Alpha Course and Football

Alpha Course
One young lady came to the Alpha Course this week. The discussion was on how and why to read the BIble. She had never read the Bible, but just takes what others tell her about the Bible to be true. She said that she would begin reading the Bible, but she is nervous about it. Please pray for her as she seeks God in His word for the first time. Pray the He will reveal wonderful truths to her, and she will know Him in a great and personal way.


Football
Valerie's training with the youth girls soccer is going well. She had 15 girls last week. Please pray for wisdom for Valerie to be a good coach and for opportunities for Christ to shine through her.

St. Patrick's Day and Easter

The team took a float to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Buncrana and had the Big Red Bus parked on the main street for the festivities. They had face painting in the downstairs of the bus, and upstairs, they had an exhibition of St. Patrick, John Newton, and modern-day slavery. The exhibition included paintings and the common thread of slavery. Many people don't realize that St. Patrick was a slave in Ireland, and he later returned after his escape to share the Gospel. They also made an Amazing Grace float for the parade. The float was a re-creation of John Newton's ship, the Greyhound, and included children from Scoil Iosagain, a local elementary school. This was the first time that the team was able to work with this school. Praise the Lord for this new connection!

Here's a link to a video of the Parade.
http://andrewgw.multiply.com/video/item/5

Valerie chatting with Charlotte, a fellow footballer (soccer player) from Buncrana women's team




They will have an Amazing Grace Celebration on Easter. April 8th is the date that John Newton sailed into Lough Swilly in 1748. You can find the story at

www.amazinggrace.ie

The celebration will be held at the Gateway Hotel. The town council will be invited, a choir will sing Amazing Grace, and there will be an Amazing Grace dance performed by members of the OM team. Pray that God will bring many to this event and speak to them through John Newton's story of grace and hope found in Christ.

Weekend at Castlederg

Here's an update from Valerie from last weekend:

This weekend’s brilliant weather was such a lovely blessing. The team worked with a church to bring the Big Red Bus to the town center of Castlederg on Saturday. The church is having events during this week. We were able to chat with and invite people to those events as they came for free tea or coffee, face painting, balloon modeling, games, and the live band. The day went so well and the local people from the church were enthusiastic. We were all excited to be a part of the first big outreach that’s happened in Castlederg. Please pray for the people who heard the Gospel on Saturday and for those that will attend the meetings throughout the week.


Some youth and games upstairs on the bus Andrew doing a magic trick for the kids

The band playing inside a truck as a stage - parked just in front of the bus

A Glimpse of Beyond 48 and Amazing Grace

Here are links to video from the last two big events.

Beyond 48 video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnALt1dDjsQ

Amazing Grace video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8iqt2VYykw

"AMAZING GRACE" PRE-SCREENING IN BUNCRANA Monday March 5, 2007

Over 250 people attended the pre-screening of "Amazing Grace" in Buncrana, County Donegal on Monday March 5. Hosted by the Mayor of Buncrana, Cllr Joe Doherty the event united politicians, church leaders, members of the business community and community leaders from Donegal and across the border in Northern Ireland. One highlight came when Irish singer Moya Brennan sang the well-loved hymn, accompanied on the guitar by Mayor Doherty. "Amazing Grace" is the story of Williberforce and his battle to abolish the trans-atlantic slave trade. The film also shows the vital role that John Newton played in encouraging Wilberforce to use his political influence for good.As the first screening of film in the Republic of Ireland came to an end in St Mary's Cinema, Buncrana, there was a spontaneous round of applause. Enjoying the story, many also recognised the vital message of the film both within Ireland and across the world. May-Lynn Chang, Director of Strategic Marketing for film makers Walden Media shared why she wanted the film to be shown in the North West of Ireland, "What struck me was the heart of reconciliation. There is an opportunity here to work cross boundary, cross faith, cross border, cross political party and that is also the spirit of Wilberforce in terms of really wanting to make change."Many of you come from different walks of life but what drives you is the hope for a future, the hope for a change. Ireland is very much a country that understands freedom and longs for peace."Mike Mullins, Director of OM Ireland added, "My dream, is that people from all over the world will come here to reflect on what it means to know amazing grace and that the Lake of Shadows (Lough Swilly) would be known as a place of hope, even a place of salvation for a wretch who found Christ."

"Amazing Grace" goes on general release across Ireland and the UK on March 23.

Amazing Grace Screening Today

Just a reminder...The prescreening of Amazing Grace is today in Buncrana. Please be in prayer for this event, the people that will come, and the OM team.

Val said the first meeting of the Alpha Course went well. They had 2 people attend. Please continue to pray for this Course.

Beyond 48 update

Here are some pictures from the 3-day event, Beyond 48/TeenStreet. Please pray for Georgina and Tanya, 2 teens from Donegal that attended. Val was excited to have girls from their area at Beyond 48. There are very few believers at their school. Please pray for strength, boldness, and wisdom for these girls as they go back to their school and lives in Donegal.

There was a total of 390 teens and adults at the conference!

Here is the Global Action Team Members: Holli, Malin, Anna, Valerie
The main session with Dan and Suzie Potter engaging the kids with wacky illustrations, while teaching God's truth. In this picture, Dan's playing scrabble blindfolded.

Many of the kids signed this banner as a statement of their commitment to live for God.

Valerie helped with sports during the conference. She had a great time playing football with the kids, but came home very sore.