The dust is beginning to settle as we have returned home from our missions adventure to Scotland. I must say, I am filled with such incredible thoughts and insights that I cannot even begin to articulate how grateful I am for this experience. As I think through the past ten days, I understand why I often say, "everyone should go on a missions trip." Once again in front of my own eyes, I witnessed such a "divine moment" that God arranged for each team member. What is interesting is that each team member had to make themselves available for this "divine moment" to take place. Despite the incredible experience, there are always some hurdles that each team member has to work through. (The first hurdle was our missing luggage.) You may not hear about these hurdles, but again each team member chose to remain positive in their hearts and attitude and God blessed them for that.
To the Link Church in Dunfermline...we miss you and love you. I will never forget your faces as the bus pulled out on Sunday morning at 4:30am as you huddled in the staircase and waved good-bye to us. You are precious. Remember, "The Lord is with you..."
To the young people of the Link Church, stay committed to Jesus Christ. Never forget what He has done in your life. When difficult times come, and they will, stay committed to Him. He will pull you through. Those of you who made a first-time commitment to Christ...Congratulations! The prayer you prayed will change your destiny and eternity.
To the 2008 Calvary Scotland Team...you are amazing. You inspired me as well as the Link Church. Your enthusiam for Christ and your willingness to serve literally changed a church. Just think what can happen in your home, our church, CSM, your school, the world as you continue to live your life for Him. Your church is very proud of you!
To Calvary Assembly of God...thank you for your commitment to missions. As a result of your giving, praying, and support I am convinced we reaped a great harvest. I have never sensed such wonderful support...thank you!
Let me close with the following quote that I shared with team before we left for Scotland as well as to the Link Church:
"Today people will go to heaven, and people will go to hell. The percentage of people going to heaven and the percentage of people going to hell today is determined by how well you did your job yesterday. If you remember heaven today, it will help someone else avoid hell tomorrow."
Just think, there are fewer people going to hell in Dunfermline, Scotland as a result of a mission adventure.
Pastor Bill
Keep an eye on the blog for a few weeks, we will be adding more pictures...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Don't be jealous...
Along with visiting the castle, we ate our picnic dinner provided by the Link church outside of the castle walls overlooking the city of Sterling with the beautiful mountains in the background. (pictures will follow soon...) "I asked the team how often do you get to eat dinner outside castle walls?" Answer: Once in a lifetime...Amazing!
Our team is growing weary in well doing, but truly up for the task. Again, the team has been simply incredible. I have never worked with a youth team that has been this incredible. (Way to go, parents!)
Several of the students have mentioned to me that they are not ready to come home. Don't take it personally, parents, but the students are acquiring not only a love for Scotland, but a love for serving, giving, and the development of a world vision. It is fun to watch and observe this take place in each of the student's lives.
As this missions adventure comes to an end, I am expecting many tears tomorrow night as we say good-bye once again to the Link Church. However, we are making tentative plans to reconnect again sometime soon.
As Pastor Greg mentioned, we will spend the day tomorrow visiting the capital city of Edinburgh. We will depart Dunfermline on the 9:04 train and return in the evening for a Scottish Ceilidh.
Please keep praying as we return home. We can feel your prayers. Thank you!
Friday morning
Don't be jealous... but we went to a castle last night. At about 4:00 our team jumped into cars and headed off to Stirling (home of the William Wallace monument). We toured the Stirling castle, and visited Wallace's monument. What an incredible experience. It was all I could do to not buy a kilt, paint my face, and storm the castle gates. I was feeling very... Braveheart!
We did get some work done yesterday as well. The vacation bible school is continuing to go well, and our painting jobs are nearly finished. Although our students are starting to get a little tired, they are still giving their all.
On Wednesday night our human video team performed both on the streets and in the church. It was amazing to see God use the creative drama to speak right to people's hearts. As I watched, I had a flashback to the hours of practice that the students put in for this moment in time. I can still see them in the hospitality room, or the gym working to perfect the human video. What a blessing to see the fruit of that labor in the form of touched hearts & changed lives.
Today we will wrap up our projects here at the church, and finish up with a celebration service tonight. Tomorrow we will spend the day in Edinburgh seeing some sites, and visiting the church there.
Keep the prayers coming as our work here is coming to an end.
Greg Ford
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
From Pastor Bill
Greetings Calvary Family!
As we begin our third day of ministry I am in awe of several things:
First, how miraculous God is. Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. We have been told from the Link Church that they are witnessing answers to prayer and miracles this week. From people coming to Christ to people being prayed for on the streets (which never happens in Scotland), the church is thrilled with God's favor this week.
Second, how beautiful the body of Christ is. What a wonderful privilege it is to minister alongside with other believers to build the kingdom of God. When God's people come together to advance His kingdom you never know what will happen. The laughter, the sharing, the unity, and the fellowship is simply beautiful. The members of the Link Church have been so hospitable giving our team such unique opportunities as they stay in their homes. From roasted lamb and turnips for dinner to special gifts the church has been so giving.
Third, how amazing it is to sit back and observe each team member experience their personal mission trip "divine moment." This is why I lead mission trips. What a joy it is to watch each team member experience God's touch and speak to them in a special way. Each "divine moment" is so individual and unique you know it has to be from God.
Finally, how incredible Calvary's team has been. This is a student driven team and I now recall why I was a youth pastor for so long. When you give young people a purpose and they seize it God uses them in amazing ways. Parents, you would be so proud!!! I am so pleased with our student's work and commitment to missions. 1 Timothy 4:12 is certainly being fulfilled in Dunfermline, Scotland from the students at Calvary. I have no words to express my sincere gratitude for each of them.
Andrew Smith, the A/G superintendent of Scotland sends his greetings. On a sad note, our missionary friend, Michael McNamee received word last night that a family friend of his passed away at the age of 32 from cancer. Michael will need to leave early to attend the funeral. Please pray for this family as they deal with the loss of their son and brother.
Thank you Calvary for your prayers and your help in supporting this trip financially. I have told the members of the Link Church how amazing Calvary is and how supportive you have been.
We meet at the church at 4:30am on Sunday to begin our journey home. As the week continues, please pray for our team. We are getting tired and I know the good-byes will be difficult.
Calvary is a great church because of you!
Pastor Bill
Monday, August 4, 2008
Monday
Yesterday was a great day. We had a wonderful service at Link Church in the morning. There was a sweet sense of God’s presence during the worship time, and later on in the service some of our students gave their personal testimonies, our human video team performed, and Pastor Bill delivered a powerful word that was well received. Some spent the afternoon training for the Holiday Club (vacation bible school), and others spent time fellowshipping with their host families. In the evening we had another service where we talked about and prayed for unity.
By the way, Michael McNamee got here last night… let the good times roll!
Today is off to a great start. We have our team split into 3 groups performing various tasks. One group is working with the children doing VBS. Another team is doing physical labor stripping wallpaper, and repainting some of the rooms at the church, while last team walked the streets of Dunfermline doing street ministry.
This afternoon, our entire team will take to the streets where we will do our human videos, and street evangelism in the busiest part of downtown, and this evening we will be working with the youth at Link church. Please keep us in your prayers. We can definitely feel the support of our church back home as you continue to intercede for us.
Today, as I watched our team serve, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-40, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength… and love your neighbor as yourself”. Between working with the VBS (heart & mind), street ministry (soul), and manual labor (strength) it seems like we are carrying out Jesus’ command in full. I’m very proud of our team today… and true to His word, I think Jesus is, too.
Greg Ford
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Pictures
Pictures from the sunday mornings service are at the bottom of the page sorry.
Blogspot was not letting me load them in the post.
~Rachel
Day 2-Church Service and Luggage!
Hello Everyone!
Our prayers have been answered and the luggage arrived this morning at church! We are all so happy! Although, thanks to the graciousness of our host families we could have gone days without the luggage. I would say without hesitance that the host families we have been placed with have been such a blessing to us. They have treated us so well that we all have had to remind ourselves we are currently on a missions trip! We are just simply amazed by the hospitality and love these people have been sharing with us.
This morning the Calvary team lead the service at "The Link" church and had an amazing time doing so. We were able to share through human video, testimonies,and scripture readings. P. Bill also shared a message! This afternoon a few members of the team took part in practice for the children's holiday club taking place throughout the week. While everyone else enjoyed the afternoon out with their families. Here are some photos of the service today! Enjoy!
Thanks again for your continuous prayers we can sense them!!!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Day 1
Well, we made it here to Scotland in one piece. We flew from Detroit to Amsterdam to Glasgow, and somewhere between Amsterdam & Glasgow the airlines lost our luggage... all of our luggage. The funny thing is that everyone was so tired from the flight that I think they were almost relieved that they didn’t have to carry their bags. Anyways, pray for our bags that they find their way back to us soon, or Pastor Bill and I will have to start sharing a toothbrush.
One of the first things that jumped out at me (besides the fact that they drive on the other side of the road) is how expensive everything is here. One hundred dollars equals just over 40 pounds, and gas is nearly $8.50 per gallon. I will never complain about $3.50 again!
We got into Dunfermline today about 11:00am, and spent some time meeting Pastor Iain and some of the people from his church. They are very warm people. I would almost describe them like American southerners. They do a great job of hospitality. We saw some of the projects that we will be working on this week. We are going to be painting and redecorating in their youth facility, as well as doing a vacation bible school for their kids.
It’s so amazing to come half way around the world, and immediately feel a connection with people that we have never met before. It is a true testament to the unity that we have as believers in Christ… one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism. This is going to an incredible 10 days! The team is ready to invest a great deal both physically and spiritually… as soon as they get a shower & a nap!
I can’t wait to see what God will do.
Pastor Greg
We made it!
We are here! Here are a few photos for you to enjoy there will def. be more coming! Thank you so much for your prayers! Please keep checking the blog. Also, please pray because unfortunately our luggage did not make it here with us hopefully it will be sent very soon!
God Bless!
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