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Missions trip review April/May 2009,

nrlcharlie (06/01/09 00:16:11)   Tag: Missions

Missions trip review April/May 2009, Let me firstly introduce the team for you. accompanying me was, Rhoison Harris, Patrick McConnell and Luke Stewart. We had made a mad rush back in Australia in the final week of preparation to print, fold and staple as many of the tracts (A pamphlet containing a gospel message) as humanly possible. We employed many volunteers to assist with the venture and when we left Australia we were armed with around 3700 Thai tracts and 1200 English ones. We were on a trip to evangelise the native peoples of Thailand, Cambodia and Burma, with the distribution of around 1000 English tracts in Singapore on the flight stopover. This work is essentially scattering seed. Because we were limited in our modes of gospel presentation, we assumed it best to have the message of the gospel written in the local languages to distribute, in pamphlet form, to all who would take one. I wouldn not suggest this is the best mode of evangelism, but one that is indispensible none the less. I believe all Christians are to be preachers and they must preach the gospel wherever and however they can. Our plan was to spend our first week in Bangkok sharing Jesus (via tracts/pamphlets) on the streets and this we ventured upon with much vigour. My journal had this entry from our first week in Bangkok preaching on the street with tracts, --God is great and we feel like we are really making an impact here. We went to a part of this city today called Siam and began to tract near the colleges where English is taught.-- Doing this provided us with the opportunity to engage the locals in discussion about faith and God. We would hand them a tract and anyone who responded with -thank you- (in English) we would ask if they spoke English and begin to share our message with them. We had some amazing conversations with many people this way. In one part of town near our hotel there was a store owner who took exception to our practices and he came out and began shouting at us (in English) for handing out tracts outside his shop. He really gave us a scolding and told us to get moving and not to tract outside his shop. I apologised as nicely as I could and told him we meant him no trouble and we moved on. I guess it was our first and only real piece of persecution for the trip. All in all people were quite willing to take the tracts and they began reading them almost immediately. It was exciting to walk down a street handing out tracts and then make our way back up the street and many of the people had stopped what they were doing and were reading them. This made me very grateful to our Great God. There are many other stories from our first week in Bangkok but to cut a long story short, over 4000 gospel tracts were distributed and dozens of conversations were entered into on that precious and eternal subject of salvation. We also made connections with many great people who are labouring in the vineyard of our Lord in that place (God bless you all. We respect and appreciate every one of you, you know who you are. Thank you). We arrived the following week in Phnom Phen which is capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia. We were taken to the province of Kampong Cham which is about 3 hours drive NNE. There we met with the workers of the missions base called Heartland International Ministries. The base is also the building used for the Sunday services of the local church of the same name. This was going to be our home for the next week. Cambodia touched all of our hearts. It is one of those places in the world where the gospel would surely spread rapidly if there were enough labourers in the field. The Cambodians are a sincere, hospitable people who are eager to meet new people and talk about new things. We spent the majority of our time going from house to house and village to village preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. On some occasions we would pull up at a village and start playing music and sing and before long many people would gather around. They would enjoy the music and then we would give them all a tract and share the gospel with them. The pastors of the local church were gracious enough to accompany us and translate our message. This help was invaluable and for this we are extremely grateful. We did this at one particular village and just pulled out a guitar and began to sing for any who would listen. A crowd began to gather and we shared the most glorious news they could ever hear: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Approximately 60-70 people listened quietly and took tracts from us. One lady who was sitting near me whilst I was preaching asked the local pastor to come back again and teach her more. She expressed a sincere interest in the things of God. Then as we were finishing the message, three Buddhist Monks came our way walking down the dusty road. I motioned to one of our team to go to them and present them with a tract. They took it curiously and asked us what we were doing there. We replied that we were here sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the people. The (seeming) leader of the three, who spoke English, then asked us what our plans were. We responded that we had no real plan but just wanted to preach to all who would listen. This seemed to please them and they asked us if we were willing to go to their monastery and preach to the Monks there. I could not resist my excitement and answered with a resounding, --YES!-- The monastery was quite a beautiful building, as they all are. No expense seems too great when building one of these places. They are lavish and an obvious paradox to the general humble abode the common people live in. We answered their questions about western life and why we had come to Cambodia what we planned to do and how we planned to do it. We answered plainly that we were preachers of Jesus Christ and had come to share His message to all who would listen. I then began to tell them about the great God, who is preeminent above all other gods. The one true God who would judge the world of their sin and render to them the punishment He had promised long before to all who would live ungodly lives. This seemed agreeable to them and then I began to share how this great and just God would not just sit by and see His whole creation slip into hell due to their own unrighteousness, but that He would in fact come Himself to this place in the form of a man (Jesus) and take the penalty they had earned from their evil deeds. I also shared that this Jesus died on a cross to take the place of all who would come to Him and believe in Him and follow Him; through repentance and faith. That this was all He required from anyone no matter what their race or religion, that He would accept all who would just humbly give their lives over to Him. And for those who do not do this, He would punish them as their sins deserve in hell forever. They seemed interested in this theology and we began then to talk a little about Buddhism. I strived to show them that their religion was in fact unjust as there was no atonement for sins committed. Buddhism has five precepts that if broken will lead the guilty straight to hell. I asked the monks if they had broken any of these laws themselves before. They looked shocked that I would ask this and then their shock turned to embarrassment as they all admitted they had indeed been guilty. I then asked them what hope had they of redemption without a redeemer and this question seemed to pierce them more than any other. I told them about how great God was and that His greatness was not just summed up in His high and lofty nature but that this God also condescended (became low) to our state and lived among His subjects so He could die to provide the atonement that all needed. I told them that they needed Jesus Christ as much as anyone else because they were guilty sinners. The main monk who spoke the most then confided to us that he had tried to read the Buddhist holy books and found them difficult to understand. I told him that the bible was the holy book of God and that he would find it easy to understand it if he read it with a humble heart. He then asked me if I could procure him a copy of it for him to read. We soon left that place and I could not help but be a little excited at the opportunity God had provided to us. We had ventured into the very jaws of the lion (the devil) and attempted to pull out those who were being deceived in to hell. My joy was full and brimming over that we had also seemed to make some significant impressions on them and they were going to pursue this truth for themselves. After the preaching trip to the monastery we went to the hospital in the afternoon. It was the most putrid hospital one could imagine and defies description. It was simply foul! There were people dying all over the place. It was difficult to see them just lying in the intense heat on timber slats that were supposed to be beds. We made our way over to the AIDS ward and found the place almost empty except for one lady laying on one of the uncomfortable beds and suffering all the discomforts of HIV. She was lying in a contorted manner half naked, with her husband and mother there to nurse her. She might have been about 30-40 years of age. There seemed little to no life left in her and I began, through the interpreter, to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to her. She was receptive and told me that she wanted to be saved from her sins. I responded with the affirmation that Jesus Christ was able and willing to save her if she put all her trust in Him. She was certain that she would and we prayed together: it was an amazing experience. God will judge sincerity and I will rejoice that one so close to the judgement seat had made her peace and would now be received there with rejoicing. We then walked out the door and found the rest of the AIDS victims sitting down or hanging in hammocks on the porch of the hospital trying to find relief from the heat. I asked Rhoison to share with them all the message of Christ and he did a great job. They were all quite receptive. We left them with tracts and moved onto the trauma ward. The trauma ward was quite a special experience. -Crazy- and -mindblowing- are two adjectives that come to mind. We would go to one bed and ask the person laying there what they suffered from. This often was not necessary as the wounds were commonly unattended to and glaringly apparent. The patients would just lay there waiting for their turn to be treated by the extremely short amount of staff. One young man obviously had a broken femur and the bone was pressing against his skin. He said that he had been in an accident and was waiting for his operation. I asked him how long had he been waiting there, and his answer blew me away… -Ten days,- was the reply… I could not believe my ears. They would just give him enough pain killers to lay there on a timber bed for 10 days and wait his turn. He was not the worse case we witnessed either, just the first. The stories seemed to go from bad to worse. Another man had breaks on his wrist, thigh and shin bones. He also had been waiting for days. We prayed for each one and shared Jesus with many, handing tracts out to any who would take them. We approached a middle aged man who was laying in obvious agony. He had dressed wounds on his abdomen and it was revealed he had just had his appendix taken out. He was writhing in pain; fists clenched and face contorted. We asked him if he wanted us to pray for him and he was quite eager so we laid our hands on him and prayed a prayer to our God the healer. The man was very thankful, he took a tract, and we moved on to the next person. The next person also requested prayer. As I was praying for this person my eyes opened to look back at the last gentleman who was in so much agony. I was quite interested in how he was going as I felt very helpless. When I looked back at him he had a big smile on his face and his countenance had totally changed. I alerted my translator and he asked him if he felt better and the man said almost all the pain was gone. I marvelled all over again at the greatness of our God. We offered many prayers for the sick that day as well as our primary business of preaching to all who would hear. We returned to the missions base and had our dinner. On the missions trip program the nights are free but we were still very eager to go out village preaching again. We convinced some of the young guys to come out with us. They spoke very little English but we were willing to try anyway. The first house we stopped at we were made very welcome and the lady of the house went and got her neighbour so she could also hear the gospel as well. I tried almost in vain to preach to her through the interpreter. It turned out that she already considered herself a believer. I asked her had she been to the local church and she replied that she had no time for church as she had to work. I felt to tell her that as a believer one has the obligation to be in constant Christian fellowship and never to grow habitual in church truancy (Heb 10:25). If she considered herself a follower of Jesus Christ then church attendance would naturally be a high priority. She listened and received my encouragement silently. I then asked her if she could read. She replied that she could and when I asked her if she had ever owned a bible, she said no. I told her I would get her one and it would be waiting for her that Sunday in the local church service if she could find the time to attend. I had the sense in my spirit that she really was not a Christian at all. Sunday came and I was booked to preach in that very church. I had her bible ready and was somewhat doubtful whether she would even show up. I preached my sermon and the pastor came up and conducted an altar call for anyone who wanted to surrender their life to Christ. Low and behold there she was, coming forward as sincere as I ever saw anyone, offering herself wholly to Christ the great Saviour. I gave her the bible and my heart leaped with the most rapturous joy. Truly a brand plucked from the burning! Our time in Cambodia was also taken up with visiting the slums and preaching the gospel to those desperate and utterly hopeless people. Along with the words of life we also gave them bags of rice to feed their belly. Our last day in Cambodia entailed travelling the two and a half hours back to Phnom Phen (the capital). We had thousands of tracts to unload so we stopped along the way in some villages and literally canvassed the whole town with the good news of Jesus Christ. We then left Cambodia and arrived in Chiang Rai the following morning. Chiang Rai is the northern most city in Thailand and not to be confused with the more well-known Chiang Mai. We connected with a missions base there and slept on the floor of the church building for the week. I shared earlier that before we embarked on our trip we printed folded and stapled most of our tracts ourselves. By the third week of our trip we had just three left! I asked the local pastor if there was a print shop handy that I could get more photocopied, he took me for a drive around to have a look. We found a place that would copy, fold staple for 1.6 Baht each,6 Australian cents! This was incredibly cheap so I asked him to print 10 000 for me. This is how we spent a large portion of our final week; scattering the seed of the gospel all over that place. We distributed around 7000 of these tracts in six days and left the pastor with 3000 for himself to use. (I have since learned that now that this pastor has under 1000 left and is receiving great responses to the tracts, and that his church has since doubled since our work in that place.) During our final week we hired a car and ventured into the mountains on the Thai-Burmese border. The local Pastor who would act as our interpreter could speak Thai, English and Lahu. This last language is spoken by many hill tribes on the border and is a distinct language of its own. These people have their own Lahu culture and do not consider themselves Thai, Chinese or Burmese. We had heard that one of these villages had no church, preacher or gospel, so we made a trip to this remote place in the mountains. It was a beautiful village, made almost entirely of bamboo. The people were excited about seeing white people and we gave them all gospel tracts (only the young people can read so tracting is not very effective in villages like this one). We then pulled out the guitar and began to sing for them. They enjoyed it and all gathered around to listen. Through the pastor, I then preached to them the divine truths of Jesus Christ. They were all pleased with the discourse and thanked us for coming by. (I am very eager to plant a church in this village as I am quite sure the gospel would take root with these humble, open people, if only there was a constant witness in that place. If you have a heart for this please contact me, as I have since procured a local pastor from Chiang Rai who speaks the Lahu language and is very willing to go and spend his life there building up a church. This kind of venture I ca not do on my own and I will need some assistance) We got back in our vehicle and drove off to another Lahu village. We were racing the setting of the sun because the roads were so horrible on the mountains it really wasn not safe in the day, let alone at night, when visibility was almost nil. There were inclines that our 4wheel drive could not climb, and we had to all get out so it could be driven up the almost vertical slope (no guard rails either)! We arrived at our next village after sundown and by the grace of God all in one piece. As we pulled up in that next village we heard the meeting bell ringing. There had been a meeting planned on our arrival for all who wanted to come and hear our message. This village had a building for a church but again no pastor. Around 70+ people crammed into the church building and we sang and preached to them the good news. The people admitted that they had never heard anything like the message we gave them and they were all very impressed by it. One young man (who looked around 16 or 17 years of age), seemed to have some kind of mental disability; his speech was slurred and he seemed to lack concentration. This young man came forward and asked to be prayed for so he could receive salvation. We obliged gleefully and then he gave the rest of the people a message of his own in his native tongue. I was doubtful if this guy had it all together but for some reason all the people listened to him with deep concentration. Later on when we returned to our bamboo hut to sleep, he came in and began discoursing with the pastor we had with us. Again I was ignorant of the content of the conversation but could not understand who this guy was. The pastor leaned over to me and told me he was a very well respected man in his village and a kind of village leader. I could not help but thinking that it was a joke. I asked the pastor if this guy was serious and the pastor told me it was true. I asked him why he seemed to act like he was mentally ill or something and the pastor told me the man had arrived at the meeting drunk and that he was sincere in his decision for Christ. It made sense to me now why everyone listened to him in the church building. I asked the pastor how old this he was and the pastor said he was in his late twenties. Well I was shocked and learned a good lesson on making judgements about people I do not know! The next day we made a border crossing over to the Union of Myanmar (Burma). We had about 1000 tracts in Burmese to distribute and were all very excited about getting over into what is considered by many Christians a closed country. We made it over the border and no one even checked our bags. We were cautious as to how to distribute a thousand tracts without being caught by police. We walked around a market place handing them out one at a time, trying to be careful not to be seen. In these markets are many people who carry around with them a kind of over-the-shoulder tray that holds all kinds of things they are trying to sell. They follow westerners around and just harass them until they buy something to bring themselves some relief. One young girl was following us. Rhoison gave her a tract and thought that might persuade her to go away. But it did not, and so he thought another might do the trick. She took the second one, ran off, handed it to someone, and came running back with a big smile on her face and her hand out. I thought this was a little odd so I gave her another few and she did the same. On her return we gave her a bunch of ten and the same process occurred. When she returned her face was alight and she was asking us for more and more, so we gave her a couple of hundred this time and off she went. We thought to ourselves that this might be the way God had arranged for our tracts to be distributed in Burma. She returned and had three other young people all with hands outstretched wanting more, so we obliged. We then found a cafe to drink coffee in as our little army went out and circulated the gospel for us. This young girl was very clever and avoided all security and police by ducking around them into small shops and hiding every time one approached her to ask her what she was doing. We were amazed. Had this been us we would have been caught and deported at best, arrested and locked up and who knows what else at worst. How great is our God! He provides for us and keeps His children safe. We eventually ran out of tracts and all the children were somewhat disappointed. We thanked them and gave the young girl who was the ring leader some money for her troubles (which it must be said she was not all too fussed about, it certainly was not about the money for her.) Was she a Christian? We do not know. But she was definitely a messenger sent by God to assist us in the proclamation of His message of hope. By this time we knew it was time to get out. Security was eyeing us suspiciously and we walked briskly toward the border and when they saw we were on our way out they stopped following us. We entered Thailand again and rejoiced in our triumph and the triumph if the gospel cause. Praise God who does all things so wonderfully! We departed Thailand for Brisbane flying the same route we took to get there: Patrick and I with Royal Brunei airlines and Luke and Rhoison with JetStar (the latter two stopping in Singapore again and passing out more tracts on their stopover). We arrived home on the 6th of May 2009. Suffice to say there are many more stories to be told, but I feel like I have said enough to give a glimpse of the adventures we have had. Christ our Lord once said, -...Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.- (Mark 16:15-16) This we have striven to do and I am confident that with the 20 000+ tracts we handed out and countless many who heard the gospel from our lips, we have simply been obedient to this command. No more, no less. May He, who has no beginning and no end, find reason to improve our efforts in the saving of many souls. We want to sincerely thank all who supported us in prayer. This is a most precious gift you have offered us and who knows how many dangers we were spared due to those supplications. We will see in eternity what these prayers have achieved. So thank you all. It is also appropriate to offer our humble thanks to all who assisted financially. Your gifts of support have made this venture possible. Without them we would have had very few tracts to distribute and our impact would have been minimal compared to the scope of what we actually achieved. This trip, we believe, was a worthy cause and we appreciate all who demonstrated it as such with their money, not just verbal assent. So I offer my heartfelt thanks to you all. Your reward is in heaven. -Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.- ( Psalm 2:8 ) And lastly but certainly most importantly, we want to thank our most precious Lord and King. You alone are my ONE desire and I long to bring You glory. Please Lord, take our efforts and do with them as You see fit; but my yearning is that whatever You see fit to do, would bring You utmost glory. Bless You my Lord and ten thousand thanks to You, my most glorious KING! O worship the King, all glorious above, O gratefully sing His power and His love; Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days, Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise. O tell of His might, O sing of His grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space, His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is His path on the wings of the storm. Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail, In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail; Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. O measureless might! Ineffable love! While angels delight to worship Thee above, The humbler creation, though feeble their lays, With true adoration shall all sing Thy praise. Thank for taking the time to read this report. I do hope you will contact me with any comments or questions that might arise from this. I look forward to hearing from you. Craig Ireland Email) craigireland@inbox.com Ph) 07 3133 3032

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Coming to the USA...

nrlcharlie (03/26/09 08:11:24)   Tag: Ministry

Hey all, We have confirmed our 2009 ministry trip to the USA. k, here are the details... We will be arriving Monday 8th June and Ministering wholly in Oregon this time. Itinerary looks like this: Mon June 8th Arriving Tues June 9th Men's group (Living Purpose Church) Wed June 10th Central Oregon Youth Rally Thur June 11th Rock Church Sat June 13th Men's Breakfast (Living Purpose Church) Sun June 14th Living Purpose Church 10:30 A.M. & Rock Church 2:00 pm Mon June 15th City Center Youth Redmond Tue June 16th Men's group (Living Purpose Church) Wed June 17th Departing Blessings all, Craig

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Next Missions Trip is approaching FAST!!!

nrlcharlie (03/12/09 16:39:43)   Tag: Missions

Hello all, We are getting all geared up for our next missions trip; this time we are venturing to Cambodia and Thailand. We are endeavouring to take a few thousand tracts again (hopefully 5000) to distribute among the hill tribes and remote villagers. (To get an idea of the kind of work we engage in, please go and have a read of the Philippines trip review from Nov & Dec 2008 You will find it in a previous blog on this very page) We are departing Brisbane QLD, Australia on the 16th of April and will be away 20 days in total. We desperately need your prayers for this venture. Prayer for our safety and health but above that prayers that the gospel will run speedily to the hearts of many thousands that are yet to hear of a Saving Christ who taketh away the sins of the world. Romans 15:20-21 (ESV) And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else s foundation, but as it is written, -Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.- To say we are excited is an understatement. At the moment we are looking at taking a team of 2 or 3, so it will be a smaller undertaking than our previous ones. (Due to the potential dangers on this trip I will also be leaving my wife at home, much to her disappointment.) God bless you all and thank you for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts. We appreciate any support we receive for this trip. All for the gospel cause of Jesus Christ. I will write a review of this trip as I did with the last one, so keep your eyes peeled for that sometime in mid May. Don not forget to keep those emails coming in to us; they are always a great source of encouragement and inspiration. Blessings to you all. Craig C. Ireland

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Hope Christian Church is moving it's service time.

nrlcharlie (02/06/09 22:13:46)   Tag: Hope Christian Church

Another exciting announcement - - - Up until now Hope Christian church has been meeting Sunday night's out of necessity. We were using the time slot allocated to us by the caretakers of the meeting room we hire. But thanks be to God the morning time slot has become available and we have launched ourselves into the opportunity. Our new service time is now 9am every Sunday Mornings. We are still meeting at the Springwood community hall in Springwood QLD. It’s on the corner of Cinderella Dr and Vanessa Blvd. Come along and experience simple worship and the life changing preaching of God's word. Blessing all and do remember to keep in contact, I have been getting more emails lately from people checking out this page and the sermon audio files, keep them coming I always love to hear what the people out there are thinking. Craig C. Ireland

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Philippines Mission trip Nov/Dec 08 Review

nrlcharlie (12/10/08 05:06:35)   Tag: default

Greetings again, I am going to attempt to write a review for the recent Philippines mission trip, so anyone who is interested can have some insight into how it all went. God is an amazing God... AMEN? First and foremost I must start by explaining how in the world an unemployed (officially) volunteer Pastor of a very small church can afford to spend so much money on an overseas trip. After my first trip in April (Most expenses paid by my former church) I was desperate to return and be a blessing to the precious Filipino people. There was a real sense of -so much work to do but so little time to do it in-. None the less, I committed it to God and asked Him to do as seems best to Him. If that meant a return trip, then He is big enough to arrange that. About September I began to feel a stir in my heart to plant a church. This was very exciting on the one hand because God had now revealed His immediate plan for my wife and I. But it also brought the assumption that any chances of a return to the Philippines were now lost. I had all but given up on the idea when a pastor friend of mine offered to foot the cost. I was elated until I heard the catch; he requested me to work in his church for the remainder of the year and he would fund the trip to Philippines as remuneration. I could not accept this offer as I was certain I had been guided by the Holy Spirit to plant a church in 2008. So my hopes were dashed again. I had to leave the matter in Gods hands and I asked Him to just do what seems best to Him. And of course He always does. I figured I needed around $1400 - $1600 for flights and another $1000 for accommodation just for one person, and of course this money was impossible on our shoestring budget. However, with God all things are possible, and money began to trickle in, eventually reaching the desired amount. Money was appearing in our bank account without any explanation from people and amounts of money was appearing in our mail box with the words -God bless you-. This continued until we had the exact amount I needed to go and I was doubly excited, now with the budding church and a mission trip, both in 2008. I began to consult travel agents trying to get the cheapest possible flight. I discovered that it was almost impossible to fly cheaper than $1400 (inc taxes) so I did some searching of my own and by Gods amazing providence I found a flight on Royal Brunei airlines for $780.00 return all taxes included. I was ecstatic because with the money we had received; now I could take my wife as well for no extra cost. Oh how my joy was full! I was so happy that God did and does so exceedingly, abundantly above all I can ask or think. So off we were with miracle money in hand and mission in our hearts. We decided we wanted to spend the majority of the trip doing personal evangelism. So we wanted to print some tracts which would be purpose written for the Filipino people. These people are drenched in Catholicism and most are nominal members of the Catholic Church. They are a very superstitious people and idolatry is rampant. Knowing this we knew we had to write our own tract message that would speak directly to their heart and conscience. This was again going to cost but we were not perturbed, God was with us and we knew He would supply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Ph 4:19). Again, people caught wind of our plans and wanted to give to the cause. Within weeks we had the money we needed to print 4000 tracts to take and hand out, while sharing one on one with the lost about our risen Lord. So we were off, armed with a few thousand gospel tracts and hungry hearts to see God do amazing things. We boarded our plane in Brisbane on November 14th2008. We arrived on Philippines soil late that night. The question may be asked, -Why did we go?- or -what was our purpose?- We enjoyed some amazing scenery, ate exotic foods (my wife and I being the only 2 out of our team of 6 who did not fall ill). We hiked kilometres through mountains and swam in crystal clear creeks. We had adventures, like travelling from one city to another in the back of a garbage truck, even walking down the street with my wife proved to be quite an adventure. Traffic almost literally stopped as people wanted to get a glimpse of this young, blonde white girl. They had seen plenty of white men before, most of them filthy middle aged men (and many older) looking for desperate 20year old Filipino women to marry in a hurry. This kind of seedy behaviour is very frustrating. So for them to see a young white female was something entirely exciting. Mothers pointing to their children to look as she walked by, and motorcycles of people (sometimes carrying up to five passengers with no helmets) would slow down and stare. This always made me laugh, but made my wife very self conscience. We also had some time to relax by the resort pool, reading a book. It was great fun and we enjoyed every minute. But this was not at all our purpose in going. It is true we visited many churches, preaching the gospel and encouraging the local believers to be passionate about the cause of Christ in the world. We visited churches where very few westerners will ever go, and certainly very few preachers have ever been (Primarily because there was no love offering to be received: these people are the poorest of the poor). We were received with true Christian hospitality and our hearts were overflowing with the love poured out on us. We spent almost all our time on the Island of Leyte in the Visayan region of the Philippines. We visited churches in Palompon, Tambulilid, Camp Downs, Mahalit and Matlang. We had a fantastic time over there and were very blessed to be made welcome in these houses of God. But this was not our purpose in going. Our main purpose in going was; Reggie, Eric & Delridge, Edith, Bernadette, and many other nameless people. Reggie: We met him in the ferry terminal on our way from Cebu to Leyte. He was standing by himself looking out the window waiting for his ferry. He was a well dressed man probably mid 30 or 40. While he was minding his own business, I saw him and went over to share the gospel with him. I started by handing him a tract, to which almost everyone responds by asking What is it? There was my opening and I began to share the gospel with him one on one. He seemed very open and willing to discuss the deeper things of faith and religion. Then he dropped a bombshell. I had others standing around while I was sharing with him but he did not seem to care and he bluntly confessed to habitual masturbation and he said he wanted God to forgive him. I tried to look calm and in control but truth was I had to use all my strength from pulling a face of surprise. This man was so desperate he felt he needed to discuss his deepest secrets with a complete stranger. I told him God would cleanse him of all his unrighteousness, if he was truly repentant and put his faith in Christ alone for salvation. Reggie looked at me with a solemn look and told me he wanted to do this right away, so I put my hand on his shoulder and prayed for him, that God would lead him in the paths of righteousness for His Names sake. It was a thrilling event and I was so overjoyed to have stopped and spoken to Reggie that day. Eric & Delridge: I will couple these two stories together, because they are so similar, not for lack of importance. We travelled to the Visayan State University to hand out tracts and share the gospel with college students there. We handed out a couple thousand tracts and took opportunities to preach Jesus with them. I encountered a young man named Eric. He had a Catholic background (as they all do) and had a certainty that he was spiritually in good shape. I questioned him on his salvation and his freedom from sin and the curse of the law. Many people already know I am a big believer in using the law to bring people to the cross of Christ and this is the message that is particularly important for people who have taken ease and comfort in idolatry and false religion. Their guilt needs to be proven to them before they will allow you to speak to their heart. So, to the Ten Commandments I went, and asked the young man if he was a good person before God. He responded that he felt he was and then after a little examination using the Ten Commandments we both learned he was in fact addicted to sin of all kinds. I asked him why Jesus come to earth and he said that Jesus came to save us from our sins, and I asked him if he had been saved from indwelling sin or does he commit sin regularly with no real regard for God. He replied that the latter described him, and I told him that God would judge him on judgement day as guilty of breaking His laws, and he had no reason to believe God would not send him to hell. God would make it sure that hell would in fact be his portion in the hereafter and for ever after. He looked shocked. I asked him if this concerned him at all. He replied that it did, so I then lead him to the cross of Jesus Christ, where all sin has been washed away and the penalties, we as sinners deserve, have been poured out on the only Saviour. I prayed for him and implored him to study the scriptures and also to feel free to contact me if he had any more questions. The conversation with Delridge was quite similar excepting one fact. He had a conscience already pricked by the Holy Spirit. As soon as I started to speak with him it was obvious his heart was broken. He was well aware of his crimes before a just and holy God and he desperately wanted someone to explain to him the way of salvation. Thank my most amazing and mighty God that I was chosen to be the one to do so. -How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!- (Rom 10:14-15) I also prayed with him and left him with a tract and contact details for me. He was truly a man whose heart was white for harvest. We were sent there by God for Edith. A young girl who was a member of the church in Tambulilid contacted me and asked me if I could visit a friend of hers who was in hospital. That afternoon when I received the message, I was quite tired and really just felt like a quiet night in, but there was a stirring in my spirit that I should not miss this opportunity. So along I went (I will not begin to describe the horrific condition the private hospital was in). The patient we were there to see was Edith and she was maybe 45-55 years old. She had cancer throughout her body and was in a critical condition. The doctor had given her 4 weeks to live. So here I was in the room with many family and friends of Edith and I just froze up. No matter how often I share the gospel with people I always get nervous and yet this time was different. I was not just nervous, I was petrified. People kept looking at me as to ask me what was I going to say, and truth was I did not know. I was stone silent and yet I knew that life or death hung in the balance and I had no choice but to open my mouth wide and share the gospel with Edith. I conjured all the courage left in me and asked through an interpreter whether Edith thought she would go to heaven when she dies. Edith said that she really did not know, so I asked her if she would like to know her eternal destination for sure and she said yes. I was stuck again and silently prayed in my heart for guidance by the Holy Spirit. I turned to her and asked her if she considered Jesus to be Lord. She again replied in the affirmative and then I asked her why she felt she was unsure of her eternal destination. I asked her if she thought she was a sinner and she said yes. So I told her of a living, loving God who came down to earth to seek and save the lost and that He wants her to become His child. If she does this she will be saved. She needs to ask Jesus to forgive her of all her sins, renounce her idolatry and humbly embrace the cross, confess that He is Lord, God raised Him from the dead and it is Him alone who can save. I asked her if she was quite ready to do this. She replied that she wanted to do it so I lead her in a prayer. I later pondered why I was felt so weak at this particular witnessing encounter and I concluded that I had never actually shared the gospel with someone who has such little time left to receive Christ as their Saviour. This placed me under all kinds of pressure and I certainly thank my God humbly, who gives liberally the Spirit to whoever asks, because I certainly needed it then.(I have since learned after publishing this note that Edith actually died the day after we left the Philippines, God's timing is so perfect. She can now see her Saviour face to face.) After having prayed for Edith and heard her confession of the Lordship of Christ over her life I was interrupted by the lady sitting next to me. She was middle aged also and sat silent through the whole ordeal but now for some reason wanted to get my attention. I really was not sure if she was going to reprimand me for preaching Christ or what else she wanted until she asked me the question: -What about me?- I asked her what she meant and she replied that she also wanted to renounce her idolatry and come to Christ to be saved. I was gobsmacked again and asked her if she was serious. She had wide eyes and asked me sincerely if she could too have this Saviour because she was also a sinner. So I pressed her hard for a few moments to see if she was sincere, and she was as sincere as I ever found anyone. I pushed harder and harder to see if she were quite willing to forsake all and follow the Lamb wither so ever He goes, and she told me she was. I asked her if she was willing to die for this truth, that Jesus Christ alone was Lord and no other. She again professed vocally that she believed this. So I asked her the question that usually causes people in her circumstance to choke. I asked her if she would receive baptism. You can guess why this is usually a stumbling block for some, because they have all been baptised as infants into the Catholic Church. Receiving this holy ordinance again signifies publically, total denunciation of their childhood religion and rejection of its false teachings. This will usually be met with public scorn and rejection by ones family and friends. So when I asked her if she would be baptised into Christs true church and renounce all her idolatry and falsehood she kept nodding and affirming all I said. Well, I just could not believe it, and asked my friend who had taken us there whether she even understood anything I was saying. The young girl confirmed that this lady Bernadette had indeed understood everything and was ready and willing to come to Christ. So I repeated my prayer for her sake and everyone in the room repeated it after me. It was a heart melting experience and we pray fervently that more than just two were solemn and sincere about what we prayed for that night. God is so sovereign and holy and we thank Him forever with tender affection. These are but a few stories of people we encountered and shared Gods unending love with. Many go unmentioned because the encounters were brief and I would be simply repeating myself to recount any more. There was one young girl I will share about as my last story. She is about 20 years of age and a member of her local Christian church. I did not really know anything about her but I handed her some tracts to give out at her work. She kindly thanked me and nothing more came of it. The following week I was preaching in her church when at the end of the service the pastor of the church asked for people to respond to the gospel call. This is something I rarely, if ever, do, but if the pastor wants to do it I do not really mind. Well this young girl comes forward with a bunch of others and I was a little surprised to see her at the front of the church. When she asked me for some tracts I was under the impression she was already born again. So after the service I questioned her and she confirmed my suspicions that she had been baptised about 5 years ago and had been a member of the church all that time. But when I handed her some tracts she went home and thought she would give it a read before she handed them out. She soon realised she was not right with God at all and in fact she was horribly guilty before Him. She said she could hardly get any sleep that night and tossed and turned terrified (this was her word) because of her guilt before Jesus the Just Judge. So when given the opportunity to respond in faith to the gospel at the next church service, she just had to. For almost two hours I examined her and pressed for evidence of her sincerity and she proved herself ready to take up her cross daily and follow her Lord. I thanked God for how His Holy Spirit works on peoples hearts, even when to us they seem to be faithful believers, but are in fact totally lost. I Thank Him for leaving the ninety nine to go and find this one. Praise Him forever. Finally, I will like to report on an interdenominational pastors seminar we held over there. This was not our idea it was the idea of a few of the pastors over there. I would never presume to know enough about ministry to hold such a seminar. But they were insistent, so we agreed. Pastors and leaders came from all around representing varying denominations and we all met for one day at Camp Downs Church of Christ on Leyte. They asked me prior to the meetings what the theme of the event should be, and I had only one option, -The True Gospel-. So I began to share with these various leaders and pastors what the true gospel contains and what it does not contain. Why we as pastors should never neglect this gospel, as it is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1). Well, hearts were moved and it was a solemn time. There seemed hardly a dry eye in the house as we talked about the preciousness of Christ and how His sacrifice is being watered down in many modern churches because people will not call sin what it is. They are trying to reduce sin to be just a small pain that we should do our best to try and avoid. Preaching this turns the Son of God dying on the cross for sin (which is just a small little pain) into a massive overreaction. Unless of course the truth of the gospel message is that we are all sinners (Rom 3:23) and are dead in our sins. And that God is ultimately and totally just in sending sinners to hell for ever to be burned and forever dying as punishment for sin (another gross overreaction for something that is just a little pain). But that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And then explaining true repentance is to grow such a hatred and detestation for sin that, as believers, we never EVER want anything to do with it again. Not out of legalism, but out of love for Him who died to save us from it: -What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom 6:1-2) The result was miraculous. Many were broken and the meeting was lead into solemn worship with many on their knees before God. God sovereignly moved on all our hearts. As for the result after the meeting, one story will suffice: One pastor approached me and confessed he was about to resign his church because he had lost all hope. He had heard some westerners were holding a pastors seminar, and thought it worthwhile to attend. He was now revived and was ready to throw himself wholly into the task of preaching the GOSPEL. Praise God forever. I want to offer a dear and heartfelt thank you for everyone who supported us while we were away. Your kind emails, messages and most importantly, prayer, were invaluable to our cause. We also want to thank everyone who gave to the mission work and want you all to know that we could not have done it without you; your reward is in heaven. And thank you to Him who knows no end and has no beginning, who rules the world with the word of His mouth and by His words He sustains all things, the Master of my heart and life. To You my most sovereign King I owe all and in turn give You all. Thankyou. Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time, Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime. All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me; Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity. Crown Him with Many Crowns (Matthew Bridges, 1800-1894, and Godfrey Thring, 1823-1903)

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Check out what's been happening in the ministry and what's on the agenda.

nrlcharlie (10/28/08 20:57:08)   Tag: default

Greetings Ok, I havent really posted anything here for quite a while so here is an update... (I left that last post up for a few months because people were still asking me what I was up to lately and I felt it was still the most relevant news for the ministry). This is the latest: The Philippines ministry/mission trip is fast approaching. We fly out of Brisbane QLD (Australia) on the 14th Nov 08 and return on the 5th Dec 08. If you think of us please pray for us, that God pours out His Mighty Spirit upon all our endeavours as we go to encourage churches and Pastors and try to get through a heap of street evangelism. I would also ask you to pray for us because we have been seriously handicapped by the current economic crisis. The Australian Dollar was buying something like 44 Filipino Pesos (PHP) a few months back and it has sunk down to around 30 PHP. This is devastating as we have very limited resources now for evangelism and outreach and we cannot really be the financial blessing to the Pastors over there we had hoped. Of course none of this takes our Lord by surprise and we have full trust in Him. May He always do what seems best to Him. The church is doing great!!! Hope Christian church is now just over 6 weeks old. So its very much still a baby and yet God is doing amazing things in our midst. We have had a steady show of support and are very grateful to God for His continuing grace and favour. Plenty of people have asked us if they can come and visit and we are always welcoming of new people, but are very intentional about encouraging people to remain faithful to their home church. We are keen for God to bring in the lost as well as out of fellowship Christians rather than transfer growth. So the invitation is always extended to anyone who wants to come and see what it is all about. We meet every Sunday night 6pm at the Logan East Community Centre in Springwood. Its right next door to the Springwood community hall. (Pretty much the same building, but not the big hall. It is a small room we hire to the left of the main hall, right next to the kids play area. You will see it.) Thanks again to everyone who has come and supported us and given us words of encouragement. I do apologise for not having any new sermons to upload for you all. Quite a few people have been asking when I will be posting new sermons to listen to, and the issue is simply that we do not have the recording equipment. I do apologise and hopefully in the New Year this will be sorted out. Itinerant ministry is going strong as well. We had an amazing time last weekend (17th-19th October) as guest speakers at Revival Town youth camp, held down in Bornhoffen just on the border between QLD and NSW. The power of God was massively evident and lives were truly changed. We did a session on personal evangelism utilising materials from minister such as Mark Cahill and Ray Comfort. The hearts of the young people were stirred to be the answer to the prayers of generations past for labourers in the harvest. They were so challenged some did not wait till they got home to start witnessing, and began evangelising to everyone they passed on the road while in the bus. “How did they do this?” you may ask, well they wrote on a small scrap of paper the words, “If you died tonight are you 100% certain you will go to heaven?” and they put it up to the bus window to every car they passed. And then when they were stopped at a set of lights they would share the gospel with the people who had seen the paper sign. When I heard this I was stunned and praised God for being able again to speak through a dumb donkey. (Me). We are returning Friday week to the same youth ministry to do some practical training on one to one evangelism and then set them loose on the streets of Brissy. Another youth camp we did a month or two ago had produced another great testimony. A young girl had recently emailed me and told me how when she got home after camp her heart was so stirred she witnessed to 14 people in a matter of days the full gospel, and was seeing immediate fruit. This is incredible when we share on evangelism, but at her particular camp we had not touched on this topic. The Holy Spirit gave her an enduement of power to go and be a witness for Christ in her world. For these testimonies and many more we praise our God and Father who loves us and blesses us no end. 2009 is set to be huge. We are planning a trip to Burma and perhaps one or two other international ministry engagements. We will see how the Lord directs. Blessings to you all and thank you all for keeping in touch. Our God is Sovereign and I love Him with all my being!!! Craig C. Ireland P.S. I have succumbed to peer-pressure and joined Facebook recently so search for me over there and say hi. I would greatly appreciate it. I think you can find me by this link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1545541594&ref=profile (Im not really sure how it works yet)

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HOPE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

nrlcharlie (09/07/08 07:49:38)   Tag: Hope Christian Church

Hi again, ---Latest news update!!!--- HOPE CHRISTIAN CHURCH is officially up and running. We had our 1st service Sunday 14th Sept 2008. It was amazing I must say. (But I will always be biased). The power of God was present and we had a great time worshipping in simplicity and hearing the word of God in purity and power. A hearty thank you to all who were praying for us and offering their support we really appreciated it. It was a little overwhelming how many people wished us well and made it a point of prayer. We are now looking forward to next week, It will surely be another service of power and grace. Anyone who is not part of a church family at the moment and is interested in attending should feel free to contact me or just show up. Everyone is welcome. Sundays 6pm @ Logan East Community Cenre (Attached to Springwood community Centre) Corner of Cinderella Dr and Vanessa Boulevard Springwood. Blessings to you all. Craig e-craigireland@inbox.com ph-0731620089

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The announcement many have been waiting for

nrlcharlie (08/18/08 08:27:19)   Tag: default

Greetings again, Here is the latest ministry update: Many have been asking about what Katarina (my wife) and I feel the Lord putting on our heart as the next phase of ministry for us. Here is the announcement you have been waiting for. We are feeling lead by God to pioneer a church. God has been impressing on my heart, especially in the recent months, that He wants to use us in a specific way to establish a local fellowship that is committed to: Glorifying God by celebrating the supremacy of Christ in all things. That is fervent in and by prayer to God for His mighty Spirit to bring sinners to repentance and believers to fruitfulness. That seeks revival in our local community and passionately pursues obedience to Gods holy, infallible and eternal Word. The specifics are yet to be finalised and we believe God will give us further guidance as to the timing, location and all other matters pertaining to this kind of undertaking. It will operate autonomously and totally biblically. It will have NO AGE SPECIFIC demographic and will be open and welcoming to absolutely anyone. It will certainly be something we commence in 2008 and perhaps, one could say, sooner rather than later, but more prayerful consideration is needed before a specific time frame is announced. We are certain it will be a local church to our home area of Logan City but an exact locality is yet to be decided on. I'm sure some people will assume that Ive had these intentions all along; (since my resignation at our last church in April) this is simply not the case. If I knew this is what God was leading me to I would have probably pounced at the idea right away. Perhaps wisdom has dictated a period of rest and recuperation, and even deepening of my walk in God was certainly required. This is possibly why God has left it until quite recently to reveal these things to me. He is so amazingly wise. Please feel totally free to contact me for more information I would appreciate any questions and comments you might have. Email me through: craigireland@inbox.com Many Blessings all and may all be done for Gods glory! Craig Ireland

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Philippines Ministry trip CONFIRMED

nrlcharlie (08/13/08 19:13:18)   Tag: default

We have just confirmed our dates for the ministry trip to Philippines. We will be flying out of Brisbane and landing in Manila on the 14th of November 08 and will be there 21 days. Our Schedule will be packed and our team will be extremely busy so please be praying for us as we endeavour to bring glory to God ALONE and seek & save the lost. We will be partnering with a whole bunch of churches over there offering plenty of encouragement to those doing the work of the kingdom on the ground over there. I'm very, very excited & hope to build on the work we began in April this year.

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Burma Ministry/Mission Trip 2009

nrlcharlie (08/30/08 22:37:56)   Tag: default

We are planning a mission/ministry trip to Burma in early to mid 2009. Its all very exciting so stay posted for more details coming soon. Dates are yet to be confirmed!!!

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Welcome

nrlcharlie (04/21/08 00:16:19)   Tag: default

Greetings all, Welcome to this ministry website here at 'PreachWorldwide'. This is the best place to find up to date info about what is going on in this ministry. Check out the Calender section to find out where we will be ministering and feel free to down load the sermon audio files. Remember to send us an email if you feel God has spoken to you through any of these sermons, we always appreciate feedback. May God bless you all and remember to check back here often for ministry updates. Craig

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