Dear Friends,

Here we are in October. It seems like the time is flying by for us! We are still in a very busy season as we get the new school year up and running.

We added in the third year leadership program at the Bible college this year. This rounds out our full curriculum offering at Charis Dumfries. It is stretching our staff as all five us us are now needed to teach each Saturday we meet with our students.

We moved right on through September and have already met with our students on three Saturdays this year. In fact, we are now already in our Autumn term break. Time is flying by!

Opening Day with Duane Sheriff

We were blessed to have Pastor Duane Sheriff as our guest speaker for the opening day of school this year. Lisa and I drove out to the Scottish coast to pick up Duane and his wife Sue where they arrived on the ferry from Belfast.

We got them checked into their hotel room for some time to freshen up before we took them to dinner with John and Susan Donnelly. It was a wonderful evening, especially because Lisa found a surprise connection point with Pastor Duane sharing hunting and fishing stories from growing up with her dad and brother.

We kicked off the school year with a time of praise and worship. Then Duane spoke for a couple hours. After that the Sheriffs had a day with the Donnellys while we completed the rest of our school day.

As soon as we were done with school we collected the Sheriffs and drove them up to Glasgow where Duane was speaking at a church the next morning. Lisa and I spent the night in Glasgow, went to church up there on Sunday before returning to Dumfries to prepare for the second Saturday with the students.

The third year program is stretching us as a staff in the Bible college because we run the first, second, and third year programs all at the same time on the same day. It makes our Saturdays go by very quickly. And we’re all tired by the end of the day.

But it is so incredibly rewarding to know that we are directly in the center of God’s will for our lives. These students are exactly why we are here. God is transforming lives in a powerful way here in Scotland through your support of NewCREEations.

We have 31 students enrolled this year, including 10 third year students. Our third year class represents graduates from four of the five UK Charis locations, which is pretty amazing!

Teaching Weekend in Finland

Over the last weekend in September, in the opposite weekend between our school Saturdays, we flew to Helsinki Finland with Andrew and Jasmine Sharp. There we held a Bible training weekend for Majakka Church in the city of Espoo, which is a suburb of Helsinki.

As you may remember, Majakka Church is pastored by our Charis Colorado classmates, Vesa and Maria Seppälä. They asked us to come and conduct a Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening conference for their church members.

We felt led by God to focus on the topic of our identity in Christ. So we planned our teaching time around that subject. I opened the conference teaching about the difference between how identity is determined in the Kingdom of God and how the world does it.

Andrew Sharp taught about spiritual gifts to help the church members learn more about their own personal giftings. Lisa taught a powerful session about the gifts of helps and administration. She helped some of the folks there come to see their gifting as truly supernatural.

Jasmine taught some brief lessons for all ages. Plus Jasmine, Maria, and Lisa ministered to the youth and children of the church during the main teaching times.

Perhaps the most impactful time of the whole weekend was a question and answer session that Andrew and I held. The questions the Majakka Church members asked brought out some impactful personal testimonies from both of our lives about God’s goodness.

Then I closed the conference with a session about the inheritance is rightfully ours which we already have available to receive right now as believers and followers of Jesus.

We were also able to have some conversations with Antero Laukkanen, whom you may remember is the founding pastor of Majakka Church and is now a member of the Finnish Parliament. God is growing that relationship too.

It was a powerful weekend of ministry and God-connections. And you made that weekend possible as partners with NewCREEations. Thank you for that. And please know that you are making a difference in both Scotland and Finland, and around the world through your support of this ministry.

Term Break

I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter that we are already in our Fall term break. But we’re not really slowing down much. This morning as I write this I was at the local high school to speak at a student assembly in my role as one of the chaplains to the school.

My mom is visiting for a week from America. Lisa and I will take her up to the Highlands to show her some parts of Scotland that she didn’t get to see when she visited us last year.

Then at the end of our break we will be down in England for Andrew Wommack’s ministers conference. When that’s done we’re right back to Dumfries for another wonderful Saturday with our students.

We are also working through the process to renew our work visas right now too. It’s amazing that we have been here in Scotland nearly three years already!

There will be an interview we will need to attend in person to submit our paperwork, etc. We are working with the ministry here who sponsors our visa to arrange that appointment in Edinburgh, hopefully before the end of this month.

Please be in prayer that everything will go smoothly with that. We do expect that it will, just like our experience the first time around three years ago.

And thank you to everyone who contributed towards the significant cost of renewing the visas. Having that money in place in advance is a tremendous blessing for Lisa and I.

Abundant Blessings,

Chris & Lisa Cree

P.S. We will be taking two mission trips after the first of the year with our second year students. One to Finland again and also one to the Highlands to continue the work God has started in these two areas of the world. Chris and I will be paying our own expenses though NewCREEations Ministries to participate in these mission trips with our students. It will be approximately $3500.00 for us to both go on these two trips. Please prayerfully consider sowing into these two additional trips if the Lord lays it on your heart. The teams are already beginning to prepare their training and we know God will do amazing things in and through our students. It is an incredible privilege to  see God grow them and flow through them on these mission trips. Thank you in advance for partnering with us in all of it! We covet your prayers! Thank you!

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NewCREEations Ministries
953 Forest Edge Rd
Woodland Park, CO 80863

P.P.S. Are you frustrated because you give generously but aren't yet walking in the prosperity that the Bible promises? Have you been sowing financial seed for a long time, but find you are unsure how to harvest? Please be encouraged. There are answers for you in the Kingdom of God. Rejecting Mammon: How to See Results From Your Giving was written to share practical solutions and real world examples. Your finances will change dramatically when you align your ways with God's ways in this area.