Report From second Ireland trip.
Arrived in Ireland on time and very blessed. The Lord provided me access to an airport lounge for my layover in Washington DC and for a row by myself to stretch out on the plane flight over. Superfast pick up of the rental car and off I went to Castledaly.
Castledaly is a wonderful retreat/summer camp facility. There was actually another retreat going on the same time as Outreach Ireland’s retreat. The European Christian Mission and I the great privilege of meeting and speaking with Jonathan McCracken who is a church planter currently planting a church in Claremorris, Ireland. Being that church planting is a passion of mine and part of my calling/mission this was indeed a divine appointment. I was able to exchange contact information and am hoping to build relationship with him.
Outreach Ireland’s retreat was a Holy Spirit filled time of connection, relationship building, worship, prayer, ministry and wonderful food. The Irish really no how to make a man plumb and fat, let me tell ya.
I had to wonderful privilege to share the word on Saturday morning. The message was on vision, having the proper vision of who God is, who we are in Christ, having a God vision for our lives and what the vision of the Church. Every vision from God has a mission implanted in it that we must be walking out daily. During the middle of the message the Lord led me to pray over, and ask everyone to join in me as well, a couple I just met, Tom and Yvonne. As is normal, for me at least, the Holy Spirit gave me the exact words to pray and speak over them about things I had no idea about. It wasn’t till later that day that they both came to me and said how spot on it was. That they knew it was from the Lord because there is no way I could have known what was going on in their lives as some of it had just happened minutes before, I prayed.
So thankful for everyone who prayed with me before I left and those who are praying now. The Lord is on the move.
During lunch I had an even greater privilege of meeting in person Pastor Richard Mawhinney who is around my mother’s age, has been going through cancer treatments but has not only a great story of what God has done in his life but also an even greater vision for reaching the lost now and in the future.
He is truly the type of man that the church has been lacking. A mentor and spiritual father. As I sat and listened to him speak, I was filled with the awe of God from the presence of the Holy Spirit that was so evident in this humble, honest, soft spoken man of God. I so look forward to building a closer relationship with this man.
For the afternoon sessions we heard Pastor Richard and Robert Sinclair minister more on vision and focus. We then finished off the night with a wonderful time of fellowship, a wonderful supper and for those who still had energy (not me) a time of joyous celebration with praise and worship.
Sunday, we wrapped up this powerful weekend with a time of fellowship around the breakfast tables, a wonderful message from John 11 Ollie Nicholson who also led us in communion and shared the great big vision God has given him for reaching the lost in the midlands area. After lunch and packing up we had the blessed opportunity to be given a free tour of Clonmacnoise. A monastic site dating back to the 500’s A.D.
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