45th All Ireland Gathering, October 2023

We had 70 people attend from all over Ireland but, more importantly the presence of the Holy Spirit was awesome throughout our two days in the Dock Café.

Our three speakers were Richard Porter (Chaplain of the Dock Café, author and retired pastor), Allan Bruce (retired director of Charis Bible College and minister), and Jo and Dave Hogg (travelling missionaries from John G Lake Ministries), each of whom had spoken at our breakfasts.
Worship team: Jordan Ballentine and myself, helped by Allan Bruce and Stacy McWilliams.

As the Dock is part of God’s kingdom, and an anointed venue, some exciting God incidents took place confirming His presence. For example, Richard’s theme was “the Double Portion” where he spoke about Elijah and Elisha and compared them to what happened on Pentecost when the disciples received their double portion, i.e. the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the gifts of tongues and interpretation. God also led Allan Bruce to prepare the same theme (the double portion) for his musical presentation, without any collaboration with Richard! Praise God.
Allan captured the audience by his God-given ability to worship and minister using his own songs. Both used wonderful testimonies to back up this common theme.

Dave and his wife Jo’s teaching about God’s power to heal, based on their John G Lakes ministry training, was powerful. They also used real-life examples to do their testimonies; e.g. a husband and wife who had been through the course gave examples of how they had seen God move mightily when they put God’s teachings into action. Activation was our theme, with prayer ministry taking place, and I know at least two people were healed during the last session of the gathering.

I met my friend Darren next day, who had given a short testimony on the previous day. He told me that on his way home after the meeting he had the opportunity to pray for people using the teachings he had learned at the session with Jo and Dave. God healed each one of them, to his amazement. God doesn’t waste time testing our faith to see if we will put His word into action.  Hallelujah!

Special thanks to all our guest speakers, also FGB members Jordan, Stacy, Paul, Tony and Dr Ed Maginnis who videoed the proceedings, Stephen McIlwaine (manager of the Dock, who opened the door for FGB to use the venue). Lastly Catherine, who helped bring many, especially Jo and Dave, to our breakfasts but could not make it as her dad was ill. Our prayers go with her and her Dad for a speedy recovery.

God’s richest blessings
Harry