Seed Sower Reports

John 3:16 in Every Home

For your prayerful interest.

Bath, England

5 Oct 2024

with the assembly at Manvers

The weekend organised by Manvers was attended by many young believers, and our brother Stephen Harper gave excellent ministry over the course of the weekend. Time was also spent throughout the weekend distributing the Seed Sower texts.

Since the Bath event in early October there have been two Bible requests and one of those recipients enquired about a Bible study course. Pray for the gentleman, and for 3 people who have attended the gospel meeting each week since the event.

On Saturday, we met at Windsor GH at around 9.30 for registration and coffee. It was very heartening that around 100 participants had signed up to help with the distribution. After a short time of prayer and briefing we went out from 10—12.30 round the doors of South Belfast. There were 8 teams, seven of which went out to various zones on minibuses with the last on foot to areas nearer the hall.

In the afternoon the second distribution session ran from around 2.15 to 5 p.m. or thereabouts. Following this we returned to the hall. Clifford Law then gave a brief update on 7 homes visited during the day where a Bible had already been requested. At 6.30 for all those who were able to stay, the sisters of Windsor provided a lovely dinner following which Stephen Harper gave a short epilogue.

On the following Monday afternoon a few met to distribute the remaining texts in Sandy Row, an inner-city area of South Belfast.

Prayer points/Encouragements. From the 25,000 John 3 v 16 texts that were distributed, there were 35 immediate Bible requests, including a Spanish Bible and two suitable for a 6 year old and 4 year old. The first Bible requested was from a man who has since brought his two children to Sunday School. One lady has attended the gospel meetings weekly since Seed Sowers and her subsequent attendance at the Bible exhibition. Another lady said she had read the Bible three times but didn’t know how to be born again. Pray for her salvation.

Exeter, England

30 Aug - 1 Sept 2024

with Whipton Chapel

Some of the team arrived around 12.30 on the Friday for a lovely afternoon of fellowship over lunch, followed by a visit to the beach in Exmouth. In the evening more of the team arrived and it was time to focus on the purpose of the weekend - distributing 20,000 John 3:16 texts across the north of Exeter. We commenced with the first of two teaching sessions taken by Mark Hill (Warsash, Hampshire) on the first 14 verses of Judges chapter 6. Following some prayer time we prepared the bags for distribution with Seed Sowers texts and an invite to a free dinner and short Bible message the following Sunday. This took some time, supper followed, and thereafter a time of singing for half an hour.

On the Saturday morning, we commenced at 9 a.m. with a time of prayer followed by preparation for the distribution effort (arranging teams, reading maps). The morning distribution ran from 10 till 12:30. Some went in cars, others in a minibus and some on foot. The weather was very favourable. We returned to the hall for a barbecue lunch before the afternoon session of distribution scheduled from 2.30 to 5.30 pm. Around 55 participated in the distribution, a good number of whom were from other parts of the UK. Our thanks go to those in the assembly who provided accommodation and also for the provision of lovely meals throughout the weekend. In the evening after tea, we had further teaching from Mark Hill on the latter verses of Judges 6 following which there was an hour of hymn singing.

On Sunday morning the Breaking of Bread was followed by ministry. The subject was the 12 disciples - 12 ordinary men. This particular week Adrian Webb took us through references to Philip:

called to follow (John 1); challenged in following (John 6); introducing others to follow (John 12); clarity in following (John 14).

After lunch, we had our third and final session of distribution from 2-4.30 pm mainly around the locality of the hall and in areas that had not been finished the previous day. Following this there was a short time of fellowship concluding what had been a wonderful weekend.

Witney, Cotswolds

17-19 May 2024

with North Leigh assembly

It was greatly encouraging to see so many saints from north and south of the Cotswolds joining with the assembly to distribute 20,000 texts across the town of Witney and the surrounding villages including North Leigh

For the week following the distribution, the assembly held Gospel meetings in a coffee shop in the centre of Witney with Cameron Piper preaching, and a number from the town came in under the sound of the Gospel.

Pray for a young man J - he came to two of the Gospel mtgs, and showed continuing interest for a while. Pray not only that this interest would be sustained, but that he would be saved.

2023

Around the UK

In 2023, we were able to go back to Ayrshire and Bath, and sow Gospel seed into new areas in Scotland and the West Country. There were also further new opportunities in Northern Ireland and the East Midlands.

16,000 texts were distributed in the Waterside area of Londonderry. We were greatly encouraged to have over 70 believers join us for the day, and as well as the Seed Sower texts, invitations were given to the OBEX exhibition held in a local hotel by Robert Armstrong. 43 Bibles were given out. One man, C, has a praying mother and had a desire to have a physical Bible! He was overwhelmed when we arrived at his door and he has a genuine desire to be saved.

Spencer Bridge Road assembly invited us to fellowship with them covering NN5 postcode in Northampton. Around 14000 texts were distributed, a number of Bibles given out, with Gospel meetings following taken by Andy Mullan.

Seville, Spain

Moving into the Autumn, our brothers Clifford (NI) and Alfonso (USA) organised a distribution in Seville, Spain, in association with Carl Knott. A small team from the UK joined with Spanish and Venezualan saints to cover the old city where the assembly is based. All were greatly encouraged by the fellowship, and the contacts made, some who subsequently attended the meetings.

As of 9th November 2023, there had been 27 Bible requests and 2 people having attended a meeting as a result of receiving a text and invitation, were given a Bible.

1) One of these requests for a Bible was sent to Carl by someone who lived in a town 30 km away, heading towards Portugal. They were in Seville and noticed a text lying on the street, someone having thrown it away. They picked it up, took it back to their village and wrote asking Carl if he would send them a Bible! PTL!

2) On 20th April 2024 we received a message from Carl that a young Venezuelan woman had professed faith in the Lord recently, and this is obviously very encouraging. Attendance has been slowly increasing at the prayer meeting and gospel meeting.