Hello Dear Friends and Family:

August has been blessed for us with having some time to go camping .  We never did that in the States, but really love it here !  We have a tiny tent, we bring our Bibles, some food, and go off for a few days of praying, praising God, and seeking to hear His voice.

We’ve been getting excited about the possibility of starting a different kind of church in Philmont, NY. We are also getting excited about being ordained in October at Randy Clark’s Global Awakening ministry.

Christine’s been looking to do some icons based on what she learned about the thirteenth century Italian School of Iconography and wants to give talks and slide shows about God in art to anyone who will listen!

We had a powerful House of Prayer meeting last week, with Brother Nicodemus from Uganda asking “Where are the watchmen of the City?”  With the Bristol Prayer Network, Bristol Networks, and Churches like Elim, Carmel, Woodlands and many others praying individually and collectively for Revival in Britain we are very encouraged by the obvious commitment to the power of prayer here.

We are planning on going to New York in October to be ordained and see about starting a community based non denominational church in Philmont. This will give us a chance to regroup financially, and at the same time sow into our local community. Since God seems intent on us keeping our house, we will explore what He might have in mind there, with a hope to coming back to Bristol in the Spring.

Bristol may well claim to be a leader in ‘Street Art’ on the world stage. Recently the city council supported a Street Art festival called, interestingly, ‘See no Evil’. Many artists came and painted buildings in one of the city center streets. As a whole the images were less demonic than the more underground grafiti which is done without official blessing but is certainly tolerated and centers around an area called Stokes Croft. Stokes Croft has been historically a place of strife going back hundreds of years and is where the Tesco riots broke out in May and in the recent riots across England was the center of the riots in Bristol. There is a spirit of rebellion and a mocking spirit in residence there with squatters and street artists proudly pushing an independent and demonic lifestyle. People come from across the country to visit Stokes Croft and admire the art and ambiance.

As our ministry is based on using art for the Lord we realize how powerful it can be for good or for bad. Certainly there were crowds of people admiring the ‘See no Evil’ street art festival as there is a constant flow of people going to Stokes Croft. The demonic images have become so normative in this society that people can not perceive there is a force for evil behind them. What does one do as a Christian when people do not realize they are playing with death? In fact the ‘skull’ image is so prevelent now it is used in main stream advertising. Well the answer to that question is to bring life and love back into art. To love and support the people who are creative to use their art for life and not death, whether that is on the street, in the movies, television, newspapers or where ever. If we live in a landscape of deathly images we will get drawn to riot as a natural response.

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous: Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord  your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

We love to pray for you so please email us with your prayer requests!

Lots of love, Christine and Michael     

Lots of love to you all! xxxoxox