New Focus Conference 2013

DATE: Friday 19^th, Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st April 2013

VENUE: Ebenezer Chapel, 21 Queen Street, Ossett, W. Yorks., WF5 8AS

Members of Ebenezer Chapel Ossett have kindly offered to host this gathering which will be held at their church (shown above) in Ossett town centre next door to the Christian Bookshop. Friends are warmly invited to gather for a weekend of preaching and fellowship together.

Address: Ebenezer Chapel, 21 Queen Street, Ossett, W. Yorks., WF5 8AS.
Contacts: Norman Roe Tel: 01924 272645; Peter Meney Tel: 01833 650797.

Participants include: Don Fortner, George Ella, Allan Jellett, Ian Potts, & Peter Meney.

Schedule & Start Times:

Friday 19th April

        7.00pm Sermon: Peter Meney

        8.00pm Sermon: Don Fortner

Saturday 20th April

        1.00pm Sermon: Don Fortner

        2.00pm Lecture: George Ella

        3.00pm Break for Tea & Coffee

        3:30pm Sermon: Ian Potts

        4:30pm Sermon: Allan Jellett

        5:30pm Dinner

        7.00pm Sermon: Don Fortner

Sunday 21st April

        11.00am Pastor Norman Roe will conduct Ebenezer Chapel morning worship as normal.

Conference goers are welcome to attend and we hope many will avail themselves of the opportunity to join the Lord’s people in worship.

In previous years these gatherings have been a great opportunity for believers in free grace to congregate from different parts of the country and meet like-minded friends. Part of the purpose of hosting the meetings in different venues is to make it more accessible for those who feel reluctant to make that initial journey, however, we hope that as well as new visitors, those who have benefitted from the preaching and fellowship in past years will join together again.

Visitors travelling from distance probably need to consider obtaining accommodation for both Friday and Saturday nights. Ossett town is very close to the M1 and situated between Dewsbury and Wakefield. This means there are plenty of hotels within a few miles of the church. In recent years a number of those attending have used Premier Inn and found them good value. Here are a few possible options:

Premier Inn Wakefield South - M1, Jct39 – tel: 0871 527 9118

Denby Dale Road | Calder Park, Wakefield WF4 3BB

Premier Inn Wakefield City North

Paragon Business Park, Herriot Way, Wakefield WF1 2UJ  – tel: 0871 527 9116

Premier Inn Wakefield Central

Denby Dale Road | Thornes Park, Wakefield WF2 8DY – tel: 0871 527 9114

Holiday Inn Wakefield M1, Jct. 40

Queens Drive, Ossett, Wakefield WF5 – tel: 0871 423 4876

BEST WESTERN Hotel St Pierre

733 Barnsley Road | Newmillerdam, Wakefield WF2 6QG – tel: 0345 025 4358

There are numerous small private hotels and B&Bs in the area, too. Prices begin at around £40 for a double room per night. 

Do consider coming to meet with together and being a part of this year’s event. There is no charge for the conference and meals will be provided. An opportunity will be available for those who are able to help defray costs.

We particularly recommend those attending to take advantage of one of the finest selections of new and secondhand reformed books in the country today. Ossett Christian Bookshop next door to Ebenezer Chapel will be open for browsing & buying on Friday and Saturday of the conference weekend.

Full details available here: http://go-newfocus.co.uk/resources/app/category/churches/article/new-focus-conference-2013-update

Facebook Page

Regular visitors to Grace and Truth Online and this blog will have noticed that it hasn't been updated for a while. I apologise for this, but it is not down to inactivity on my part, simply a lack of activity 'here' (and some technical reasons which make it hard for me to update the original www.graceandtruthonline.com site). However, here are two sites which have much more regular updates: Firstly, the messages uploaded to FreeGraceRadio.com at: http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sortby=added&keyword=Ian%5EPotts&SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&AudioOnly=false And secondly, the Honiton Sovereign Grace Church Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Honiton-Sovereign-Grace-Church/230398673083

Grace & Truth Accommodation

I thought I’d bring to your attention a new website which you may find of interest, called ‘Grace & Truth Accommodation’.

As some may know, I work in computer software, and recently I’ve been developing a general holiday home rental website called Go2 Holidays (http://www.go2-holidays.com/ ). As a Christian I thought it would be nice to make use of the same technology to produce a similar website aimed specifically at listing Christian-run holiday homes and accommodation. We know a number of fellow Christians who have homes or B&Bs which they rent, and usually they advertise them in one or other of the well-known Christian magazines and papers, but we thought it might be useful to be able to have these on a website as a resource on which you can search and compare, view photographs of properties, check availability, and book (either by email or telephone etc). So, Grace & Truth Accommodation is the result. You can view the site here: http://www.go2-holidays.com/ChristianHolidays/

I hope the site proves useful to those of you seeking to find accommodation for when you are away. Also, if you are amongst those who happen to have a holiday home which you rent, or if you know a fellow Christian who does, then perhaps you or they might be interested in adding that property to the range listed on this site (it’s free by the way!). Full details of how to create an account and list properties is provided on the FAQ page at http://www.go2-holidays.com/ChristianHolidays/FAQ.aspx. In essence, for each property you simply need to enter details such as name, location, description, pricing and so on, and either provide a link to your own website, or provide email, telephone or postal address information in the description as a means of informing the user how to book.

I trust, either as a user, or as a property owner, that you’ll find this new site of interest.

Sunday 25th July and Sunday 1st August

Please note that there will be no meetings in Awliscombe on the Sundays of 25th July and 1st August. Normal service to resume thereafter!

In the meantime you may listen to recent messages at http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sortby=recent&keyword=Ian%5EPotts&SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&AudioOnly=false

Awliscombe Sunday Morning Meetings

As friends, and regular visitors to our websites, will know we have held meetings in Honiton in our home since 1999, and since September 2008 have also held meetings in the village hall in the nearby village of Awliscombe on Sunday mornings at 10:45am.

With the Monday night meetings having gradually built up in number over the years to a regular group of between 8 and 12 usually being gathered, it was hoped at the commencement of Sunday mornings that a similar size group might, in due course, be gathered. However, despite occasional visitors, the Sunday mornings have continued to be very few in number in terms of who gather, and as such I do not feel that it can reasonably be described as a 'church' for the time being! So for now, I've revised the description on the Honiton SGC page and renamed the meetings as 'Honiton Sovereign Grace Meetings'.

Though our Sunday meetings are tiny in number (and now fewer than when we began) we still thank the Lord for His goodness towards us over the past year as we have looked to Him to bless the preaching of His word, to His glory alone. Whilst we cannot tell what the future holds, we nevertheless know that it is Christ alone who builds His church, that He uses His gospel to build it, and that wherever He sends forth His word it never returns unto Him void.

...And if you have a love for that gospel, or perhaps a desire to hear it for the first time, then we do of course extend a warm welcome to you to the meetings at Awliscombe.

Grace Hymns - Updated

Our Grace Hymns website (which contains a collection of hymn tunes - as MIDI files - which we have used at Honiton Sovereign Grace Church, and also provides a 'map' matching hymns from 'Gadsby's' Hymnal to the various tunes provided) has had a bit of an update. Along with a number of new tunes, there is also now a complete set of mapping pages for the 1156 hymns in Gadsby's Hymnal. Not every hymn in each page is yet mapped, but the majority are. Obviously there is a long way to go in terms of providing an extensive range of tunes, and good mapping from hymns to tunes, but little by little the website is progressing.

Those interested in Gadsby's Hymns will also be very interested to hear that you can now download the hymnbook as a Word file from here: Gospel Standard Trust Website – Downloads

SE London 'Mephibosheth Church'

For those residing in or around the Capital we would like to draw their attention to a small gathering of believers who meet in the South East London area.

For a while now Lou Boden and Denis Burns and their respective families have been gathering each week to worship the Lord - often hearing messages on tape by Don Fortner.

They describe their meeting as follows:

"We are a tiny gathering of saved sinners who are limping through this wilderness together leaving upon our Beloved".

If you would like to join with them, to hear the gospel and perhaps to encourage the brethren, then do contact them at:

mephiboshethchurch@yahoo.co.uk

Phone Lou Boden 07764 943 746

Dennis Burns 0794 0456273