In my last blog I mentioned how I had attended a gambling industry event accompanied by my friend Ian A.
Up until recently Ian A led the men’s ministry at the church we both go to (the Vale of Aylesbury Vineyard church) and we both gave our testimony and were baptised in the same pool on the same day in 2010. Oddly, even though we were friends we never talked about gambling until July of last year while we were attending New Wine’s summer conference in Shepton Mallet. It turned out that Ian A has a wealth of experience in the gambling industry and now the Lord has brought us together and it seems that we each have skills that complement each other.
So Ian A and Ian B (me) went to this gambling industry event and since that occasion one memory kept coming back to me time and time again. There were hundreds of playing machines at the event, yet I only observed a handful of people playing them. Then I realised no MONEY was being used to play them. So the attraction to play had diminished and the machines were just empty shells.
What is next for us? Well, we have just completed our website which you can access at (www.gamserve.org.uk) and CVM have been absolutely great to us. We will have a table at The Gathering this month and we will be handing out pamphlets and our fact sheet and we will be showing a short 2 min promo video on Gambling in the UK. We will be easily recognisable as we will be wearing t-shirts with our logo on the front, so please don’t hesitate just come and say hello, we would appreciate your prayers as we move forward.
I am also going to be interviewed by premier Christian radio at sometime over The Gathering weekend. I was also interviewed by New-Wine radio at last year’s summer conference and that was one of the things that made me realise that reaching a big audience would need real organisation, hence the website.
So things are really getting exciting now and I pray the Lord will keep me moving forward as I follow His lead.

“God rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11.6
“For I know the plans I have for you ( declares the Lord,) plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29. 11-13

See you at the Gathering.
Blessings and Peace
Ian Bartlett

Following on from his previous blog, Ian Bartlett unpacks his journey to show how God has moved powerfully in his life in relation to the hold gambling had on him.
I gave my life to Jesus on 31st March 2010 and I was baptised on May 30th the same year. I did not gamble at all for 18 months, the church I was attending prayed that I would get a full time paid job and sure enough shortly after, a position was offered to me at a furniture factory. I eagerly grabbed the opportunity and I am still working there 3 years later.
I moved to a new area and shortly after, the temptation to gamble took hold of me again. I fell straight in to the trap and began gambling. I sought advice from my pastor and Christian friends as to what I should do although the final decision was mine. They encouraged me to start being totally honest in all things. I was at the time in a relationship and as a consequence when I chose to come clean to my partner, the relationship ended.
By coming clean and telling the truth, however, I felt as though a huge chain had been broken. I had been released from what was preventing me from moving forward but there are always be consequences to pay for your actions and you will always have to acknowledge that this will always be the case. (Romans 5 Verse 1-5)
The addiction to gambling has finally been broken the Lord has taken it away. Not once since Sept 2012 have I gambled or have I had thoughts about Gambling, but at a CVM/New Wine men’s day in St Paul’s, Hammersmith in Oct the same year, led by the Holy Spirit, I clearly heard the words that I was to ‘Step into the breech against gambling’.
This was really a shock for me! I never could ever of imagined that God would ask me to do such a thing. Who me, a gambler for nearly 40 years? A man who had been a thief and spent 18 years in the criminal justice system? Really me?
I prayed about how and what I should do and I was given a clear vision. I began by learning everything I could about the Gambling industry.
I also found out everything I could about Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. I did lots of research and I emailed politicians and members of the gambling industry, voicing my concerns. I received a great deal of support from different members of Parliament and I established one very helpful contact within the gambling Industry. I have built up trust over the last 20 months and just recently on a visit to a gambling industry event, I had the opportunity to discuss the idea of implementing a locking/unlocking device accompanied with age verification on all FOBTs. They have listened to my concerns and are in a prime position to implement change.
I have learned to be obedient and to be led by the Holy Spirit and to step out in faith in all types of different circumstances and to trust in God.
Next time I will talk of how the Lord has opened so many doors.
Ian Bartlett
GamServe

Ian Bartlett kicks off his first blog on the theme of gambling and shares from his experiences about the danger it can be to us.

Growing up I never went to church and my parents were not Christians, My fathers church was the pub and the Bookmakers and like father like son I was to follow his footsteps. One day my father was at home the next he was gone. I was 9, he left a legacy
to me that I was unable to break for another 40 years, he taught me to Gamble.

From the age of 16 to 46 I was to become a prolific Gambler and a prolific thief as a consequence of my actions I spent nearly 18 years of my life in the Criminal Justice System, In and out of prison became a part of my life.
Gambling gives you a real false sense of hope, against insurmountable odds you actually convince yourself that the next throw of the dice, the next turn of a card will all fall in your favour.
Of course it might, but only for a very short period of time, and when you lose which you will, you end up chasing your losses. Gambling consumes your thoughts day and night.
Your daily life and how you interact with other people are affected, you begin to lie to Family and Friends. Your daily fix is that you have to find the money to serve your addiction, and the spiral becomes uncontrollable and you find yourself with no
where to turn.
We know that the Lord has plans to prosper us and not to harm us to give us a hope and a future Jeremiah 29 11-14
As Paul said to the Philippians 4 v 19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory
in Christ Jesus” and as Jesus explained in his Sermon on the Mount, we are to just trust him and not to worry about money, food or clothes.
Our Lord said that the Devil is the father of lies and if we let him, he will try to convince you that trusting is not enough and that some how we have to fix things ourselves.
Next time….’Stepping into the breech against Gambling’.