Again, I want to welcome each one along tonight. We do thank you for being here. We did announce on the Lord's Day it is a deputation meeting. And so we give a warm welcome to our brother, Mr. Robert McConnell. He is an elder in our church in Cumber, and he also works under the mission board of our church as a child evangelist. And so we had him back in the summertime for our holiday Bible club. And it's nice to have our brother back in Hillsborough this evening. So we invite you to come now for your deputation meeting. Thank you. Well, first of all, I want to thank your minister and the session here for giving us an invitation to come back. We've been here before, and it's always good to then be asked back again, and you hopefully then know you've done something right on a former occasion. It is really lovely to be with you. The fact that you're here tonight's a great encouragement to my heart. Whenever we go and we do deputation meetings, especially now when the winter's in upon us, the temperatures are dropping, and it's easier not to be here, well, it's a good encouragement to me to see you here. You know, whenever we do deputation meetings, there's certain language that we have to use that sometimes we're not very comfortable with using. And what I mean by that is very simply this. As we speak tonight and we bring this little report, there will be an awful lot of I this and I that and I the other thing. Now, we have to use that terminology because this is the work that the Lord has put us into. But I would hope tonight very speedily, very swiftly, that you'll be able to get past that. And tonight, if you see anything of eternal value, anything of the salvation of souls amongst boys and girls, anything of the furtherance of the gospel among our young people, know of assurance, of great certainty, that it's all off the Lord. We're really only here tonight to bring a report on what the Lord's doing, what the Lord has done, and what we trust he will do in the days that lie ahead if we're spared to see them. And so with that said, tonight our plan is very simple. We want to share a few thoughts with you from God's word, and then we're going to go straight into the report. And then at the very end, and we're very keen to keep it to the end, and then hopefully you'll stay to the end, we have a little short five minute PowerPoint. It's a little presentation with a little bit of background music. Sometimes whenever we give reports, we feel within ourselves, and hopefully it doesn't come out that way, but we feel within ourselves that it can be a little bit disjointed. because sometimes you run from this to that to the other. But we do hope that by the very end, when you see the little pictures, I've been told that a picture is worth a thousand words. When you see the pictures, hopefully they'll all come together very nicely. I always smile whenever I say that a picture is worth a thousand words, because in Bible college, during the exams, no matter how many pictures I drew for the lecturers, they wanted the thousand words every time, all the time. But it is a joy to be with you. I did notice tonight that your minister did pick two very long hymns, one with six verses and one with five verses. And we use this ploy in our children's meeting. We get them to sing and to sing and to sing so that they're tired and then they sit up straight and they behave for the rest of the meeting. We trust that that's not the motive behind what we sang tonight. But it is a real joy to be with you. I wonder will you turn just for a few minutes to the book of Exodus. As I say we just want to leave a few thoughts, we'll leave preaching to those who are capable of it. I of course would far rather have this room filled with boys and girls and we do have very fond memories of the Holiday Bible Club in the summer. Whenever we come in the first night we were just taken aback at the hard work and the effort that was put in, even in preparing the hall and all the work that went on in the background. And of course, I would far rather, I'm sorry to say, have this hall filled with boys and girls so that I can tell you all to sit up straight and fold your arms and no more running in and out until the end of the meeting. But let's just look for a few moments to Exodus chapter 10. It's a very, very long narrative. It's a tremendous story. It covers many, many chapters, and I want just to pluck a little bit out of one very small portion and part of this narrative. It's the whole story behind the captivity of the children of Israel. in the land of Egypt for that very long period of time. And how, through suffering, they began to cry out to the Lord for help and for him to intervene. And the Lord, in mercy, heard that cry, and he sent both Moses and Aaron to dialogue, to speak with wicked Pharaoh about letting the people go so that they could go and worship out in the wilderness. We want to break into the reading at Exodus chapter 10 and verse number eight. And it says there, and Moses and Aaron were brought again onto Pharaoh. And he said unto them, go serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go? And Moses said, we will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. With our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go. And your little ones, look to it, for evil is before you. Not so. Go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord. For that ye did desire, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence." I want just to end a reading at that point in the chapter. And maybe before we do anything more or say anything more, we'll have another wee word of prayer. Our gracious God and our Heavenly Father, we would just want to settle our hearts afresh in thy presence. For many, it has been a busy day. And we would pray, O Lord, that the legitimate business that was carried out today would not be carried into God's house. We would ask, O Lord, that thou would enable us to leave it to the side. that, Lord, we would just want to concentrate on Thee. We want just to spend time with Thee. We want Thee to speak to us and to succour us and to be near unto us and have a word for us, to help us. For we are a needy, needy people. And so, Lord, to that end, we would just ask tonight for a cleansing, for a fresh filling, for help from on high, and, Lord, to do much, do your best to uplift the name of our Savior. For we ask it all in his name and for his sake. Amen. The three thoughts that I want to leave with you tonight, the first is centered in this portion. The others will be elsewhere. And tonight, because we are engaged in children's work, I want to look at the fact that Satan has a ploy, first of all, to keep our children out of church. And then secondly, Satan has a plan to infiltrate our children's education. And thirdly, Satan is preparing places to steal your children away as they grow up into adulthood from the things of God. And so with our stall all laid out before us, we'll begin with the first little thought. And it is the fact that Satan has a ploy to keep our children out of God's house, whether it be the Sunday services, or whether it be the Sunday school class, or the children's work, or the youth fellowship meeting. The devil does not want our children and young people to come in through the doors of this meeting house. The portion that we have before you is a fine example of that being the very case. It's no good making an assertion about something without going to God's word and getting a backing for it. And there is most certainly here in the verses laid before us evidence of this truth. Here we have Moses and Aaron. They are brought again to Pharaoh. And of course, if you know your Bible well, that very often Pharaoh can be seen as a type, as a picture of the devil, of Satan. And here in this dialogue, these two men come before Pharaoh again. And in verse number eight, all by way of communication seems to be going well. It seems to be a good start being made in verse number eight. It says, and Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh and Pharaoh. And he said onto them, go serve the Lord, your God. And things seem to be kicking off exactly as these men had hoped. But of course, you must remember tonight that this man, Pharaoh, not only did he see himself as a God and as a leader and a ruler in the land, but he was politically motivated, a greedy, selfish man in many ways. And with that political mindset that he had, he was very easily and very able to say two different things out of the one mouth from two different sides. And from one side of his mouth, he was able to say to these men, In verse number eight, go serve the Lord your God. But then all of a sudden, there's a 180 degree turn, and he goes on to say, but who are they that shall go? He gives the reins out, and then he pulls the brakes in. And things begin to change. But Moses does something remarkable in verse number nine. Because in verse number nine, Moses does something that you, if you're involved in public service, or if you're involved in one-to-one evangelism, you ought to do exactly the same as what Moses did here. And what did he do in verse nine? We are told that Moses said, Moses repeats verbatim exactly what the Lord tells him to say. He does not diminish. He does not add. He does not flower out what he has been told to say. He does not water it down. He says it exactly as God tells him to say it. And we who serve the Lord, you who are that witness, ought to be exactly the same. And Moses repeats exactly as God commands. Moses says, we will go with our young. That's a good start. And with our old, and no doubt all in between. And with our sons and with our daughters. There's the family brought in. and with our flocks and our herds will we go." Now, we wouldn't encourage you to bring your flocks and herds into the service, but you will know that in the Old Testament way, that those flocks and herds were going to be used by means of sacrifice. You see, they were going to come, they were going to feast, they were going to worship the Lord out in the wilderness, but they were going to do it the blood-sprinkled way. But in verse number 10 and verse number 11, you have some quite difficult language. It's worded in a way that if you were to read it very quickly or read it lightly or read it with not much thought, you could maybe miss the whole essence of it. Because in verse number 10 and verse number 11, answer is given by Pharaoh in response to the Lord's command by the mouth of Moses. And I want just to paraphrase what the answer was given back. Basically what Pharaoh said was this, I will let you go. But what about your little ones? Some evil will befall them. Now we can't have that, can we? So only the men can go. That's basically what we have here. We have a desire to go out in obedience to God to worship. Whole families, children, older folk, the whole family unit, the whole lot of them. But here we have, and you must remember, Pharaoh is a type of the devil, putting the brakes on. He does not want those children out in the wilderness. He does not want to see them watching the lamb being slaughtered, the blood being shed. and coming that blood sprinkled away, and it is exactly the same tonight. He does not want little ones coming into this house. He does not want them sitting under the sound of the gospel. He does not want them hearing about the Lord Jesus suffering and bleeding and dying upon the cross. He does not want them to know that without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. He doesn't want them to know those things because he wants to see them lost forevermore. We need to remember tonight that the devil is a ploy to keep our children out of church. But secondly, Satan also has a plan to infiltrate our children's education. Now, because of time, we'll not go to the place, but you can look this up for yourself later on. In Daniel chapter 1, you will read there about Nebuchadnezzar. Again, on many occasions, Nebuchadnezzar can be seen as a type of the devil. And in Daniel chapter 1, you will read how Israel, being a very weak nation, was easily overthrown. And Nebuchadnezzar came right in. And he took over the whole nation in a very short space of time, very quickly, very fully. There's nothing that people could do about it. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, wanted his nation, the Babylonian nation, to be a world superpower. And to have that, he needed much knowledge. See, knowledge is power. And he needed much knowledge, and so his decision was to take away from Israel those young men who were very bright, very well-able. The Bible talks about them being unblemished and well-favored, et cetera. And his whole desire was to take those young men to the side, away from the learning that they were getting, which was totally adequate and upright and proper, and he was going to re-educate them And in verse 4 of Daniel chapter 1, we're told he wanted to teach them the learning and the ways and even to integrate them into the whole system of the Chaldean people and false religion and idol worship. But thank God tonight for a young man called Daniel. He was soundly saved and well brought up on his mother's knee. And he purposed in his heart not to defile himself with these things. But it's the same today. We need to be very aware that in education, that is an area where the devil is stealing our children out from under our nose. And we need to be very wise to what our children are learning and who their teacher is. I can remember as a wee boy myself, even in my day and age, how far gone teaching was in the classroom. Things that I was taught on the Monday was the opposite of what I heard on the Sunday. Not similar or not near, the absolute opposite. So both couldn't be right. So who was telling the lie? Who was trying to re-educate me? Who was trying to get me to doubt the truth? Take me away, give me a half-truth. Infiltrate my education. And if it was bad in my day, how much worse it is this day. And we need to be aware of it, and we need to know what's going on. And you know, we need to watch every teacher. Sometimes we allow the television to be the teacher. And again there, there's many problems. Sometimes we allow the internet to be the teacher. And again there, there's many problems. I know that we would be wise as to who is teaching our children pollution, redirecting, taking them away from the truth of God's precious word. We need to be aware. Thirdly and lastly, you know, the devil not only has got a ploy to keep our children out of church, and not only does he plan to infiltrate and to destroy and to corrupt their education and redirect their thoughts to things that are not right, but he also has taken great pains to follow after our children. And he's preparing places to take them to, to distract them and get them away from the things of God. Again, we don't need to look it up tonight for the sake of time, but in Exodus chapter two, you'll read there that beautiful story, we often love to share it with the boys and girls, of the great threat that the people of Israel were under, and how Jochebed felt that threat very, very pointedly, because Pharaoh had threatened, because of the largeness of the population of Israel, to then start to murder, and that's what it was, murder those little infants, those little boys belonging to the Hebrew people. And Jochebed had this little infant. She had little Moses. And we've got to bring it into real thoughts, and we've got to just try and apply it in our own lives, in our own minds. There was this dear lady, and she had heard the word from those who were in authority, and what they were doing, and how they were starting to come into the districts and the outer areas of where she was living. And the soldiers were going from house to house, and little ones were being taken. And it was just that whole talk. Such and such a little one, gone, drowned. And those little ones up there, gone, drowned. And Jochebed hearing all this and knowing and hearing about these soldiers coming street and street and street and getting nearer to her little home. She was under great pressure, but she was a godly woman. And I would say, no doubt, and we're just going to put a little bit of sanctified imagination in here, but no doubt that woman would have gone and sought the Lord greatly. You would have done it. I would have done it for help about this awful situation. And maybe the Lord gave her that little bit of measure of wisdom just to consider back to the days of Noah and how that ark was built. And those eight were saved, and all those animals. And if the Lord could do that with a wee boat, a wee ark, what could he not do? with a little basket in the bulrushes with this wee lad of hers. And so she set about thinking about that great plan and building this, I suppose, a little miniature ark for the safety of her own little one, depending on the Lord to see the whole thing through. And you know the story, it's a wonderful story. The little child was left there in the bulrushes along the river's edge, Pharaoh's daughter and the servants coming down to bathe. And I can see here the wonderful hand of God's providence We ought to take more time to think about God's providence, not just in the Bible stories, but in our own lives. Go and reflect of where you were and how the Lord has taken you and how the Lord is leading you, and it'll do your heart good. And here God's providence is seen so keenly because just at the right moment, when they were just at the right place, that little infant perhaps would have cried out. And then going over to investigate and looking into the basket, and just again at the right moment, the Lord with the cause of that little infant, we teared her on down the big chubby cheek. And that was it. She was smitten. And she wanted this child for her own. Never mind him being a Hebrew. She just fell in love, doting over him. And of course, being of royal descent and not having the experience of nursing, she immediately looks for a nurse. And of course, Jochebed, having that sense of mind, had her older daughter Miriam standing by, watching over to bring a report home, to be there just to be a backup. And of course, Miriam steps out. I'll get you. I'll get you. I'll get you, nurse. No problem. Just you wait. I'll be back in a quick as a flash. And of course, she did. And you know what we have here? we have the very first instance of child benefit being paid by those who are in leadership, those in government, to pay a mother to look after her own child. Because that's what happened. You see, it's old yet ever new, isn't it? And who's in power today, if they'd only get to God's book, they would see all these things for themselves. But of course, in this story, What an opportunity is now given to the mother of this child, to nurse up, to nurture up, and to be with this little one. But you know, those looking on, looking over, looking from behind, would say, Jochebed, you're wasting your time. What are you doing? You're wasting your time teaching that wee lad about God, about his need of the Savior. You're wasting your time because you know what? There's coming a day when he's going up to that palace. It's all organized. And of course, it did happen in verse 10 of that same chapter. He was taken up to the palace. And they would all be saying, you're wasting your time. What foolishness. As soon as he's up in the palace with all the sin and the wickedness and the lavish living and the overindulgence, he'll forget all about God. He'll forget all about him. But you know what? The efforts of that dear mother paid off. Because in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24 and 25, we're told there that by faith or having come to faith in God, that this young man Moses, and the language is really strong, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. We've covered some things tonight. What are we getting at? What's the lesson? We need to get our children to God early, often, and always, because the Bible has made us a promise. God has made us a promise. He cannot break this promise, and it's for you and for me to hold on to tonight. Train up a child in the way he should go And when he is old, he will not depart from it. And so I trust tonight that as we've looked at these few things, that we'll be wise and we'll be willing and we'll put that redoubled effort into our children. Because sad to say, at this moment in time, those that are unsaved, they're really in the lap. of the wicked one. And so we need to pray, and we need to put in the effort, and we need to see them won for our Savior early in life. We'll leave it just there tonight, and we want now just to go straight into the wee report, and we'll try and be as succinct as we can. Normally, whenever we come and we bring a report, we usually go back over the last three years and just give you a little update on what has happened over that period. But tonight, we want to go in a completely different direction. We really actually want to go back over the last 15 years. Now, we promise tonight not to be five times as long, and we'll try and squeeze it all down. And the reason why we want to go over the last 15 years is the fact that this is now our 15th year at working full-time under our own denomination, our own mission board, as a full-time child evangelist. Whenever we made that decision to work under our own board, we did so for many reasons. We wanted to work alongside men of like precious faith, We wanted to do it the biblical way. We wanted to do it the way the Scriptures have laid out. And having done that, we are in many ways curtailed to who we can get our support from. We only work within our own denomination. We can't run here, there, and yonder. And we thank the Lord that we have never needed to even consider that. God's people have been more than good, and through prayer and practical support, we've been able to be on this field for 15 years, and every need has been met, and the Lord has been good to our combined efforts, and he's brought great glory to his own son's name, because many boys and girls have been under the sound of the gospel, and many boys and girls have been saved. And you know, tonight, I can rejoice. I've just come away from our own children's meeting, And, you know, there's some of our leaders in our children's meeting who were from unsaved background, and they came into our children's meeting just as we taught, and they grew up through our meeting, and the Lord saved them. And some people would pour a bit of cold water in that. Well, you know, they're only doing it to please you. Well, if you present the gospel in the wrong way, that could well be the case. But, you know, we have workers in our children's meeting tonight. and they were saved in our children's meeting, as children, and now they're back, and they're workers and leaders. And you know, very often we would hope and pray that the Lord would take from within our church family, our own children, to serve Him fully. But sometimes that doesn't happen. And sometimes the Lord has to go way out into a far country and bring back a Ruth to be used and blessed and owned of Himself. And tonight we can say that is the case. Now, over these last 15 years, whenever we first started out, well, we had a lot to learn. We always had an interest and always enjoyed doing children's work. We were a Sunday school teacher for a long time, involved in the children's meeting and the youth meetings. But the Lord then brought in a vow that I made as a young man. As a young man, I can remember being in attendance at one of the great missionary rallies and the martyrs at Easter time. And the speaker that night, he wasn't calling for young people to come and serve the Lord. He went a step behind that. He said, is there a young man or a young woman here tonight? And you're just willing to serve the Lord. And on that night, I was greatly pressed upon, and the Lord gave us the grace even to say, Lord, we're nothing and nobody, but if you want us, we most certainly are willing. We're willing to serve you in whatever way you would have us to do. There was an appeal made. A very large number of people came forward that night. I was numbered among them. There were people who stood either side of me, and I don't remember much about them, but they can remember me. And we like to look back to that time. But on that particular night, as soon as the closing prayer of the meeting occurred, We were all escorted through a side door behind the pulpit that I'd never been through before in the martyrs. We were taken up these back stairs. I'd never been up there before. And down corridors and up other stairs. And suddenly, I thought, actually, they were taking us out through some back door. to the airport and we'd be in Africa in the morning. But that was just my naivety. But we'll look at it this way, we're willing to go through with the Lord, come what may. But you know what happened that night was the best thing that could ever happen. to curtail that willingness. We were all taken into a back room. The evangelist came up and he said, men and women, young people, we're glad that you've come here tonight. And you've publicly made yourself willing and available to serve the Lord. Now, what I want you to do from now on is this. Go back to your own church. Get to the prayer meeting. Be involved in the open air. Be at the children's meeting. Put yourself out and be on the bus. Do work around the church. Make yourself available. And so that's what we began to do. But for 25 years, that's all we did. That's where the Lord would have us. We went into secular employment. Now, I don't really like calling it secular employment. You might feel that you're in secular employment. But basically, if you're out working in the public domain, that's your mission field. That's where the Lord has you tonight. That's where you're to serve him. It's not really secular employment. But I worked for about 25 years, and then the Lord brought that vow back to me. Are you still willing now? Now, at this stage, I had a little family. I had a mortgage, I had bills to pay, I had many a commitment. And the Lord gave us the grace and humbled us to be willing to go through with him. And we went into Bible college and we left it all behind. I hadn't been out of work one day in my life and all that time, but the Lord provided and opened the way. And in the beginning, things were very small. We had so much to learn. I was used to a very set daily routine, and this was going to be all different for us. And so we went to that part of the work where we felt most comfortable, and that was doing children's meetings and children's missions. And we learned a lot, and we gained experience, and we then began to widen it out. And we began to look at the schools, And we got into schools. We're not going into the detail of that tonight because time wouldn't allow us. But we began to get into one school, and another school, and another school. And the Lord was opening these doors for us. And today we have the joy of being able to say that we would get into upwards, it fluctuates a little bit between 40 and 50 schools just depending on how things are. Schools are a very fluid place I've discovered. There's an awful lot of staff changes in schools and retirements and especially this last few years. In fact, it has happened nearly right throughout this last 15 years. I can remember getting bookings in a school and going there for the first term and then hoping to get back into the school. And all of a sudden, the headmaster and five of the staff all retired in the one time. I thought, what have I done here? Is this me? Am I a terrible person? And so these things can happen. But we just leave it with the Lord. And we trust that he will just keep those doors open. We have made some wonderful friends through those years. There have been a lot of folk who have been very for us and very encouraging, but it's not always the case. And I would ask that you would pray for us as we go into the school environment, because unlike church services, unlike the Sunday services here, Where, if you're going well with the Lord, you're for the man in the pulpit. You've been praying for him, that the Lord will help him, enable him, give him a word in the study, that you will be benefited from that. But not everybody's for us when we go out into the school environments. There are those who are very evidently against us. And sometimes it's difficult. And although we're a home missionary, sometimes we do feel very lonely. and we covet your prayers. The Lord has been very good to us. The Lord has opened many doors into many places where we never thought we would be, and yet he has done. I was just saying to your minister earlier tonight that we're quite curtailed in some of the stories that we can tell you because we realize that we're going out live, but the Lord has done some wonderful things. Normally, during a school week, we would maybe get to see upwards of 2,000 boys and girls. That's a very humbling thing. Sometimes on a given school morning, we'll go into a school and there may be 400 boys and girls sitting before us. We're very aware that the vast majority of those dear children know nothing about God. They don't have a Bible. They don't know any of the stories that you and I would know. And they most certainly don't have any idea of the application behind those stories and their need of a savior. And so we would pray that you would, we'd ask that you would pray that as we go and we speak to the children that we will be able to break God's word down so that they'll be able to understand it and drink it in and grasp it We don't want to flitter it away and have no message. We're very conscious that many of these children, outside of that 10 minute slot, they may never get to hear the gospel again. And so we really value your prayers. But there are other occasions and there are other schools where we get in on a very, very regular basis. And you know, whenever we go into a little school, sometimes in September, and we get to see those little P1s for the first time, they're ever so small. But you know what, they would frighten the life out of you because they would take the whole shoes and socks and everything off you if you weren't careful, because the modern P1s are not like in our day. They're ready and going for everything. But you know, in the following year, you see those same children, and they're now in P2. And then the following year, you see them again, and they're now in P3. And you're getting year after year an opportunity to present their need of the Savior, to present our precious Lord Jesus. And you know, not only are there boys and girls in the school environment, there are also staff members as well. And one of the little schools that I go into, the head teacher has been very good to me. And she would have a religious knowledge, be a really terrific singer, sings in a choir. And on one particular day after I had just finished the little assembly, the P1s were being dismissed, P2s were heading out, and I was gathering my bits and pieces up, and she just came up past me as close as that, and she said, Robert, I never heard that before. And what she had never heard before, which is a very simple application of a personal need of the Savior. So do pray for the staff, as well as the children, that the Lord will work and move. There's another school that we go into on a very regular basis, and there's a dear caretaker in that school. And as all the children are sitting, and they're facing this way, I can see him coming through the glass doors. And he just slips in, and he just stands right at the door. And as soon as the assembly's finished, away he goes. Now the Lord is bringing that man in, and I trust that the Lord's working in that man's heart. He's hearing a message that's suitable for children, but it's just as suitable for him. And pray for that individual, that the Lord will work and move and save even his dear soul. There are many other things in this work over the last 15 years that has progressed and has enlarged, and we want to thank the Lord for it. And one of those things is also the United Children's Camp. About 10 years ago, the mission board decided that we ought to have a camp not for the older teenagers, but for the children. Now, these are children aged 7 to 11. And whenever this was presented to the home missionaries, because we were going to be heavily involved in it, I have to say that I probably poured the most cold water on it. Because all I had was these visions on the first night of 50 children never having left their mummy for more than half an hour, all crying their eyes out, wanting home, homesick. Now, there always is a little bit of homesickness. But we thank God that among our workers, there are those who are what I call mothers in Israel, and have a great way with the wee ones, and just comfort and help them. And then we get them past the first night, and then they're flying. But you know, in the early years, we were struggling to get about 50 children to come to this. And then we hit that 50 mark, and then we started to notice that there were others being left out, because we only had that number of spaces. About three years ago, our mission board then took a large leap of faith, and they decided to double the camps and have two camps. And that would mean 100 boys and girls. And we rejoiced that since that first decision, every year since, we have had those two camps. Those two camps have been full. And young children have come along, and we have endeavored to challenge them with the gospel. We have done our little devotions with them, and we also have a little segment part of the day where we would challenge them by way of serving the Lord. And of course, we have all the activities as well. Many of those children have become lifelong friends from those camps. Children have been saved at those camps, and others have been encouraged and edified in the things of the Lord. Another part of the work that has continued and has expanded was the idea and the thought behind doing training seminars. You know, it's always good to work alongside those of like precious faith, but as we do work together, we want to work our very best. We want to do the thing, want to serve the Lord in the best way possible. And over this last 10 or 15 years, there have been training seminars specifically for our children's workers and our Sunday school teachers. And do watch out for those, and do, if you can, attend them. They're good for all, those who speak and those who also would be in attendance, because the Bible does say that iron sharpeneth iron. And as we have those seminars, very often the home workers, those involved in children's work, well, we will take time to show how often and how badly we have gone wrong down the years and how the Lord has given us a measure of wisdom and we will try then and impart that to others so that they can run their Sunday school better or do their children's meeting in a way that's more, it's easier for the whole workers and children to be there rather than it being a struggle and a chore and a difficulty and a problem. Another part of the work that has greatly expanded is the online ministry. You know, for years and years and years, the Free Presbyterian Church has been very evangelical in its outlook. We can all agree to that. And not just within the four walls of a church building, but in the way in the early days, there has been a great effort put into getting a tape ministry started, and tapes out the door to friends and out into the neighborhood. And those who are shut in and those who are sick, I can remember an uncle of mine, and he had one of the little tape recorders about this size, the big batteries in the back of it, and then the wire coming out and the microphone. And he would always sat near the front during the services. And he had held the microphone away out like this here to try and pick up all the minister was saying. And then the funny thing was, during the singing, he had the microphone like this. He thought he was a tremendous singer. But anyway, he would have got those tapes recorded and run off and sent out. And then, of course, we began to get a little bit more upmarket. We had our recording desks. And then we went into the DVDs and the CDs. And now we're all online. And the purpose of it all is to get the gospel spread far and wide. But you know, in all those years, and nobody has ever corrected me, and so I feel that I've licensed the same right. In all those years, there was nothing pointedly set by way of program for children. But four years it came during all those times of lockdown. There are online today 100 plus videos still there. Good evangelical stuff that can be accessed for boys and girls. And maybe you're like me and you don't really like to engage too much in conversation with people in case they get you all tongue tied and twisted. Well, all you need to do is say, FPC kids, It's not hard to remember. There's a wee thing there online. Your children would enjoy it. That's all you need to do. Leave it with the Lord. Pray about it. And that's how he worked on for him. And it's all there. Holiday Bible clubs, again, way back 15 or so years ago, that wasn't really the norm. It's almost the norm now. It's a rare thing not to have a holiday Bible club in our churches. But again, much has been done over those years. It's great to work alongside fellow laborers, reaching in the community, getting the children in, maybe getting the parents in. And it's a wonderful means of evangelism. We also do little pop-up meetings. During the lockdown, I pressurized our men, something shocking, to go and get me a gazebo. Now, if you don't know what a gazebo is, it's a very expensive tent with no sides in it. And I got this gazebo erected around the housing estates. And you know the Lord really honored those efforts. And he replenished our Sunday school. And he gave us a whole new crop of children for our children's meetings. Children's literature, that's another part of the work. Again, a very important ongoing part of the work. Our mission board have been very good. They've allowed us to put together a lovely little series of tracts. There's five of them. They're sound. They're good. We've also got a little booklet called Running the Christian Race. And it's a great little booklet for boys and girls who have been saved, but they need now shepherding. And to give them that little booklet to tell them why they need to pray and read their Bible, how they should worship, These things are all important. You know, very often whenever we go into the Christian bookshops, I don't know how it is for you, but it is for me. Sometimes you're stalling and you get a wee book down and you nearly need to read the whole book from start to finish because some of the things that are in some of these storybooks, well, they're unscriptural and that's the bottom line. And as you're reading it, you have one eye reading the book and you have another one juking over at the person behind the counter and they're starting to go, is he going to buy this book? Is he going to dog ear all the pages? And what's he doing? And, you know, we do need to be so careful. And that Christian literature is an ongoing part and a very important part of the work. Yes, the work was very small in the early days, but with Job we can say our latter end has greatly increased. But you know something we tonight could do with Easily, and you might not believe it, but we could do with easily 20 full-time children's workers. Now, you might say, now, that's a lot. What do you mean, that's a lot? Well, you know, we don't even have enough full-time children's workers to have a county each. We are the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Ulster's got nine counties. Poor Auntie Joyce, she's in South Armagh and South Down, a sort of bandit country, isn't it? So she's well capable down there. But Aunty Joyce will soon be retiring. Aunty Christina, she's in North Antrim and County Antrim. I'm in the posh area of Northdown and Lisburn, et cetera. But you know, there are so many areas not even touched. I thank the Lord tonight for many of our men who are capable and willing to go into schools and to take part in these sorts of things. But you know something? There's a part of children's work that's unique to children's work. And that is the fact that children are not children for very long. They disappear by the time they're in P6, because the devil is robbing them of their childhood. And you know what? How many are slipping through the net? Because we haven't the heart. We haven't the desire. We haven't the workers, maybe we haven't the will to see this work progress. And then we wonder why, we wonder why the work isn't as it should be. You know, an old judge one time said, a child brought up in Sunday school is seldom brought up before me. Words of wisdom. I don't know if that old man fully understood the depth of what he was saying, but he was completely right. Whether that child is brought up in Sunday school or children's meeting or youth fellowship, that man was right, they're very seldom brought up before him. You see, God's word has a curbing influence over sin, but hallelujah, it's got a converting influence over the sinner. And we need to see these children won early in life when they're tender in heart, when they're open to the things of God. The vast majority, I would say in this room, were probably saved before they were 20. There's a testimony to see this work through. I want to thank you tonight for listening so much, listening so well. And we trust that the Lord will even bless in the days that lie ahead. We're going to show this little PowerPoint now, 25 minutes, and then we'll hand straight back over to your minister. And we trust as you see the little pictures and you see the boys and girls, that'll be a blessing to your heart. And the Lord is good, and we thank him for it. you you you you you you We're very grateful to our brother Robert this evening for coming along and for sharing the work with us. And it's tremendous to see how the work has expanded over the past 14 or 15 years. And it's very encouraging. And we would ask you to take our brother to your heart in prayer and continue to remember him at the throne of grace.