Nollaig Shona (Merry Christmas)

As I reflect on this past year I can't help but think about what a privilege it is to be able to be here in Ireland doing what I am doing. I do not take for granted the support of those of you who pray for me and give financially. Without you the work I am doing would be much more limited in its scope, so I thank you.

This week I was particularly encouraged by my experience of supporting a group of teenage guys to lead our church's midweek evening meeting. They surprised me in their ability to take on the responsibilities that were involved. Two of them played guitar and drums for the worship time, and then two different groups of them shared on two different passages in Jesus sermon on the mount from Matthew 7. They did an awesome job communicating how God was working in their lives and illustrating with stories and drawings the words of Jesus. I was so proud of these guys making a stand for God, and obviously the parents were moved.

I am reminded of Paul's words to the Galatian believers:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

God has been very good in countless ways this last year and I am excited about what is in store in His grace for 2012.

- Noel Cammack

Lastly,

A few things happening this New Year.

• I am getting married to Heather Church this summer! If you are reading this, you are invited to our wedding and reception in Fairbanks, Alaska. You can find most of the information at this website: http://www.noelandheatherwedding.blogspot.com/

• In Ireland our church is in the midst of a process to expand our ministry reach into another town on a regular basis. For the past several months we have been having regular prayer and worship meetings and now we are looking at ways that we can begin to bring the good news to this community. We are looking at a variety of options to put our resources into and would appreciate prayer for direction on how begin this work. Prayer is key and then Action! (I am reminded of Yvonne Mayo's prophetic word about getting the church outside our walls and Will's message to our church to just get the torpedoes in the water.)

• I have been working on developing an Irish website to share the good news of the abundant Life found in an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. Most people in Ireland would call themselves Christian, but very, very few have experienced the transforming work of Jesus Christ in their life and this website is created to encourage these name-only Christians as well as those who don't believe at all to evaluate the true message of Jesus Christ and it's life changing power. We hope to release this website with life stories of Irish Christians in early 2012 and have created business cards for our people to pass out to friends and neighbours and whoever else they meet. 

Power

I have recently been working on an Economics research paper regarding a tax that has been added onto final consumer's electricity bill. The primary purpose of the levy was to get money to provide subsidies for renewable energy. Our aim of the project was to find out whether these subsidies and taxes were a good idea and whether they were creating value for the consumers.

Without going into long boring detail into all of that, what surprised me was the emerging significance of wind power as a source of energy. Wind energy is not just for hippies who want warm showers in their cottages, it is becoming a financially feasible source of renewable energy for nations. This is particularly important to a nation like Ireland who has very limited energy resources and who at present depends on imported fossil fuels for almost 90% of its energy needs, which is becoming particularly dangerous as oil and gas prices have been rising higher and higher in recent years.

What struck me recently was a spiritual parallel to this race for power and resources that will not run out as I read the following three passages of Scripture:

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Gal. 5:16)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (Acts 1:8)

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezek. 36:26-27)

I was reminded of God's empowering Spirit who we don't control, but who we can receive power from in order to live the lives we were called to, unpolluted and profitable!

Visitors from Alaska

I really enjoyed a visit from Will and Yvonne, pastors at my home church in Alaska. At the start I didn't really know them too well, but by the time their week here was over I came to respect them a lot, and would certainly call them friends. I had so much fun with them and was blessed by their ministry to the local church body here.

Packing Christmas Shoeboxes

A group of us from church went and helped sort and pack up shoe boxes with Christmas gifts for children in Eastern Europe and Africa. We had a great time.

Worship Workshops 2011

I started these workshops with our music ministry team the first week of September. It is going well.

. GUITAR . DANCE . SINGING . PIANO . DRUMS .

VISION: To Mentor Worshippers in their expressions of Praise and Worship to God.

WHEN: Tuesday Evenings September through October (for 8 Weeks)

               7:30pm to 8:45pm

WHERE: Portlaoise Family Worship Centre. Unit A11.

WHO: Limited Spaces available (will depend how many allowed by mentors.)

HOW:    7:00-7:30pm // Mentors Prayer and Setup

7:30-7:45pm // Why We Worship? Bible Study

               7:45-8:30pm // Group Time

               8:30-8:45pm // Clean-up

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 150

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!

"Foundations" Bible Study Materials

I have just completed the formatting and design of two introductory Bible study books, which were written by Barry White (an Irish local who also happened to graduate from the same Bible College as me). The first, "Foundations of the Christian Life" covers basic doctrinal topics like, who is Jesus Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit, Salvation and the New Birth, How does God guide us, etc. The second book "Foundations of the Christian Church" gives scripturally based teaching on what the Church is, what the ministry of every believer looks like, etc. The books total over 200 pages and will be released at a conference in Dublin at the end of this month (August). One aim is that they will go into more rural areas, particularly in the west of Ireland to help more isolated believers get a solid Biblical Foundations to their faith.

Pulse Youth Camp

I just arrived back from a week as a leader at Pulse Youth Camp. I brought a group of teenagers from my church who absolutely loved it. God did some amazing things. Below are some videos, testimonies and summary of what all went on there. Thank you for your prayers! - NOEL

Pulse camp was such a blessing to our youth from Portlaoise. I believe they have been deeply impacted by the presence of God, quality youth leaders and a week together with a camp filled with teenagers seeking God. The worship was moving. The atmosphere of fun and respect throughout the camp was excellent. The food was brilliant. The speakers covered topics that not only challenged but motivated and empowered the teenagers to live a genuine Christian life in their town. Already I have seen them living out what they learned and experienced. All the teenagers in my group said that they wanted to stay for one more week, but since that was not possible they are already beginning to invite their friends to next year’s Pulse Camp.

Thanks a million to the youth alive team
- Noel Cammack

Day One from Pulse Camp Media on Vimeo.

Day Two from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.





Day Three from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Day Four from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Day Five from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Pulse Camp 2011 from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

I (Noel) asked my teenagers what they enjoyed the most about camp and three comments were:
     “I loved the powerful times of worship in the presence of God.”
     “I enjoyed the team times that we had each day getting to know new friends and talking about God with each other.”
     "Pulse Camp was the BEST thing I have EVER done. FREAKING AWESOME."

LETTER FROM CAMP DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers during Pulse Camp last week.

183 attended. Areas represented were Dublin, Dundalk, Navan, Sligo, Belfast, Derry, Bray, Waterford, Newbridge, Galway, Cork, Greystones, Dun Laoghaire and Portlaoise. All stayed well and there were very few injuries. 

Many were saved. Many were set free from sin, apathy, fear, addictions etc. All had great fun and made many new friends.

Our theme was GO into YOUR world... We prepared our youth and their leaders to be missionaries in their schools in September.

We launched a prayer initiative called 541 School. We are encouraging people to pray 5 minutes a day for one school. See the Facebook page '541 School'. You too can choose a school and pray five minutes for one school.

We had a great group of leaders and helpers from all over Ireland and beyond who worked together phenomenally well.

Onwards,

Derek

Update - April 2011

I wanted to post a quick update what has been going on with myself here in Ireland this March and April.

First of all, Ireland is beautiful in Spring time. The daffodils are everywhere and everything is even greener than normal. Some tell me that you can start cutting your grass on St. Patrick's day, and others say, you can't cut it till Easter. I plan on doing that important job sometime in the middle as I'll be hosting an Easter Party/BBQ at my house and Easter Sunday. To celebrate perhaps the most important day in History.

The senior pastor at our church and his family are away for 6 weeks networking and sharing at many churches throughout the midwest and east coast of the USA, so I am kept busy in their absence.

Youth group is going well. We are doing the Alpha Course for the third time in 5 years as all of the students now in the youth group have never been through the course which introduces the Christian faith in a hopefully fun and engaging way. In mid-May, our church will also in conjunction with Youth Alive Ireland and a few other churches in our region be hosting a Youth Prayer Night. The purpose is to encourage and develop the prayer life among the teenagers themselves. The aim is to actively involve the teenagers in prayer as well as allow them to build relationships with other Christian teenagers from around Ireland.

In May I also am planning to return to Alaska for 6 weeks. If anyone is interested in meeting up just send me an email and I'll arrange a time for a visit. npcammack@familyworshipcentre.com

Thanks for your prayers and interest!

Noel

Visitors - February 2011

I (Noel) was really blessed to be able to have lots of visitors between the months of November and February. My parents David and Brigid arrived at the end of November for a four month stay and were a blessing in countless ways to myself and many others. I always hate to see them leave. I also had a great time with other visitors including Heather from Alaska, my brother Darin who visited Ireland for the first time in January, Rosie from Seattle who arrived with my sister Rachel and two nephews. The ministry in Ireland was also hugely encouraged by a visit of a group of thirteen from Bend Christian Fellowship in Bend, Oregon. My brother-in-law Ben, led this group on a whirlwind tour of ministry, sightseeing and hard work in Ireland.

During their stay the group from Bend sanded and painted walls, learned Irish dance, ate blood pudding, prayer walked, organized a kids event in order to allow married couples in Portlaoise church to have a date night, shopped on the streets of Dublin, led a Leadership seminar, spoke at women’s groups and quite a few prayer groups, led worship at a number of churches across the country and countless other acts of service particularly in the towns of Portlaoise, County Laois; Carlow, County Carlow; and Navan, County Meath. They also were kind enough to squash into four tiny European cars and travel thousands of kilometres around Ireland with smiles on their faces.

Below are a number of pictures from their stay here.

Autumnfest - November 2010

Autumnfest Conference 2010 Summarised by Pastor James Krechnyak.

This is our third year since we decided to transition from a "Church Retreat" away somewhere, to an actual conference at the Church, and once again...we were glad we did it!

Terry and Pat Carlson shared with us along the theme, "Saying, 'Yes'"

This conference had a greater "intimate" flavor as we had several sessions that were predominately Q & A time with two seasoned leaders. I was impressed with the questions. Those sessions were like a Bible School in miniature, covering a variety of topics, and straight to the point of the "burning issues" within. Off course we did this in Irish style over food and tea/coffee. I admit, I am drawn to the casual approach where we fellowship and be who we are with one another. Terry and Pat just seem to fit right in!

We were encouraged and challenged. Terry shared the opening night on how mostly everyone wants "God's will" for their lives, but the problem comes with, "Do we want it God's way?" Each session taking us deeper into what it means to walk with God and obedience to His call on our lives. This was an important event as new leaders are being released in the Church, as well as those who are starting to catch a vision for new ministries that may eventual be birthed in other places.

Pat spent a session with our Children's workers training and encouraging them in creativity and effectively reaching kid's hearts. We are truly blessed to have people not just share but to invest into our Church. This was their sixth or seventh trip to us (we have lost track). They left us after a few days of time with our family after the conference for some ministry in Belgium, and returned to Michigan for a few weeks before taking a team to Israel.

With every conference, God seems to take us deeper as a Church with Himself and to a new level. I especially noticed how leaders in our Church had become attached to Terry and Pat personally and were not only sad to see them leave, but longed for personal time to hank out with them.

We look forward to their next trip over to us, as we begin to plan a summer event to our conference schedule for 2011.

Newsletter - August 2010

Alaska

I had a great 2 week trip to Alaska at the end of June. I stayed at the
Huffman Ranch and just loved getting to see so many old friends and meet
some new ones. The Huffman’s, Fritz and others helped put on a huge BBQ
on Sunday where I could share about Ireland. I was so blessed by the prayer
time and the interest everyone showed in what is happening on this side of
the pond (Atlantic).

I got to share at two services at Door of Hope Church and was blessed
getting to know Pastor/Chief Will Mayo. I had a little bit of déjà-vu (or
something like that) as I shared with the DOH youth group, lots of memories.
My piano teacher and good friends Kathy and Dave Welch invited me to
share at their church and I was happily surprised that I got to share the
service with Linda Setterberg from Joel’s Place.


Summer Camp

Last week I arrived back from Pulse Youth Camp, tired, but extremely
blessed. The camp had teenagers from all across Ireland, North and South,
East and West.

The Holy Spirit was doing great things during the camp. Every morning and evening we had worship services with music and great teaching from God’s word. These services were constantly times of impact in the lives of the
teenagers. Following these meetings we would have small groups and the
teens in my group shared all kinds of testimonies of ways that God was
challenging, changing, and setting them free. They were encouraged to
seek God rather than the temptations that were holding them. One guy in
our group was set free from some fears and spiritual attacks that had been
happening from being involved in occult stuff. It was just brilliant getting to
be a part of what God was doing in their lives!

We also had tons of crazy games, a bouncing castles and ice-cream truck
day, lots of workshops in things like dance, audio/visual techniques, sports,
etc., a cool café, swimming and game-shows.

All in all it was a great camp even though my body seemed to require 14
hours of sleep the night after my return. ☺


Portlaoise Church News, Visiting Team

We had a group of teenagers from Oklahoma visit our church for a weekend
in July. On Saturday they helped us with a church work-party putting up
sheet-rock, sanding, and various other building jobs.

Then on Sunday they shared a lot of powerful testimonies, did some
awesome dramas and one of the young leaders preached a great sermon
about faith. It was very encouraging and fun time with some great teens.
After the Sunday worship service we had an all-church bbq in my back yard.
There were over a hundred of us there, playing volleyball, eating kielbasa,
and having a great time just hanging out.

Back to School...

This August I will be starting a part-time course in Dublin to get a master’s
degree in management. I am exited about this new opportunity and
prayerfully look forward to the ways God can use the skills I will gain for His
Kingdom. I will continue my same work in the church as this course is
distance learning and only requires 2 days a month in Dublin.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
* A sold-out, bold, uncompromising church in Ireland that is loving God and each other.
* Grassroots School of Ministry (training to plant churches in Europe and beyond
* Ability to find good balance of work and study.
* to be good at our main vocation, “belonging to Jesus.”

PRAISE REPORTS
* God is at work.
* Good health for Noel and Pastor James!
* Trip to Alaska was a blessing and encouragement.
* Productive and fun youth camp.
* Portlaoise church building project is nearing completion.
* New education opportunity.

Newsletter - March 2010

Continuing in Mexico (David and Brigid)

Another Mexico trip, the 5th in a year!
This time we traveled with our good friends Joe & Marian Vaine, who after leaving the mission in Baja Mexico, were called by God to Mozambique, Africa with Heidi and Rolland Baker at Iris Ministries. They obeyed, packed up their Cessna 206 airplane and have served in Mozambique for the past 2 years. They have been truly filled and anointed by the Holy Spirit.
We made our whirlwind trip to several places in Mexico. God met with us powerfully and used us all in ministering in 2 churches, the mission chapel, a local hospital, and various homes, praying for healing, needs and for Holy Spirit anointing. It was their fist trip back to Mexico in 8 years, and it was a great blessing to us all.
On return to San Diego we continued "the party," praying for several ill people and imparting God's power and anointing. A lot was accomplished on this trip, relationships healed, miracles witnessed, and encouragement given.
We continue to be drawn back to Mexico, going again the end of April with our daughter Rachel and grandson Titus. Our relationships there continue to grow with each trip!
Our plans for 2010 are to make more trips to Mexico and to make an extended trip to Alaska and Ireland.

Thank God for health (Noel)

I continue to thank God each day for the health that I have been experience in 2010. Monthly blood tests continue to come back with good results.
God has been with me and I rejoice that a season of suffering can be used for God’s glory and my good.
I am back playing basketball almost every Monday evening with a group of about 15 Lithuanians, am gaining weight and feel very good. I was also blessed this month to go on a 5 day trip to South Poland with a Polish friend from Church. We visited the Aushwitz concentration camp, the city of Krakow as well as his family and church. I had a great time and was daily reminded by God what a privilege it is to be able to travel in good health.




Portlaoise Church News
Since I’ve been back in Ireland in January 2010 we’ve had some great things happening that I wanted to just briefly tell you about.

VALENTINE’S: we had an evening for married couples in the church on Valentine’s Day. It was a fun and funny event with desserts, dancing and a how well do you know your partner game.

NEW BABY: My friend’s Arek and Marta who are in our church and play with me in the worship team (he on the bass, she singing) were told that they could not have a baby because of the danger it would pose to Marta’s health. But, after much prayer and step of faith in God, they have a baby boy they named Samuel “because I asked the Lord for him” 1 Samuel 1:20. Mom is safe and baby is happy and healthy.

TEEN CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER: One of the dreams our church here has always had for our new building is that it would be used for community events besides just the Sunday morning worship service. This last month we were able to use it for a concert in support of Teen Challenge in Ireland. In partnership with a Methodist congregation and hosted at our church we had a Christian musician put on a concert of traditional Irish music, ballads and country music on his banjo and guitar. It was a great night that raised around 1000 Euros for Teen challenge.

YOUTH: I continue to meet with teenagers weekly. At the moment we are doing a weekly Bible study in my home on Friday afternoons. We’ve recently talked through topics such as “What does it really mean to be a Christian”, Dating, Temptation and Forgiveness. The group is getting closer these days and I am seeing more and more openness and questions being asked as we have been having the meetings in my home.

GRASSROOTS: Pastor James and I continue to work towards the vision to do a school of discipleship in Ireland. It is a 6 month long program that will begin in September 2010. If you know of anyone that might be interested in 6 months of ministry training and service in Ireland please let me know and I can contact them. Or visit the website: www.grassrootsdiscipleship.com

BAPTISMS: We are praising God here, because this Sunday (Easter) we will be having 8 people baptised. Praise God for new life in Christ and courage to make a stand with Him.

A New Year

Home
After 6 weeks of health difficulties in Ireland, the likes of which I’d never experienced before, followed by 4 weeks of recovery in the USA. I can say with much joy that it is great to be back in Ireland, feeling well.

Thankful
I think it is human nature to naturally emphasize the difficulties we face rather than the victories that have been won. I am so thankful for the victory of coming through the sickness and surgery and having been given the “all clear”. The journey is not over and I continue to pray for victory one month (perhaps, one day) at a time, believing that God will give the victories one at a time.
I really want to thank my family and all of you, my friends, who have prayed and encouraged me along the way. You really helped me carry a burden that in the beginning I wasn’t strong enough for. (THANK YOU!) I hope in the future to be able to pass along the concern and compassion that I received from many of you.
I really enjoyed the time in Oregon with my parents, my brothers (Darin and Brian who came from Alaska and California), and my sister Rachel, her husband Ben and my nephew Titus. They are so valuable to me!

Going through these last few months I have gained new insights and perspective about “fears” and “values,” that I pray will stay with me.

John 16:33
"…in me [Jesus] you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Other Updates
Portlaoise Family Worship Centre is going to be starting a discipleship training school in September of 2010. We’ve introduced a website with basic information www.grassrootsdiscipleship.com. If you or someone you know might be interested please let me know.

Christmas 2009

A few pictures from Christmas celebrations. We enjoyed a great time with Daniel Cammack (David's brother) and his wife Elaine and their kids Shaun and Tanya. Lots of good talks and board games.

Titus always keeps us smiling! This is him opening his stocking, he made us have sooo much fun.

David opened this gift from Noel, a classic t-shirt of a classic company...

David and Brigid: Update from Mexico

From David and Brigid:

Our latest mission adventure has been one of day-to-day following God's leading. We planned a trip to Mexico at the same time as our daughter Rachel with her husband led a group of 21 from Bend Christian Fellowship on a trip to Baja Mexico. Our plans were to care for our grandson Titus while Rachel was helping with the group activities. On our trip down we crossed into Mexico below Yuma, Arizona to visit our friends Pastors Enrique & Layla Uranga in San Luiz. They have worked in a mission church in a very poor section of the city and have recently seen growth in both numbers and spiritual hunger as well as unity with other churches in the city. The recently elected mayor is Christian and they are happy to be praying for transformation in the area where they live. We prayed with them and with people in the church. We consider it an honor to be their friends and supporters.

Enrique & Lala Uranga

Enrique & Lala Uranga  and Brigid

After 3 days there, we traveled on down to Colonia Vicente Guerrero where we served from 1998 to 2002. On the first evening we both had dental work done. The following day we went walking through the downtown to buy some food and greet people we have known over the years. Brigid felt led by God to take a pair of shoes that had been donated by her friend Anna from Ireland. She noticed a woman and child and felt led to give the lady the shoes as the ones she was wearing were tattered and barely able to stay on her feet. The woman then began to cry and told us that her family had no money to buy food. We gave her some money for groceries and she prayed with us thanking God that He saw her need and brought us at this time. We hugged her and her daughter, realizing that God had just led us into a big blessing, not only for her and her child, but for us. She happily followed us into the store to buy what she needed.

The following morning we were awakened at 4 by a honking horn in the street, and later in church we heard that "El Rancho de Bendicion" (The ranch of blessing) where we were to stay during our time here had caught on fire the night before, started by a propane refrigerator malfunction. We were going to stay there Friday and Saturday when we arrived, but a men's retreat was being held there. The owner, John Haff, and the neighbor were able to extinguish the fire quite easily by turning off the propane and using a hose, however there was a section of the roof burned and of course severe smoke damage. This Rancho has been used extensively for Christian retreats, weddings, prayer events, and Easter sunrise services. John and his wife were quite discouraged by this attack of Satan on a facility that they have poured much of their resources, energy, and time into. For 6 days we worked hard removing and cleaning all furnishings, cleaning walls, ceilings, and floors. Other people in the community have helped with money, cleaning materials and services, and materials to repair the roof. We were also able to care for our grandson Titus part time. He would spend the night with us and mornings til 9:30, return for nap time from 1:30 to 4:30. Again, we realized that we were led by God to the right place at the right time.

Rancho Bendicion fire cleanup

Rancho Bendicion fire cleanup

Rancho Bendicion fire cleanup

We were blessed at the "Rancho" one afternoon as a neighbor who we had prayed for earlier this year for healing and salvation came by. She had been sick for 22 days with a very bad viral infection. She was finally able to get out of bed and had heard we were there. She brought us her grand-daughter Isabella who had recently gotten sick and was not eating. We prayed for the baby and for her as she was still weak and feverish. Many in the valley have been very sick the last month some with H1N1.

We received the sad news that more children at the orphanage who we have kept in prayer all these years have recently been molested by some of the other children. This is not uncommon here as many of the children have been molested before they come. We pray for God's protection and His healing. We thank God that it has been exposed. They have a counselor who meets with the children individually once a week. We pray for a maturing understanding of their relationship with Jesus. His great love, healing, power and presence always available to the children who are cared for here.

We continue to pray and listen for God's leading, which no matter where we live or work, is a day by day experience. And it is very rewarding to be God's heart, hands, lips, and feet to encourage and minister to people. The orphans, widows, and poor are dear to God's heart. Be blessed as you daily also follow God's leading; an adventurous life indeed!

Thank you for being there for us! David & Brigid Cammack

Invitational Dinner by Bend Christian Fellowship