12 people responded for salvation after my talk about the reliability of the Bible at Birmingham City Church this morning. There were 2 in the first service and 10 in the second (pictured). It was the fifth time I’ve spoken at this great Elim Pentecostal church, and we have two further visits scheduled, the next being on 20th November and then again on 22nd January next year. We had such a tremendous worship time, especially in the second service, that it was would have been easy to speak on any subject. I am becoming good friends with the team there of Pastors Mark Ryan, Sarah Hopley, Nick Whittome and Paola Easton. I was sad to hear after the service about doors being closed to the “Gideons” who are no longer allowed to work in schools they’ve previously distributed bibles in for years in the city. Apparently, a number of schools now take the view that if they allow Christians into school to distribute New Testaments they will also have to allow Moslems into school and therefore risk fundamentalism or radicalism growing. Clearly there have been issues with the “Trojan Horse” situation in Birmingham schools. I was given a bible in school by two men in tweed jackets who came to do an assembly. I was greatly amused that they were called “Gideons” at the time. I never read the bible they gave me, and had no intention of doing so, it just sat on the shelf gathering dust. But years later when I suddenly became interested in Christianity it was the first book I reached for, especially the section that says “where to find help when . . .” at the start. That was useful when I had literally no idea how to read the bible or where to start.