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seeing old friends is very good indeed

It was great to spend time with my friend Tom (pastor at Cross of Christ Fellowship in Naperville, Illinois). I’m really grateful that he made the trek out to the Wild West of Scotland to be with us for worship on the Lord’s Day. We realised that we go back about 15 years now, as he joined our sending church, Redeemer Fellowship, quite soon after we had joined. (Photos are Tom’s.

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Our church was gifted chairs by two churches, one which sadly closed and one which is undergoing building work. We’ve now got space for 170 people to sit comfortably. Pray with us that these chairs would be filled!

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Ministry here in Scotland is about to get very tricky.

Would greatly appreciate prayers regarding this.

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Heading home today. Made lots of good memories for such a short trip.

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We’re all off on a little getaway before another big season at the church. When we travel, Tracy takes 3 of the kids in the car and I take one on the train with me. This time, it’s Chloe’s turn!

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Churches and youth groups together

One aspect of ministry that I continue to find surprising and encouraging here in Scotland is that churches really do try to work together to reach their towns. Yesterday, I was able to attend a lunch put on by Inverclyde Christian Initiative, a charity that is all about doing gospel ministry in our local area. There were churches of all stripes who may have different beliefs and convictions on things like baptism or church polity but we are all united on the gospel.

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It was great being able to attend the FIEC local conference in Edinburgh. Over 80 pastors and church leaders together to be reminded that we are justified by grace, not by works.

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Reflections on our ministry retreat

A few months ago, I got an email from the lead minister of a large church in Glasgow. It seemed too good to be true, but true it was. Tracy and I had been invited to a retreat for ministry couples; to spend a couple of days away from ordinary life to reflect on and learn from others with more experience than us. We left the kids with Tracy’s mum and made our way into rural Ayrshire.

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A new online home for the Alcantaras

One of the things I’d like to do this year is get better at sending out ministry updates from our family. None of us are on social media these days but we’d still like to send news to those who have prayed for us over the years. Just beginning the process of migrating our family ministry updates to this new blog. Hopefully we’ll be sharing more often this way.