in the ministry thus far, and I want to thank God for His goodness and all of the people who made Sunday possible.  From the greeters, to the car park attendants, from the creche workers to the musicians, from the ladies who prepared the food to those who drove over 30 minutes one way to come to the service – thank you, thank you, thank you!

Next Friday, 1 May, we are have a family film night at our church.  We will be showing the film “Fireproof” at our church at 7.00 PM.  It is an excellent film put together by the creators of “Facing the Giants”.

Everyone is welcome!  Admission is FREE.  Snacks and refreshments will be provided.  If you have questions, contact us at 028 7122 6164.

I hope that you will join us for this special day!  The congregations of Roe Valley Baptist Church and Northwest Baptist Church will be worshipping together at the Baptist church building on Fountain St. in Derry/Londonderry for this service.  The schedule for the day will be as follows:

 12.30pm – Morning Worship Service (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
 1.30pm – Lunch and Fellowship (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
 3.00pm – Baptism Service (67 Richill Park, Waterside)
 4.00pm – Tea and Fellowship (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
 4.30pm – Evening Worship Service (10 Fountain St., City Centre)

We are going to have a great day in the Lord.  For those who normally attend the services at Roe Valley Baptist Church, please make a note that there will be no regularly scheduled services at 10.30am and 8.00pm in Limavady.  All services will be held at the times above in Derry/Londonderry.

If you have any questions or need a lift, feel free to phone us at 028 7122 6164 or 028 7744 5002.  God bless you, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Greetings in the name of Christ.  Once more we wanted to let our supporting church families know how things are going here in Santa Lucia.

Praise God with us that last Sunday we were blessed with a congregation of 38 people, which really encouraged our hearts.  The husband of the lady who started to attend last week came, with his mother and her young adopted son, who were visiting for Easter and another of the families who come to the church brought two of their extended family along with their five children from Tegucigalpa for the resurrection service, so all in all we had a wonderful time.  For all of these visitors it was the first time that they had been in an Independent Baptist church and all expressed how much they had enjoyed their time with us.  Pray, that even though they may not be from this area, they might come back or seek out another Independent Baptist church near where they live.

Satan is never far from the door though, trying to discourage.  His tools for getting at us seem to be two things.  First we have been buried under the paper work and trips to the insurance company, who seem only too willing to let things lie.  On Sunday night someone  stole the insignia off the back of the car while we were visiting with a family that have been coming to the church meetings, scraping the paint work in the process.  Then too on Monday night, while taking 10 people to our Bible study one of my front break pads disintegrated on our way up the mountain side.  I had to drive on, coming back down after the meeting using the emergency break as much as possible but even so by the time I got back to the house and was able to look at it the next morning the damage had been done.  Even though I was able to swap out the old pads with ones I had brought down from the USA in our container, in order to get myself back on the road, I am going to have to get a new  front disk also. 

The second thing he has been using is our Marriage Certificate of all things.  For the five months now that we are in the country we have been trying to get the new computer formatted certificate that we need to start my residency papers.  While we have the original, 25 years old now, written with a type writer, the new computer formatted one always comes out with something wrong in it and despite the many visits and interviews with the Lawyers of the Registrar we as yet cannot get them to get things right. Please pray with us that God will move in these situations and resolve these issues. It is funny how small things like these can start to get under your skin.  Please pray for us that God would keep our eyes on him.

We have been looking for another meeting place for our church services, we thought we had found one but by the time we made contact the lady had already promised it to someone else.  I have another contact that I am going to see later this week, pray that something might come from that.  Continue to pray for us that God will give us a larger meeting house where we will have more freedom to develop the work here.

May God continue to bless you and thank you once more for all your support and prayers.

–
Yours in Him.

Evan and Carmen Williams
BIMI Missionaries to Honduras

In the evening service, we had 22 in Londonderry and 37 in Limavady.  We dedicated Jordan Evans to the Lord last night and several of his relatives were there to watch the dedication.  I preached in the evening services on “Alive After His Passion” about the passion of Christ, the proof of his resurrection, and the importance of the resurrection in our lives to give us a promising future.

It was great to see Fiona take a stand for the Lord last night and let everyone know that she asked the Lord to save her on Friday.  Please be praying for her and her family.  I know that God is going to do great things through them.

My heart was so full as I went to bed last night.  I can’t imagine anything more enjoyeable, exciting, and rewarding than doing what I do!  I love our people, I love the ministry, and I love serving God.  I hope you do as well.  God bless.

We start a brand new series from the Bible out of the book of ACTS tomorrow.  The book of Acts is the amazing historical account of the early church.  I am so fascinated by the boldness, unity and power of the early church.  I know that this series is going to be a huge help to us as a church.

Also, after the morning service, we will have a cup of tea and an egg hunt for the children.  Please make sure to come and bring a friend!