Vision Tour – Day 8 & 9
Tuesday, 12 June – Bristol and Wales
We left our hotel in High Wycombe outside London on another rainy morning and drove to Bristol, where we visited the George Mueller Charitable Trust. This trust carries on a work similar to Mr. Mueller’s – that of helping orphans and the poor. They have a room dedicated to the memory of George Mueller. It was incredible touching to see the desk, letters, Bibles, and other memorabilia of a man greatly used by God to preach the Word, send out missionaries, and care for thousands of orphans. We drove by the buildings which used to be the orphanages and to this day they are still impressive buildings.
Following lunch, we drove to Lougher, Wales to visit the church where the Welsh Revival started in 1904 under the ministry of Evan Roberts. At that Moriah Chapel just outside Swansea, Mr. David Davis showed us the new church building, the grave of Evan Roberts, and the small schoolroom where he preached to the young people following the Sunday evening service. Some have said that the Welsh Revival was the greatest revival in history with 100,000 being saved in 6 months from that area and others being saved all over the world as word spread of what God was doing. Wales is in great need of revival again. One church a week closes its doors. Many churches are very small and have no pastor. Great apathy and sin rules the land. Please pray for God to send forth labourers.
Wednesday, 12 June – Wales Midlands
We ate breakfast at Bethany Baptist Church in Pontypridd, led by Welsh pastor Darren Rodgers. They kindly prepared us an amazing breakfast, and then Bro. Rodgers shared his testimony, vision, and burden. God is really blessing their church with the church growing from about 25 members to 65 members in 6 years. They are running over 100 on Sunday nights and had nearly 500 people attend this past Christmas Eve! Wouldn’t it be great to hear of God doing this all over the British Isles.
We left Pontypridd and drove about 3 hours to Bedford, England where we met up with Missionary Roger Tooley and toured the John Bunyan museum. It was amazing to see the church where he preached, hear about his life and boldness for the Lord. We left there and went to church last night at Lifegate Baptist Church in Corby. This church is about 40 years old and has had a great witness for the Lord. Missionaries and pastors have been sent out of it. Several of the folks in our church got saved there over 20 years ago and are now faithfully serving the Lord with us in Derry. Bro. Tooley allowed me to preach and some of our folks sang and played instruments. We had a great time of fellowship.