November prayer update

It's incredible to think that another month has already past. It feels like life is really flying past at the moment. Life is in many ways a real joy at the moment. Cathy and I are loving marriage, ministry is generally a real joy, and we feel we're growing leaps and bounds in knowledge of and love for God. So there's much to praise God for!

There are a few things in particular that you could be praying for at the moment:

• I'm feeling really encouraged about various aspects of ministry at the moment, so praise God for that. I'm loving leading the new homegroup that we set up, really enjoying the one-to-ones that I'm involved in and feel the student group is going really well. As you may have picked up from my post on preaching a couple of weeks ago, I feel that area of ministry is more of a struggle at the moment. I'm realising that perhaps it's not my strongest gift, and that I need to work hard (with God's strength) to get better at preaching. Please pray that I'd know how to develop, and that I would become a more effective communicator. To give you a more precise prayer, I'd love to feel that when I preach, it is me preaching - that it's "truth through personality". I currently feel that however passionate I feel about something, that doesn't come across when I'm preaching it - so please pray for that.
• Cathy and I have a passion to reach out to those who don't know Jesus with the gospel. We've been meeting up with a girl from South Korea who is either a very new Christian, or not yet a Christian, so please pray that we'd be helpful in that relationship (it's a very exciting story - do ask me about it sometime!). We'd love to have more opportunities - particularly through the international cafe, cafe 360, that we attend each week. Please pray for such opportunities, and for boldness when we're presented with them.
• There are a few things happening this month that I'd particularly appreciate prayers for. We're currently thinking through our options for next year, and this month will need to be the month of interviews and decisions. Please pray for wisdom in that and for God to open and close doors for us. This month I'm also preaching up at my old church in Hartlepool - I'd appreciate prayer for that too.