Let’s see – where do I begin? Kelty, Scotland is a large coal-mining village north of Edinburgh. Once the mines were closed, the town had little industry and not much to offer any one living there, much less attraction for those who would move into the area. A few years ago the Kelty church consisted of five older ladies and one gentleman. They were considering selling their church building and giving the money to other gospel ministries in the the area, but they decided that it would be wise to pray and ask the Lord what He wanted for their fellowship. The Lord led them to a couple who He has used to help revitalize the church. Through them others came in to Kelty to help with the work and the church began to slowly grow. Four years ago I met a Christian brother from the work in Kelty through one of our U.K. board members. I then made a trip to Kelty Evangelical Church to meet with their leaders to put forth the idea of a GO TEAM Mission with Emmanuel & Associates and with the members of their fellowship and we brought in a GO TEAM from Good Shepherd Community Church in Portland, Oregon. As Paul Harvey, a well known radio show host in the USA, used to say, “And now for the rest of the story!”
GO TEAM MISSION partnership between Emmanuel & Associates International and Kelty Evangelical Church, Kelty Scotland and Good Shepherd Community Church, Boring, Oregon.
For the last few years we have had an outreach to the community of Kelty with a food and fun event in a local rented hall. The idea was to help the church to connect with the community that the Lord had called them to serve and to present the gospel at this event. The last couple of years we have been able to rent the new Community Centre in Kelty. Last Easter the church rented the Kelty Community Centre and approximately 400 people from the community attended.
We used American baseball as our theme for the 2017 GO TEAM community outreach night at the community centre . I was delighted that my wife, Vicki, was able to join us again for the GO TEAM KELTY Mission. Vicki is a musician and singer through and through! She entertained the group as well as accompanied the GO TEAM in “Take me out to the ball game!”
Scott Stuart, one of the team members from Good Shepherd Community Church preached on Sunday morning and I preached on Sunday evening. There were over 70 people who attended the worship service on Sunday morning and over 50 people on Sunday evening. We saw six people make professions of faith in Jesus and there are a number of those who made profession from the last two years now attending the weekly meetings. So, we praise God for His “Showers of Blessings” and giving us the opportunity to serve Him through obeying His “Great Commission!”
John Langlands and Hank John leading the singing at the Kelty retirement home. The older folks there really enjoy the GO TEAMS annual visit and always ask for Hank and John to demonstrate the chorus from the song “Jumping and leaping and praising God!” Praise God that a couple months after the team returned to the USA a lady from the retirement home started reading her Bible and made an open profession of faith and asked for believer‘s baptism! God has greatly used John and Margaret Langlands and Hank and Christine John in helping to revitalize the work of the gospel in Kelty through the fellowship at Kelty Evangelical Church!
On our team day off we found it hard to resist playing a round of golf on the oldest golf course in the world! This is a picture of my friend Scott Stuart and me on the 17th tee (“The Road Hole”) at the Old Course in Saint Andrews, Scotland. We had a great time playing golf that day! We were also able to tell the other two golfers that made up our four ball and their caddies how they could know for sure that they would go to heaven when they die!
PLEASE PRAY
Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we plan for next year. I will be traveling to the U.K. on October 23rd – November 17th to work with our church partners for the 2018 GO TEAM MISSIONS. Please pray for us to win souls, to make disciple–making disciples and to multiply the church. Thanks for taking the time to read this ministry report on our 2017 GO TEAM MISSION KELTY Mission and for your prayers that are powerful and mighty in helping to bring down the strong holds that our enemy has over the hearts and minds of the people in the United Kingdom.
Thank you again for supporting us with your prayers and with your finances and in joining us on a GO TEAM MISSION in the United Kingdom!
Your brother by His amazing grace,
Wyatt
