Monthly Archives: June 2012
UK preaching 2014
This year by God’s grace I was able to travel to the United Kingdom with 8 others to preach the Gospel in England and in Wales. The first 2 weeks we were led by my good friend and co laborer in the Lord’s work, Dale Macalpine. Dale arranged the trip, did all the driving and led us from Manchester to Petersborough. and back. While lodging in Salem Baptist Church ,sleeping on pews, cots, and the floor, we traveled and preached in Oxford, Cambridge, Lincoln, Liverpool, and Petersborough.
After 2 weeks most of the preachers from America returned to mission fields elsewhere. I stayed in the UK and traveled with my friend Scot Smith to Wales. We were blessed by Pastor Geoff Thomas to stay in Aberystwyth, at the church manse. The Pastor was out of town but we were shown great hospitality by his grandson Rodri and Rodri’s wife Sybil..We preached for a while at the town center of Aberystwyth until a police officer threatened to arrest us for preaching. We each had finished our message so we left off preaching for the day and were able to see some of this portion of Wales. Rodri took us to Llangeitho and we saw a church that had been built for Daniel Rowlands to preach in the 18th century. Unlike Aberystwyth today, when Rowlands would preach ten thousand would travel from around the country to hear. Llangeitho is not so.much a town, as a small country neighborhood.
We then traveled south and preached in Swansea and Cardiff. We stayed for a modest rent at Wales Evangelical School of Theology near Bridgend. After finishing.our 2nd day in Cardiff, Scot left for Wimbledon and I took a train to Taunton England to meet my friends Mike and his wife Rachel. Taunton is a great place to preach with a busy market area where many spend their time and money. Taunton is also the town where Joseph Alleine preached at St. Mary Magdalene Church before he was imprisoned and died of an illness he contracted in prison. He died at 34, but he wrote a powerful book, An Alarm for the Unconverted. This book has been published for 300 years and is presently sold with the title A Sure Guide to Heaven.
Saying goodbye to Mike and Rachel, i traveled by train to Kiddeminster to meet a friend, Peter Sherwood and his wife Emma. Peter and i and his friend Steve traveled to Birmingham on a Friday and Saturday to preach the Gospel. Birmingham is the second largest city in England and may be the most given over to islam.Many rejoice to see and hear the Gosple of Jesus Christ preached here, because they are so frequently confronted by muslims. Our first day brought some large crowds, but on Saturday, there was a sociaal liberal protest, muslim music, and countless distractions. But the Gospel was proclaimed and many heard the truth. When not preaching we visited Kiddeminster, where Richard Baxter did much of his preaching, before he relocated to London. There is a statue there and the church is there, where he used to preach. His writings have been, read by many Christians during the past 300 years. The Reformed Pastor and a Call to the Unconverted, and his “works” are well worth the time to read and consider.
After attending Church on Sunday, I traveled to London, and stayed with another friend and brother, Robert Hughes. I preached in London by Trafalgar Square and by the Royal Horse Guards Parade. The following day i preached with Robert at the Tooting Bec Underground entrance. Leaving London i went by train to meet with my dear friend and brother Dale Mcalpine. With Dale we were able to travel daily and preached in Carlisle, Keswick, Blackpool, Silloth, and workington. From Dale’s home in Workington, i went to manchester, where i had arrived and from where i would depart. Here i stayed with a young man, and a passioate believer, and a dear friend, Fred Esere. i preached in Manchester two days, and all too soon it was time to return to the US.
God has been faithful in all this, making it possible to exalt the name of His Son Jesus Christ, who is the radiance of His glory; to make known the goodness and kindness of the Lord, to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. as it is written that God’s Christ must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repemtance for forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.
All glory to God and to the Lamb.
