Update: the sequal

I have been busy. It has been two months since my last blog but it seems only a matter of weeks for me. So I am going to give you a ministry/life update and then try to find my blogging rhythm again.
Summer Madness: YFC ran 'The Yard' a venue for 11-14s. It was esssentially the biggest, coolest drop in centre I have even been involved in. We had everything from pool tables, fusball, air hockey, a pamper room, basketball and football courts, to big inflatables and go-karts. It was a blast. Hundreds of young people visited each afternoon and the YFC Volunteers did a fantastic job. It was great to be a part of such an amazing festival of life and faith.
The Emerging Leaders Conference: On July 4th at Belfast Bible College we had a 1 day leadership conference. 150 young leaders attended to sit under the ministry of my brother Pastor Ken Castor from Canada. Ken taught through Colossians and challenged our hearts in a loving and caring way.
Thirst08: I have just returned from a two week mission in Killyleagh, working alongside Killyleagh YFC and Brentview Baptist Missions Team (Calgary). God worked in a big way in this little forgotten village in County Down. The highlight for me was our 12th day evangelistic project. We went to Newcastle and spent the day reaching out to the Orange men, the bands and the thousands of people attending the parades. We distributed almost 5000 bottles of water, each labelled with scripture and had lots of great conversations with people.
Summerserve Tomorrow morning, Summerserve training starts. We have 70 young people, Americans, Canadians and Irish heading into 6 locations to spend two weeks on mission. I am preaching tomorrow night on the theme for the mission this year 'LOST'

Youth for Christ stand in 'The field' Newcastle, on the 12th Day

Free water: but it won't quench your thirst!

It's not a mission team without a random night of fun and haircuts!

The Youth for Christ team and the Brentview team listening to St. Patrick's prayer at Patricks grave.

My good friend Ken Castor (Calgary) and I getting some time away from team life, seeing the sights in Belfast (Stormont)

On either side, two men who teach me about God. On my left Ken and on my right Alan Wilson

My new friends from Brentview Baptist in Calgary

Pete and Qara leading worship at Rooted: a conference for Emerging Leaders

Question and Answer session with Pastor Ken, Judith (YFCNI) and me

Youth for Christ Emerging Leadership Conference

The Tour

hey for anyone interested in following our tour, we are blogging daily on the True blog.

Adventure

Sorry for not blogging in a while, I had an amazing holiday, but when we got home, Rebecca was really sick and had to go into hospital. This kind of through me and I got really far behind in work and to be honest I am still catching up. Going away at Easter is nice, but it really breaks ministry momentum.

Anyway, enough of that.

On Sunday, Alain Emerson, myself and Pete Morrison along with the Emmanuel Church Interns are heading away on an adventure. We are loading up the Youth for Christ van, with sleeping stuff, tents, some food, clothes etc and going on a kind of mini tour around Ireland. The goal? To quote John McMullan...the goal is Soul!

We plan to meet people, hear hearts, catch vision, pray, listen, speak, learn, laugh and allow God to show us something of His Kingdom in Ireland.

In Dublin we are staying with Alex and Keely, old friends from Bible College, meeting some of Alain's contacts, visiting CORE Church, catching up with Suzie Evans, YFC in Bray and then heading to Wexford to collect the Intern Team.

Then it's across to Cork, meet some more of Alain's contacts, in Cork City and then in Kinsale. After that we are up to Tipperary to meet Shane Tucker from CIYD, before heading to Galway via Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher. In Galways we are meeting up with Naomi, a YFC Worker there, and also joining up with Joshua Jones from Enniskillen YFC. Then we head inland to Athlone, to meet some more of Alain's contacts. Then we head north to Fermanagh, where we will spend some time with Josh and Dave, before meeting 2 or 3 local church leaders to catch a bit of what is going on around Fermanagh, before heading home.

I didn't really want to take this trip, it's a bit out of my comfort zone and with Rebecca's pregnancy, I seemingly had more reasons not to go, but God kept prompting and Rebecca was very sure that I should be going.

So if you get a chance, pray for us, for safe travel, maybe some good opportunities to share Jesus and that we would be a blessing to those we meet.

Update Time

The past month has been so busy! Youth for Christ had its Fundraising Corporate Dinner which raised a staggering £24,000. This should help keep our Ministry going for around 8-10 months along with all our current support and donations. God is good. I am very fortunate to have seen God work massively in the financial arena in respect to His work. In YFC we have managed to stay in the black for 6 weeks. That might not sound like very much, but my Finance Administrator has worked in YFCNI for 8 years and she is amazed to tell me this is the first time that YFC has been in the black in her time with the organisation. I am not suggesting that I have special financial arrangement with the Lord...actually when it comes to finance, personal and ministry, there is a huge gap in my skill base. So my response at times like this is to simply make the statement...God is good...because He is! It is awesome to be dependent upon such a bountiful God and to be connected through Jesus to some of the most generous people in the world.
I have just got home tonight from a meeting with a Trust in Portadown, a group of people whose ministry exists to give money to God's work... I mean how awesome is that! I shared some of my vision for the work with them and I will just trust God that if it is right He will move them to get behind us.
Even the last time I mentioned on my blog about needing more help to raise my personal support, the response was amazing with 3 people committing to support my ministry monthly.
God is good and His people are amazing.
So what about Rebecca? Well she is pretty sick, in a good way I think. The little baby inside her is now nearly 16 weeks old. One of my friends commented on the scan pictures that it is was like a little peanut.. so we have temporarily given the baby this cool name...wee peanut mccready. Needless to say the kids in Rebecca's P5 class think that name is great! Thanks to everyone who is praying for us...and peanut.
Holiday time...next week we are heading away on our holidays. We have been saving up for ages and next Friday we are spending all our pennies as we are heading off to the Carribbean for a week. I will get the mrs to take some pretty pics and I will stick them up here.. So how can we afford a trip like this...good question. We have saved hard for well over a year because we knew that this trip was coming up. We are heading away with Bec's parents. They are celebrating their 40th Wedding Anniversary and asked us to come with them, I guess due to the distance and our travel experience. Anyway all that to say, I can't wait, I need a break, and this is going to be a great one.
The only bad news I have is that I am missing the last two matches of my rugby season. My team, Grosvenor Stags are top of the league, with only four games left. It has been an amazing year and I am joint top points scorer, which I will probably lose out on due to being away on holiday. Still, I really hope the boys get the wins we need and we secure the title.
Sorry for the gap in my blogging...I will try to get back into the swing of things.

Wee McCready

Exciting news in the McCready family. Rebecca is pregnant with our first child. We went to the hospital yesterday for the twelve week scan. Thankfully everything is well with Becca and with wee McCready. I am dumping myself, I mean I can hardly look after myself, the thought that God would trust me to look after a wee baby. Anyway the details at 12 weeks and 3 days are that there is a wee baby, 5.9 cm (that is nearly the same size as me) and God willing should be born on September 1st 2008. Prayers for this next six months would be much appreciated.

Here is the wee monster...

Proximity!

Alain said something that stuck during his sermon on Sunday morning. It was the word Proximity. Is my life lived in proximity to those who need Jesus Christ? It is not often in church that I get to answer yes but today I could. My life is lived in proximity to lots of people who need Jesus. My family, with the exception of my younger brother and one cousin are not followers of Jesus, and the majority of my friends are not Christians. I am a privileged person to be able to share lives with these amazing people.
In Northern Ireland most Christians have very few relationships with those outside of the faith community, I am privileged to have many. With these relationships though comes a huge responsibity... the word that comes to mind is ambassador...
am·bas·sa·dor /æmˈbæsədər, -ˌdɔr/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[am-bas-uh-der, -dawr] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun

1.	a diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative (ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary).

2.	a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by a government to represent it on a temporary mission, as for negotiating a treaty.

3.	a diplomatic official serving as permanent head of a country's mission to the United Nations or some other international organization.

4.	an authorized messenger or representative. Abbreviation: Amb., amb.

"But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?" Romans 10:14

So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 5:20

So God sends us, places us, uses us to be people who stand between him and the world. Priests!! Except instead of performing in a religious ceremony at a temple outside of the normal world, we are God's temple and he dwells in us, and our ceremony is a life of connectivity, with real people, in a real world in need of a real God.