Margie and I continue to rejoice in God’s gracious provision for us over the last year and are so grateful to all those who have played a part in praying for us and in helping us.

When I last wrote I was on the brink of going to India again to do preaching training in Chandigarh and to speak at the Word Conference at the Delhi Bible Institute. Though I have been going for these conferences to India biannually for well over twenty years now, it is always a fresh challenge and a rich, rewarding and exhausting experience. It is especially encouraging to see men who I knew when they first came to faith, now serving as leaders at the various DBI centres in North India or as pastors of churches in North India.

Margie and I delight in the extended family God has given us. We remain very fully engaged in the life of Emmanuel in Bath and we rejoice in being part of such a supportive and united fellowship. Generally Margie stays at Emmanuel when I speak away at weekends, although it has been lovely to go together to a few church weekends away where, alongside the preaching, there is plenty of opportunity to engage with people. Over this last year I have deliberately chosen to be away from Bath less often on Sundays so that I can play a fuller part in what is going on in Emmanuel and as a result have had the great pleasure of being able to preach in Emmanuel more often.

Over the past year I have had the privilege of preaching in some twelve different churches on Sundays, but have also spoken at quite a number of church weekends away or special Bible teaching weekends. The range of places I have been to have included St. James, Ryde in the Isle of Wight, Emmanuel Church in Marlborough, St.Giles in Derby, Burnopfield Gospel Fellowship near Newcastle and Great Victoria Street Baptist Church in  Belfast.

I have also spoken at some conferences that I have not previously attended, the Reformation and Revival Conference, the Carey Conference and the Scottish Reformed Conference, each of which gave lovely opportunities to re-engage with people I have known elsewhere and to get to know others for the first time. I have also been invited back to teach at the London Seminary and at Northern Ireland Cornhill.

As in previous years, my largest single involvement is with the Christian Institute. I have continued as a member of the trust board and three times a year I am involved in giving a lecture and in preaching as part of the on-going staff training, which I very much enjoy. In addition, in recent months I have led day long seminars on how to preach 2 Peter designed for pastors and Bible teachers. These have taken place in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield. Those who attended were connected only by being supporters of the Christian Institute and were drawn from a huge range of church backgrounds. Despite this, we were very happily united around thinking through how to preach 2 Peter and there seemed to be a genuine delight in doing this and in meeting one another which was very heartening! For some of these men such an exercise seemed to be something they had not experienced before.

As for the future there is more of the same already in the diary and other things being added. In addition to things locally, I have just been in Crowborough this last weekend and am due in Wooler, Northumberland shortly and a few weeks later in Ashford, Kent. In due course I will be at Abergavenny in Wales and at the Northern Ireland Cornhill again and later I am speaking at the Northern Mens’ Convention in Leyland. One of the knock-on effects of speaking at the preachers’ day conferences is some further invitations to speak at churches in the north of England and it is also very likely that I will do more day seminars for the Christian Institute. Towards the end of the year Margie and I are planning to be in Canada again visiting family, and I have also been invited to preach in Ottowa by Jonathan Griffiths who has recently started as a pastor in the city. Some of you may have known Jonathan from his years in Oxford, at Christchurch, Westbourne or as part of London Cornhill and he is, incidentally, related to us! Then it is also likely that I will be heading to India to run preaching training conferences again.

All in all, we rejoice in what the Lord has made possible for us to be involved with and in His continued faithfulness in the present and His wonderful promises of Christ’s return and the future glories that await all who belong to the Lord Jesus.