Hello from Ireland

Our Church Website Please make sure you are keeping up to date with what we are doing at Elevate. We need all your prayers and support. What we are doing here hasn't been done before and the more we talk to church leaders and others, the more we find that they can't imagine it, which is great, because when God makes this happen, it will rock this city. So, sign up for our Facebook and Twitter, it's the fastest way for me to get you our prayer updates.

Where are you starting? Well, after getting settled in, I have met with more people than I can count. I've been connecting with old friends and making new friends. We will be meeting at a bar called Flannery's in the city on Monday nights. Almost all the people we will be meeting with are not Christians, which is the whole point of this. Please keep us and them in your prayers. We are really looking forward to seeing how God is going to use this to ripple across the city, our hope is to out grow this bar within a few months and have to move to the nightclub.  We are starting like a Neighborhood Group and talking with people about life and how we can make Christ more a part of it. People have a lot of questions and we pray for the wisdom to answer them.

What's on this week? This week I am going to get a group of about 20 non-Christians from the city, who don't go to church and ask them for reasons why they don't go and what's holding them back. I'm going to do an "interview" style meeting with them and see if I can get them to join us on Monday nights to look deeper into God's word. I also have a dad/son golf tournament that I am helping with, getting Christians to hang out with people who don't know Christ and we are putting together a mini tournament for about 20 guys. This has been great to do because it is helping me get to know a lot of people in the golf world in Ireland who don't know Christ. We are going to help with putting together a trip for about 50 teenagers to a camp for a week in August. This is the same camp that I myself got saved at so it's an honor for me to be a part of this and to help put together something fresh and new to reach these teenagers. I have been asked to lead a group of people from several churches to do an outreach in the City this coming September. I'm still praying about whether I should because I'm trying to find out what they mean by "Lead" - I was planning on doing something in September anyway where we would serve the city in some way, so we might be able to kill two birds with one stone doing this. Pray that God brings the right people at the right time.

Things to Pray for this week! Keep the people of Limerick in your prayers, pray that God will just burn something up inside of them that they will want to ask questions about Him and want to know Him more. Limerick is a beautiful place, you can see it in the pictures below, but it is a very dark and lonely place. There is so much work that needs to be done. Please pray for Limerick and the City.       Also pray for the people I will be meeting with next week. Pray that they will be honest and that we can get each of them to start attending church. I will be meeting with them next Wednesday and asking about 20 people who don't know Christ, what's keeping them away from church. Pray that it will be the beginning of something that will turn this city towards Christ. Pray for Marie, Tara and I. That we will stay strong as a family and that we will be the example to others. If we're not strong what we are starting won't be. There really is so much to pray for that I could keep typing but please pray that we will meet, greet and keep the right people to get this church off the ground. Pray that we get the money to do what we are planning. We need the financial backing to do this, so please pray that people will start giving in any amounts to help us.

Here are some photos we took this week! Tara wanted to throw the ball and have me run and get it, she couldn't understand why on earth I wouldn't do it. So i just sat with her and she had to deal. I took Marie and Tara feeding the ducks this week, Tara had so much fun, she loved seeing the swans and ducks and throwing the bread to them, but then decided to eat the bread herself and not give it to the ducks... I think she missed the point.

Thank For Your Prayers!

This last month has been crazy busy, but God is faithful and we are still hanging in there! I spoke at CCV last weekend and I think it went okay, people seemed to enjoy it and I got some good feed back.

We will be focusing more on raising the financial support we need to go back to Ireland so please keep that in your prayers, I added a document to the website home page that people can download and read about our plans, again, please pray that there will be a good response.

Thank you all for signing up for this news letter and it will be a lot more frequent with all the new things happening.

We can’t do this without you, pass our website on to everyone you know and lets get the word out here! You guys ROCK!

Dermot, Marie and Tara.

Exciting Times!

December is a busy month for everyone with Christmas right around the corner, travel plans, and end of the year to-dos. Here at Cross Ireland Ministries, we're also planning a busy month.  Dermot is going on another trip to Ireland tomorrow. This time he'll be taking an architect, Daniel Cook, who owns a company called Building God's Way which specializes in building contemporary style church buildings.  They will be looking at locations and property that will work for the church we will be starting next year.  Ireland is currently experiencing severe winter conditions, so please pray that Dermot and Dan have a safe trip there and back.  We would also appreciate your prayers for their efforts next week.  Not only do we need to find a great property at a good price, but in order for it to be in the right location to affect people, they will need God's guidance and insight.

Now that Cross Ireland Ministries has its non profit status and we have a general timeline, we will be starting our fundraising campaign in the spring. We need your prayers that we can share the vision God has given us for Ireland in a way that invites others to partner with us.

Finally, you might have read or heard about the financial and political troubles that Ireland is having right now. The country is experiencing sovereign bankruptcy, and no one trusts that their government is making the right decisions. People are angry and desperate.  This is a difficult time for the people of Ireland as they struggle to maintain their lives in the midst of uncertainty and depression.  To most people, it might seem the wrong time for us to head out to start a new life and new venture.  In fact, it is exactly the right time.  When everything else fails, God prevails.  When no one has the answers, God presents His.  We know that the only thing to bring hope and change is for people to give their lives to Him. 

Gearing Up!!!

It’s been a busy time here at Cross Ireland Ministries.  We are gearing up to head to Ireland in the spring, and that means a lot of things need to happen very quickly.  The good news is that we are making significant progress.  Our most recent step forward is our brand new website.  We’ve got some great pictures of Ireland and links to current Irish news and other information. You can check the website out at http://www.crossirelandministries.com/.

We have also established our non-profit status, and can now provide tax deductions for any donations given. And to make it easy, we’ve set up a PayPal link that anyone can use.

On a personal note, our daughter, Tara, is now four months old and continues to be bright, curious, and full of smiles.  She’s rolling over and grabbing anything she can get her hands on!  At the beginning of the month, Dermot transitioned out of his role as a Neighborhood Pastor and is now working full time for the Missions Department.

As always, we need your prayer.  We truly believe that God has a plan for Ireland, and are excited about our part in that plan.  Please pray for Dermot as he works hard to get things off the ground. Pray that we are able to make connections with the people and churches who will be a part of our support team, and pray that God continue to prepare the place in Limerick that He wants for us.