January - now that was a long month! Welcome to February!

Over the next couple of months, we hope to give you more detailed information on our August programme as well as more background on some of our speakers for this year! Thanks for reading!

Update on Nelun Fernando

In his latest note Ajith writes  ...  A quick note to tell you that Nelun is doing well. She is handling her chemo well, though she experiences weakness and body aches for a few days after the chemo. Six of eight (once in three weeks) rounds are over. Number seven is this coming Monday. After the chemo we have 25 days of radiation therapy.

Her attitude is fine. She is on the phone all the time talking to people in need of strength and arranging things for church.

Our biggest prayer request is that the treatment will completely destroy all the cancer.

Both of us had one of our happiest Christmases ever. I was at home preaching much less than usual. The sweetest thing about this cancer for me has been that the two most precious things in my life, my relationship with God and with my wife, have been deepened and made more joyful.

Thanks very much for your prayers

Sarah de Carvalho

In 1991 Sarah de Carvalho left her well-paid media career in London to live and work among the street children in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.  Sarah went on to found Happy Child International which is dedicated to providing physical, educational and spiritual care for street children.

Today, Happy Child runs nine homes in two major cities in Brazil and has rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated over 8500 children.

Sarah wrote a new book last year, Solomon’s Song , published by Hodder and Stoughton. The novel draws heavily on her experiences of living and working with street children. She is also the author of the best selling ‘The Street Children of Brazil’ which details how she set up Happy Child. Sarah is married with three children and lives in Surrey.

Jacob Reynolds

Jacob Reynolds has served as principal of the Irish Bible Institute (IBI) since it was established in 2000.  He graduated (Bachelor of Biblical Studies) at Peace River Bible Institute, Alberta, Canada and received a Masters of Divinity in Education and Biblical Studies at Providence Seminary in Winnipeg.  He then had 8 years experience in pastoral ministry in Dublin before heading up the Irish Bible Institute.

At IBI Jacob teaches in the areas of Leadership, Church and Ministry. Last year he commenced a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, where he will examine the process of leadership training within the context of IBI. The aim is to isolate the factors, which influence the training of individuals to be effective at bringing transformation in their own lives and in the lives of those they serve and to evaluate to what extent the programmes delivered at IBI help or hinder that process.

Prayer Topics

1. Continue to pray for Ajith Fernando’s wife Nelun. In his latest note Ajith writes.
    
2. Please pray for our Trustees and committee meetings coming up next week – that all the important business will be dealt with efficiently and we will hear God’s voice as He directs us towards the future. That our decisions will be in line with His will.
    
3. In particular for guidance as we look at meetings outside the normal conference week.
    
4. Our extended advertising campaign will soon be appearing in the press etc. Please pray that it will be effective in making more people aware of the convention and encourage them to support it in some way.

Change of direction

We are always on the look-out for the stories of people whose lives have changed direction because of the Convention. A number of these stories appeared in our brochure last year and we would like to continue this again in 2012. So if that happened to you or someone you know of, please get in touch using the contact details below.