January - February 2009

 
A NEW YEAR
 
As 2008 has come to and end we give thanks to God for all He has done throughout the year.

As we looked through the last year's newsletters we were able to see what a fruitful year it was.

On top of the ministry blessings we saw great family blessings. Our daughter (28) married the son of best friends in Australia and our youngest son (21) became engaged to the daughter of best friends at home. Another son (23) returned to University to study law, and our eldest son (35) and his wife are about to present us with our third grandchild in mid January.

But first let's look at the November December ministry reports..
The men's weekend on November 28-30th at Rostrevor Christian Renewal Centre was a powerful weekend as it always is when men get together to seek God's face. Prayer ministry was on Saturday evening and the difference in the atmosphere and the worship on the Sunday morning was very noticeable. Thank you Lord!

One wife spoke to me a week later and said that a different husband had home to her. She said that he found himself 'unable' to do things that he had striven not to do in the past. She said that she heard five other men saying how their lives had been changed. God is good!

Prayer Ministry Team leader Anne Galway along with a strong CRi team took two Friday evening seminars on 'dealing with grief' at Green Pastures Church November 13th and 20th.  The Presence of God was very real especially on week two and one lady from a visiting church gave her life to the Lord.

God's Garage

 The same weekend (November 20 - 22) I led a smaller team consisting of Linda,  David Dobbin and Mollie Regan to visit God's Garage, in Portroe, County Tipperary. Normally for the Saturday prayer ministry workload I would have a team of 6-8 so I was a little apprehensive about going with such a small team.. The teaching on Friday evening was 'When your faith is rocked' and it was very well received. Almost all people stood for ministry prayer at the end. I have only spoken on this once before and amazingly one of the team had brought a CD of that teaching with him, not knowing that I was to teach on this subject.
When almost everyone asked if it was possible to get a recording of the evening it was with much delight that I was able to give our host Anne Marie a copy to duplicate for everyone. You can listen to the CD version here. The teaching paper mentioned 'The curse of evolution' can be read here.(On the CD I mistakenly refer to it as the 'curse of creation!')  I taught for one hour only on the Saturday morning from 10 - 11 on 'Understanding covering' Again it proved to be relevant and well received. The team and I then ministered personally to more than 20 people throughout the day, finally finishing at 9 pm that evening.
The following morning (Sunday) it was again my great privilege to dedicate one of Mull and Anne Marie Mulrooney's children to the Lord. This beautiful little girl is called Ella (meaning 'another') and she has the most wonderful disposition. Always smiling, contented and playful. The small team not only did not get tired, but we all arrived home fresher than when we left. What an Amazing God we serve!
We had the great pleasure of having good friend Rev Dr.Alistair Petrie stay with us in early December. Our relationship began many years ago when he visited our home as part of George Otis Junior's Transformations team. He is the founder of Partnership Ministries based in Canada, an internationally recognised speaker and author of two books and several DVD's  As part of his visit he came with us to Green pastures on Sunday December 6th to see Lifeline Ministry men graduate and to hear their testimonies in being set free by Jesus from lives of drug addiction and crime.  It was one of the most moving and powerful events he had witnessed for a long time and on returning to our house he phoned Canada to make the evening the main subject in his monthly Newsletter.
The Green Pastures Servant Academy School is now underway and I did my second full day's teaching on December 11th.

Students work within various ministries within the church during the week with Thursday reserved solely for teaching.

There are a whole range of teachers associated with the Academy each bring a different aspect of Discipleship Training to the young students.

It will be interesting to see how they turn out after the one year school ends in August 2009.
OOoops!  I took ill with one of the various bugs that was active in December and became cold within the core of my body. Hot drinks were unable to deal with this inner coldness so I decided that a hot bath might do the trick. It seemed to help, until I got out of the bath and then suddenly my blood pressure must have dropped, because so did I. I managed to call out for help as I fell to the floor and Linda was there in seconds.  The next thing I knew two ambulance people were with me, and despite my protestations that I would be fine, I had an oxygen mask placed upon my face, was strapped to a chair and carried out to the waiting ambulance!  On arrival at the hospital it was obvious that the system was being overwhelmed! Sick people everywhere, in reception, hallways and rooms, few staff on duty and no beds available. After four hours and various heart tests I was sent home again only because there were no beds available. I was told I must stay in bed for five days. I was very weak that night and it was only with Linda's help that I was able to make my way to the car. I had a very bad night with sore eyes and severe fever sweats, but by morning the sickness seemed to have broken, and after two days in bed I was up on my feet and back in business. However it had taken it's toll and I quickly became weary. Fortunately a good friend offered Linda and I the use of a holiday home in County Donegal for a few days and we gladly accepted. The weather was cold but beautiful and we had a restful yet active time. The photo of Doe Castle at the top of the page is one of the photos we took. Others are on the my photographic web site at www.kensymington.co.uk

It's amazing the places that one's name ends up in. At one end of the spiritual spectrum my name appears on a major American Masonic web site listed as an anti-mason, and at the other end on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal web site under their 'random quotes' section. My quote is listed as "Isn't Jesus wonderful!"  That'll do me!
The annual Prayer Ministry School continues every Thursday evening until the end of February.

A new bunch of 'lads' from Lifeline Ministry will be with us at the Christian Renewal Centre, Rostrevor on weekend January 16 -18th for 'The Father heart of God' - the first of two ministry weekends for all new members who come to Lifeline for help in breaking free from addictions.

The following weekend, January 23 - 24th will be a Father Heart of God weekend which will be the start of a new 'Stronger' series of teachings every week at Green Pastures Church, Ballymena. This will be the third of these 12-14 week teachings which are acknowledged to have greatly strengthened the church over the past eighteen months.

Prayer ministry leader Anne Galway will be leading a team of six back to God's garage in Portroe, County Tipperary in February.

In mid February I will be visiting Ellel Pierrepont to teach NETS students for one day (Feb 11th) on The Dark night of the soul / Hearing the voice of God, then two days teaching The Father heart of God, (Feb 12-13th) the Linda and I will be taking an open day (Feb 14th) on Marriage as God intended.  I will also be speaking at the weekly Communion Service on the Friday morning.

New dates are being explored for a return visit to Sweden in May and a date has been set for Germany in June.

Prayer ministry carries on unabated with people coming from England, and both northern and southern Ireland for help in their Christian walk. 

Of Interest: Listen and watch this very brave Arabic woman in debate with a Muslim fundamentalist which amazingly was shown on Al-Jazeera television. Here

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