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Bob & Jean Eckman
Posted February 16, 2007 - Bob and the entire congregation in Nottingham sent a video greeting to the South Plains congregation in Lubbock. It is a 4-minute video showing many of the families at the Nottingham Church.
Click here to view (Windows Media Player 9, 10, or 11 required).
February 2007 - Bob sent a video slide show which includes several photos of people and activities from the Nottingham church (10:43 in length and no audio). CLICK HERE to view the slide show (Windows Media Player 9, 10, or 11 required).
Photo of most of the congregation, who went on the church
retreat in October 2006.
Click here
for a larger version of the photo.
Click
here for an extra-large high resolution version.
Greetings from Nottingham!
Trip to the States
This will be my last UpDate before flying out to the States. I will leave a week today (8th) and will spend a couple of days in Houston with my brother and his family before flying up to Lubbock on the 11th. I will be with the South Plains church that first week, and then Jean will fly to Lubbock on the 18th, and we will leave immediately to be with the church in Childress that weekend, returning to Lubbock on the 22nd and staying there until the following Monday (28th). I hope you can follow that! We're excited about the trip. The great part is getting to see a lot of good friends that we miss so much, and being able to share with everyone we can the good news of what God has been doing here in Nottingham. We will miss the church here, but they understand the important of trips such as these.
African Night! Fifth-Sunday Social
I think I've told you before that whenever there is a month with five Sundays in it, we always suspend our regular evening meeting on the fifth Sunday to have some kind of social evening together. We call them our "Fifth Sunday Social". Someone in the church will volunteer to take charge of the night, setting the theme and getting everything organised. Last Sunday was the fifth Sunday in March, so Sam and Susan Nyakudya (who are from Zimbabwe) organised an African Night! Everyone was asked to come dressed in any way that they thought was"African".
We never know what to expect when we do something like this!! It was great! Some of the men let us down a little, but the ladies really went to town!! We have several African-Caribbeans in the church here, and when Jean walked in, a cheer went up! Our two Nigerian students insisted that they be photographed with her so they could send the photos home to their parents and tell them this is their "English/African Mamma"!! We all had a real laugh! Susan had organised a general knowledge quiz about Africa, and we all quickly realised how ignorant we are of that wonderful continent!
Events such as these are so important to the church here, as they help to bind us all together in a rich love for one another. We feel so blessed to have a church that is so culturally diversified.
British Bible School
The British Bible School at which I've taught for well over 25 years has been going through some difficult times in recent years, but it is in the process of re-organising itself. Due to age and ill health, the previous trustees of the school have recently resigned, and the school is seeking to set up a Board of Governors to run and look after the school. I have been asked to join the Board, and we had our first meeting yesterday, as we seek to look to the future and see how we can change to school to make it more suitable for our society that has changed so much since the School first started. It's going to take a year or two to kick-start it again, but I'm excited now about the future prospects of the School and the good that it will do for God's church in this part of the world.
In the past, I have been blessed in a lot of ways through the School, not least of which is some of the graduates who have trained with me after their graduation. I have had 4 such graduates work with me over the years. Simon (my co-worker) is a former student who came to train under me when he graduated several years ago. I am hopeful that, in the years to come, more good students such as him will come out of the school.
I've so much to tell you about what's happening here, and I'm really looking forward to sharing a lot of it first-hand with you when I see you. Jean and I thank God for your support, your prayers, and your encouragement.
Our love, Bob and Jean
MARCH 7, 2008
Greetings from Nottingham!
To begin with, I owe all of you an apology. It's been quite some time since I've sent an UpDate. Somehow or another I managed to miss the month of February! I have no idea how that happened and wasn't aware of it until I sat down to write this month's report. I think we were just that busy in February that the days slipped by without our realising it.
"Love Baskets"
We decided at the end of last year that our theme for 2008 would be "Love", with a desire that we grow in love for the Lord, for one another, and for those in our community. Most of our lessons each Sunday have been on this theme. We decided, though, that we didn't want this to be simply something that we talk about. We wanted our love to be seen. Someone suggested the idea of "Love Baskets". We would put together baskets filled with various items to be given to people to show that we love them. Our first project was in January/February to put together four baskets for our neighbouring congregations who have been so supportive of our work over the years. Everyone brought something, and we filled them with tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits (cookies), and cakes, and on one Sunday four families volunteered to deliver them that afternoon to the churches at Loughborough, Ilkeston, Eastwood, and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. The following Sunday they were asked to tell the church how they were received. Every church was overwhelmed and surprised and delighted and thanked us profusely. What really thrilled me, though, was the enthusiasm with which the church got behind this project.
Our next target is the schools in our community that have been so good to us in allowing us to come into them and work within them. We plan to put together several baskets and take them in to be used in the staff rooms, as a "Thank you" to the school. Suggestions for future projects is the local police station, fire station, and volunteer bureau. Hopefully, all of this will show the community that we are thankful for what they do.
Germany Lectures
The middle of February, I was invited to speak on the programme of the "Advanced Bible Study Series" (ABSS) every year in Gemunden, Germany. It's been several years since I've been there, so it was good to go again and meet old friends, new friends, and to hear about what God is doing throughout Europe. Other speakers on the agenda were Philip Slate (Tennessee), Jim Krumrie (Holland), and Craig Young (France). I gave four talks on the theme "The Church on Mars", talking about how sometimes the church and Christians can seem like an alien being in our world and what we should do about it. The talks generated a fair bit of discussion and were well received.
Simon to the States
As I write this, my co-worker Simon Williams and his family should be arriving back from three weeks in the States. He has been visiting his supporting churches in Michigan and California and seeking to raise some support that he has lost. Reports from him say that his trip went well and he's been able to secure his full support. We thank God for this. We've missed all of them and are looking forward to having them back with us on Sunday.
Bob and Jean to the States
God willing, Jean and I will be making a similar trip next month. It's been almost four years since I was last over (much longer for Jean!), so we're looking forward to the trip and seeing our friends there. I will be flying over on the 8th of April, and Jean will join me on the 18th. We hate being away from the church here, but we recognise that it's important to make such trips so that we can keep those who support us fully aware of what is happening here in Nottingham.
Prayers
We always like to report good news of what's happening in the work here, and usually it's all good news! The church continues to grow numerically and in spirit and in love for each other, and for this we give thanks to God. There is constantly a close, loving spirit within the church, and it thrills me to see how much the members enjoy the presence of one another.
Like any church, though, there are things that concern us now and then. I would like to ask you to pray for a young couple in the church whose marriage is going through a really tough time and bringing a lot of heartache and concern to all. They've only been married less than 2 years and have recently had a beautiful baby. It just tears us all apart to see the struggles they are having. I ask for your prayers as I talk with them and seek to counsel them that God will give me wisdom. I ask you to pray for them, too.
Jean and I are well and thank God for His goodness to us and to the church here. We love this church and thank Him daily for how He has blessed the church here. We thank Him for you, too, for your love, support, and prayers.
Our love to you, Bob and Jean
FEBRUARY 11, 2008
2008 has really got off to a great start. January was a super month, and it helps us to see that God has great things in store for us.
New Babies!
The end of the last year and the start of this year has seen 4 new babies born into the Nottingham church! And, we still have two more on the way!! I have never been part of a church that has had so many pregnant mothers at the same time! It has really been exciting, and the noise of babies in the meetings is really music to our ears. So far, it's been 3 girls and 1 boy, so we could really do with a couple more boys to even up the score! (I wonder if it's in the water?)
Love Baskets
We have set as our theme for this year "Love", and each week so far all of mine and Simon's lessons have been on or connected to this theme. We want to emphasise how important love is within God's community.
We gave ourselves the project of putting together four "Love Baskets", filled with coffee, tea, sugar, biscuits (cookies), and cakes. These were then taken last Sunday to the four congregations in the towns around Nottingham as a token of our love for them and our appreciation of their faithful service in their area. They were all received with surprise and gratitude, and we hope that they will go a long way to bonding the churches closer to one another.
Our next project in a couple of months is to prepare more baskets to be given to the teachers and staff of all of the schools in the area around the building, thanking them for their hard work with the children of this community as well as our appreciation for letting us come into their schools each year with the Pied Pipers.
German Lectures
I am off
to Germany next Monday (18th) for 5 days to teach classes at the annual
"Advanced Bible Study Series". I will be speaking on a very cryptic
topic:
"The
Suffice it to say that the work here is just fantastic with great things ahead of us in this new year. We thank God for you and your support which helps to make our work here possible. We honestly wish that all of you could meet and get to know your brothers and sisters here in Nottingham!
Our love, Bob and Jean
JANUARY 3, 2008
Happy 2008 from Nottingham!
Three days into the new year, in the depths of winter with snow forecast for tonight, we wish all of you a very happy new year, with prayers that it will be a year filled with God's blessings for all of us.
Christmas
Jean and I had a really super Christmas with our daughters in London. We drove down Christmas Eve and stayed with Sam but had our Christmas morning and Christmas dinner at Sarah's (which is only about a mile down the road). We also spent Boxing Day (26th) with Sarah, and the girls treated us to a day out at Greenwich, and for the first time in all the years that I've lived in England and been to London I got to see the Meridian Mean Line where time begins(and ends!). The girls treated us royally, and it was hard to leave them when the time came.
May we take this opportunity to thank everyone for the cards and notes that you sent letting us know that you were thinking of us at this time of year.
A Special Day
Sunday, 16th December, was a really special day for Jean and myself and for Simon and Pam. The church had planned its annual Christmas Dinner that Sunday, and we were all served up with a sumptuous feast courtesy of Alan and Christine Gregory and their "team". There was a visit from Father Christmas who brought gifts for all of the children!
But, the really special time was during the meeting before the meal. Simon and I had been told several weeks before that we weren't to plan on doing anything or taking part in any way - that the whole meeting would be organised by the members. We didn't know what to expect. The meeting was to fulfil the church's desire to give honour to Simon and me and to our wives. Two men spoke, thanking us for all of our work, reassuring us that we were loved and appreciated by the whole of the church. The same was said for Jean and Pam. Gifts were given to them, and then both Simon and I were presented with brand new Study Bibles. At the end, the four of us were brought to the front of the building, and the whole congregation filed past and gave us rib-crushing hugs!!
The whole thing was very emotional and a very humbling experience for Simon and myself. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - this is a great congregation to be a part of!
Three Down and Two to Go!
Last Saturday morning I got a text saying that Dawn and Jon Graham became the proud parents of a baby girl. This is the third baby that we've had in the church in the past six months, and two more are on the way! Five in 9 months! The sound of babies in the building is absolutely beautiful! We are thrilled for Jon and Dawn and their new daughter Olivia.
New Year Party
We saw in the new year this past Monday night in our usual fashion with a themed party. In the previous two years our theme has been "Pirates" and "James Bond", respectively. This year, the theme was "Robin Hood"!! It was a hoot! We had several "Robins", 3 "Maid Marians", a "Friar Tuck", a "Much the Miller's Son", a "tree" from Sherwood Forest, and myself in army fatigues as "Major Oak" (look up Sherwood Forest on the web!). Surprisingly, there wasn't a "Sheriff of Nottingham"! It was all fun.
New Members
I have been meaning to say that we've been blessed with three new members in the past couple of months. Patrick and Holly Toole and David Ashinoko. Patrick is training to be a violin maker, and David is at Nottingham University working on his masters. They've already proven to be real assets to the church.
An Honour
One of our members Innocent Chikezie who just completed his masters at Nottingham Trent University feels truly honoured indeed. He has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the current Lord Mayor of Nottingham that will hang in the council chambers of the city hall! Innocent is an incredible artist.
Scary!
In the news today, it was predicted that in a very short while petrol (gasoline) will top £5 ($10) a gallon in Britain! This afternoon I filled the tank from empty in my little 4-cylinder Toyota. I'll mark the 3rd January 2008 as the first time I paid £50 ($100) for a tank of petrol!! Scary!!
Jean and I sincerely pray that the new year ahead will be a good one for each of you. We ask you to continue to pray for the church here. God has blessed us, and we wish to share those blessings with as many as we can. We thank you for your love, your support, your prayers, and your encouragement.
Our love,
Bob and Jean
DECEMBER 11, 2007
Two weeks today all the shopping will be over, and the presents will be opened, the turkey cooked and eaten - and we'll all be ready to hit the shops for the big sales!! Scary, isn't it! Let me say at the outset that our prayer is that all of you will have a great Christmas and be blessed by being in the midst of your family and those whom you love. Jean and I will be going down to London Christmas Eve to have Christmas with Sam and Sarah and spend a few days with them. As they get older, we know that the day draws closer when circumstances may prevent this from happening, so every Christmas now that we spend with them is very precious.
Children In Need Day
Every year in November the BBC holds a special fund-raising time to raise funds for the charity Children In Need. This is a 24-hour marathon event shown on the television and raised millions of pounds for this charity. People, groups, and organisations all over the country do all kinds of things to raise money. Our youth clubs asked if they could do something, so Saturday, 24th November was our Children In Need day at the building. It began with a Coffee Morning which Jean and I put on, offering coffee and tea and home-made cakes to all, as well as a "Bring & Buy" table with all kinds of things that members gave for people to buy, the proceeds going to the charity. We had balloons, crafts, face-painting, and all kinds of things organised by the youth who really worked hard all day. We had a load of people come in off the streets, and the day raised £150 to go to Children In Need. It made our young people feel good that they were doing something, and it gave us an opportunity to talk to several people about the church and to give them literature to take home. It was a real fun day!
A Week in Cyprus
As you may recall, Jean and I usually get away the first week of December with several others from the church to Spain. This is organised every year by Alan and Christine Gregory in the church, but this year it was different. Instead of Spain, they were able to get an excellent deal to Cyprus instead! Because they make a bulk booking, they are usually given one or two places free, and instead of taking advantage of this themselves, they divide it between all who go, thus making the cost much, much lower than it would normally be.
So, 8 from the Nottingham church and 3 from area churches flew out in the early hours a week last Saturday, returning this past Saturday night. Due to a very severe thunderstorm, we spent over half an hour circling in a holding pattern (which was a bit bumpy for some!), before we could land at the airport near Paphos, on the west coast. After a good night's sleep, we broke bread in our hotel room Sunday morning. The thought crossed all of our minds as to when was the last time that the Lord's Supper was remembered in Paphos.
Cyprus lived up to its reputation for stunning and varied natural beauty. From lovely beaches and coastline to very high mountains to very quaint villages - we were all enthralled by everything that we saw. I was in heaven in Cyprus!! The place is absolutely crawling with fascinating archaeological sites! Right next to the harbour, there is a World Heritage Archaeological Site which is primarily the remains of the old Roman city of Paphos. This is a HUGE area covering several acres, and only a very minute part of it has been excavated, revealing three very large Roman villas with some of the most stunning mosaic floors you'll find anywhere.
As you know, Paphos was the last place that Paul and Barnabas visited on their first journey, and they were invited by the proconsul of the island Sergius Paulus to speak to him about Jesus. Luke hints very strongly that Sergius Paulus became a Christian. You cannot walk among those ruins and wonder if one of those villas (or one yet to be excavated) isn't the very house where Paul and Barnabas talked with the proconsul about the Lord.
The week made a nice break for Jean and myself, especially since the only other non-work-related break that we got this year was a week back in July. We were ready for it! And, it was especially good to spend time with the other Christians who went, too.
A Great Sunday
Maybe with being away the previous Sunday, we were all excited about being back with the church on Sunday. We had an excellent attendance of 55, and it seemed as if it was almost wall-to-wall people!! You could hardly move - it was great! In order to share some of what we'd experienced the previous week, my lesson was based upon Paul and Barnabas' visit to Cyprus, and the very important place that the island plays in the early years of the church as it expanded away from Jerusalem (look it up in Acts!). Several said afterwards they'd never noticed how much Cyprus is mentioned!
Second New Baby!
Kurt and Lucina Hendricks were the first back in the spring with the birth of their son Joshua. Two weeks ago, our second baby (Esther) was born to Jamie and Andrea Mackay. They brought Esther with them for the first time yesterday, and she, of course, was the centre of attention. We're all very happy for Jamie and Andrea as they lost their last baby at birth just two years ago.
That just leaves 3 more babies to be born in the next few months (two very soon)! Five babies in nine months is a record for us - and an exciting way to help the church to grow!
As I said at the beginning, we pray that all of you will have a joyous holiday time. We will be thinking of you and thanking God for you and for your support, your prayers, and your encouragement this past year. We hope it is God's will that we will get to see some of you in the year that lies ahead.
Our love, Bob and Jean
NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dear Friends,
I know I'm a few days early, but I wanted to write to you and say that, if you're celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, we hope and pray that it will be a day of blessing for you and those you love. I hope you can spend it with your family, but if not, may memories of times spent with them be a cause to thank God.
Thanksgiving in England!
It may come as a surprise to some of you to learn that Thanksgiving isn't a national holiday here in England. You may say, "Of course not!", but if you stop and think for a moment about the history behind the day, it was first celebrated by Englishmen! In fact, many of those early Pilgrim Fathers came from Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and south Yorkshire - all not that far from where Jean and I live.
I have no way of knowing, but the church here in Nottingham may be about the only church in Britain that "celebrates" Thanksgiving every year! It started several years ago when we had AIM students who were feeling the distance so far from home at this time of year. After doing this for several years, the church kind of got used to it, and many would ask, "Are we having a Thanksgiving dinner this year?" In the past, we've always had our Thanksgiving Dinner on the day, but this year we decided to move it to yesterday, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, after our morning meeting.
Jean worked out a "Thanksgiving" menu and posted it on the notice board, and then, perhaps much like the early Pilgrims, everyone brought a dish and we shared it all together. What a feast we had! It's always great to see Christians enjoying the presence of one another - and this is usually seen when they share their blessings with one another.
A Special Reason for Giving Thanks
I didn't prepare a special "Thanksgiving" lesson for yesterday morning, but what I did say seemed to touch a lovely place in every person's heart, and the response was beautiful. As a preacher, it's always good when the facial feedback you get when you're speaking tells you that your lesson is touching the hearts of those who are listening. It was a joyful service in which we all gave thanks.
The best, though, was at the end and had nothing to do with anything that I said. I wouldn't normally mention his name, but one of our young Christians, Jon Graham who's about 30, asked to say something to the church. A little background information would be of help. In recent months, Jon has been struggling with his faith, and it really was a "struggle" because Jon is a lovely person with a big heart and one of the most genuine faiths that I've seen. But, he's been struggling, and he and I have had some long talks about his struggle.
A week last Friday morning, I received a phone call from Jon's sister Lesley-Ann telling me that her and Jon's grandfather (Wesley Cooper) had died. Wesley was an old soldier for the Lord and a member of God's church in Belfast. He and his wife were Christian parents who had passed on their faith to their daughter Florena who passed it to her children, as well. I knew how the death of Florena's father would hit her and her family, so when I received the news, I immediately started looking into the possibility of flying to Belfast for the funeral this past Monday. I said nothing to Florena or Lesley-Ann or Jon, but I could see the gratitude in their faces at the funeral. They thanked me, but I told them I knew that if it had been possible, every member of the church here in Nottingham would have been there that day, so they should take my presence as being on behalf of the rest of the church.
Now, back to yesterday. When Jon stood before the church, he had tears in his eyes (and Jon is a strong man who isn't given to that sort of thing). He thanked the church profusely for their love, their prayers, and their support over the previous months and the fact that through it all we have never stood in judgment on him but have sought to love and support him in every way that we could. He tried to relay how much my presence at his grandfather's funeral the previous Monday had meant to him personally and to all his family, and how that it helped him to see how much we as Christians love him. He fought back tears as he asked us to pray with him.
I don't think there were many dry eyes in the building yesterday morning when he'd finished, but it was the perfect start to our Thanksgiving Dinner, and it's one that we will remember for a long time.
It's days like yesterday that really make me feel that what God is doing here is really worth all of the struggles that we sometimes have to go through.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Our love, Bob and Jean
NOVEMBER 5, 2007
Greetings from Nottingham!
Jean and I can only hope that you're having as nice an autumn where you are as we are here in England. I often hear about how beautiful New England is this time of year. It would have to be something to beat what we have! Just driving through the countryside on a sunny autumn day in Englad is like driving down the middle of a kaleidoscope!! God is such an artist!
A Cappella Evening
Our weekend with the Solus group from Scotland at the beginning of October was really terrific. There were 9 in the group (3 couldn't make it), but they did a fabulous job. The workshop on the Saturday afternoon was very helpful to those who attended. The concert in the evening was superb. The building was almost full to capacity, with almost a third of those present being friends invited by our members or people who responded to our advertising and invitations. Everyone went away praising the night. Solus gave two 20-minute performances, with a session in between of good congregational singing. We feel it was a good means of introducing people to a style of music that is virtually unknown over here, and all went away impressed.
Gospel Meeting
Our 3-night Gospel Meeting with Michael Gaunt of Peterhead, Scotland was also a great event - on a different scale. We didn't have the response in the way of visitors as we did to the A Cappella night, which we feels may be telling us something. We did, though, have some good visitors who responded well to Michael's preaching, and we feel some good seed-sowing was done. We were pleased, though, to see good support from the churches in the area.
Romanian Shoe Box Appeal
Last year, the church oranised a shoe-box appeal to send gifts to children in Malawi. We weren't able to link up with the same people this year, so we are doing the same thing to Romania. Our aim has been to put together 60 "family" boxes so that everyone in a family will have something at Christmas. The response from both the church and friends of members has been terrific. God willing, I'll be taking the boxes to the collecting point this weekend.
Prayers
Jean and I ask for your prayers. This past Saturday evening, the lady who lives next door to us came round in a frenzy. She had been out for the afternoon, and when she came home she found that her 26-year old son had hung himself in the house! She was in a state but asked if I would check if he was still alive. I brought her into the house and Jean looked after her and phoned for the police and ambulance while I went into the house. It is something I hope I never have to do again. He had hung himself on the door of an upstairs room. Althought I was sure he was dead, I had to get him down and check his vital signs (there were none). Thankfully, shortly afterwards, the paramedics arrived and took over. We knew that he had been suffering from depression and mental problems for the 3 years since he and his mother moved next door, but we didn't realise it was to this extent. The police believe that he had planned to do it while his mother was out. The whole thing has very traumatic for Jean and myself and left me shaken for the rest of the weekend. I'm still having trouble getting my head around what happened and what I had to do. I would appreciate your prayers. Jean would appreciate your prayers, and please remember the lad's mother. How she is going to cope with this, I don't know.
We thank God for you, for your love, your prayers, and your support. The church here sends its greetings. They have been tremendously supportive of us these past two days. May God bless and be with you is our prayer.
Our love, Bob and Jean
Click here to hear Bob's presentation at South Plains on September 22, 2004 (requires Microsoft Windows Media Player 9, 10, or 11 beta) |
UPDATE
- APRIL 1, 2008
