SPRING 2002 PRAYER LETTER

Our dear partner in prayer,

"I am writing to say thank you for the talk you gave us at St. Andrew's on Sunday. It made a huge impact on me. It made sense when you said we ought to stop trying and just trust in the Lord. When I did just that, I felt an immediate peace. I can't tell you the difference it has made to me, and I would like to thank you for the message you have given us. Yours gratefully."

What a terrific letter! The thanks are to you, for praying, as much as to me for preaching. But, of course, all the thanks and praise are to our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who changed that lady's life in the first three months of 2002.

Hello again! God bless you for being with us. A special thank you if you sent us a card at Christmas, or got in touch to say you were praying, or have stood with us financially: we are really grateful. To make communication even better, our super new web-site is up and running - visit us at http://users.xalt.co.uk/fortythreetrust. Are you on email? Right now, email us with your own email address, and let us know we can email these letters to you from now on. This will help us with speed and cost. Also, we plan to have late bookings and urgent prayer requests sent out in between these regular letters to all our email supporters. Hit the button today!

WHAT DO WE DO?
These new forms of keeping in touch remind me to say how diversified our own work is these days. It looks a bit like this:

Busy, aren't we?! Hopefully, most aspects are in this letter somewhere.

AFRICA
"This is a miracle, the greatest grouping of men ever seen in this part of Africa": the Mothers Union President said that to the Conference in Kimilili, Kenya in December. What blessings, as hundreds of men committed themselves to be 'men of God'. A minister later wrote to me, "I wedded one of my parishioners who attended the Conference. He was so touched by your teachings he gave his life to Jesus and he has not been the same since."

You will remember the visit in January '01, when God worked the 'miracle at the rock', with people responding to Christ and finding the shape of a Kenyan spear in the rock where I preached, a sign of God claiming the spot for Himself. When it had rained, we sheltered in a man's hut. He owned the land by the rock. He himself was saved, and gave the land for a church, which has now been built. We were able to give some money to enable the roof to be completed. What a joy to welcome seven men, saved in January, at the Conference.

John Price and I saw God do great things again. The Bishop said he had never heard men weep openly in public until the final meeting of commitment. Now we are considering an invitation from another African country, and value your prayers for wisdom (and finance!).

EVANGELISM
We have seen the Holy Spirit much at work in Northwood, Coventry and various other places, but space permits only two highlights. The first was the mission in Ipswich. At one of Di's meetings, a senior church leader acknowledged his 'faith' had all been in his head: "Now all I must do is trust Jesus," he told her. At another meeting, a church member was very surprised when a retired clergyman responded. As Di said, "Never assume anything!" A child of nine who stayed up for the home meeting hosted by parents, later trusted Christ at the final service. Mark was at several events hosted by one church, and saw people responding time after time. We took a large team, and God really blessed, with a very big response across this East Anglian town.
As Zechariah 4 says, never despise days of small things. You were praying for my visit to Atherstone on March 3rd. In the afternoon, with one of our Trustees, Eddie Curry, I went to the village of Baddesley Ensor. Twenty came to the chapel, with 8 responding, including a lady and her husband. She said this: "I've been coming to church since I was 13. I'm 65 next birthday and I've been waiting for this message all my life". How sad to wait so long. How great to be there the day God worked His miracle.

TRAINING
Darren has a special rôle here. He works with churches to plan and prepare for Missions, and trains 'helpers' for those who respond to Christ. He travels huge distances (for Ipswich alone he drove 3,500 miles!). My new book has led to a tour called "Faith-sharing". If your church would like an evening on "How to share your faith one-to-one," we might have space in the Autumn. Do pray for these meetings.

BOOKS
We are very excited here. Not only has '50 Ways to Share your Faith' arrived, so has the new format of '100 Faith-sharing Talks'. The enclosed flyer gives full details: get your copies at a discount - and autographed! - direct from us.

In June, my major piece of writing is to be published: 'Older people and the Church: together or apart?' Many are eagerly awaiting this, and we believe every church leader should have a copy: would you call us for details of our special launch price?

Kingsway have asked me to up-date our most sought-after book, 'Bereaved' (now sold out). This summer I'll be writing that, and value your prayers for great wisdom. Publication will be May '03.

RADIO
Great joy here too, and a request for special prayer. I'm now on Sky Digital 888 no less than 8 times a week, Hotbird Satellite twice a week, and every Sunday at 8.40 AM on Short wave and 11.40 PM on Medium Wave. Add to that my programmes going out in Slovak from Bratislava, and the potential is enormous. We have been asked by Swaziland for these programmes, in English and translated. There are other big possibilities in the pipeline.

Here is the need: Swaziland programmes, and those on short- and medium-wave, need sponsorship. Will you pray for specific funds to be made available for God's word to be broadcast in the U.K. and around the world? If you know of anyone who could help, tell them about us. Full details of the programmes are in the Diary.

We hear from people whose lives are blessed. A prayer partner in my own church records each programme for the housebound. Do pray for many blessings, and for great inspiration as I record regularly.

COMING AND GOING
The Diary is busy. Our Associate Evangelists are all busy. Sue and Julie in the office are busy. It's all go! Pray for Darren and me as we plan into 2003. The Moss Side mission is too late for this letter, but we will cover it next time. We commend our families, and our Trustees, to your prayers.
And finally, "May the God of peace, who through the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

God bless you! With love from the entire 40:3 Trust team -