Dear Friends, Easter Sunday 2022
So my first full week in Texas, from Sunday to
Sunday, is over. The first Sunday dear Mack Tomlinson drove me a few miles to their
Providence Chapel. He once spent three weeks living in The Manse Aberystwyth
and preaching in Alfred Place. It was the happiest holiday they have ever had,
so he and Linda claims often, and he
showed me photos of Aber with Ieuan and Ivory, John and Janet and they asked
about Christine. I had hiraeth. He took me to the united Sunday School
that started at 9.30. There were about 100 present. I was introduced by Mack
and then it was just me preaching for 45 minutes. The church is now meeting in
what is called the ‘Ballroom’ at one of the local universities, but nothing
like the Blackpool Tower ballroom. It is just an ideal airy room for the 200-strong
growing congregation who gather at the 10.30 meeting. I believe that I was
greatly helped in all the three messages I preached; I don’t think I have had a
better day’s ministry, and as this was the beginning of my two weeks in Texas I
was full of gratitude and peace at the end of the Lord’s Day. But there will be
other sermons and after they are over I will want to apologize to the
congregation for wearying them. The 10.30 service was characterised by things
old and new. The old were the 4 hymns, the praying and reading by Mack and the
elders. There was also a message to the children given by one of the elders. The
kids poured down to the front and sat on the floor, the girls in their dresses
and the boys in their colourful shirts and jeans. Almost 50 children listened intently
to a 10-minute talk. The new (at least for me) was the ten minutes given over
to sharing and testifying when 8 people spontaneously got up, men and women, one
by one, and spoke of the help they had had from God in the past weeks. Then
there was also a time of open prayer and six people, both men and women again, prayed.
So, an hour had gone by before I climbed up the flight of stairs onto the
platform and began my second sermon. I preached for 45 minutes and there was no
restlessness in the congregation. We finished at 12.20 and soon there was the customary
happy buzz of friendships.
At lunch we were joined by the late Dr Will
Thomson’s daughter Susan and her husband Lee Tyner and an hour sped by. They
are a great couple and we reminisced and especially the familiar story was
rehearsed of my discovery of Atari and playing it night and day in the
Thompson’s den. Thus I became their favourite visiting preacher . . . and I
thought my popularity was all because of my sermons! I began sending out my
weekly musings that recorded my last few days in Mississippi. The climax of this
Sunday was going to the church’s fortnightly men’s meeting in a home where a
number of bachelor young men live. There were 25 men sitting in a circle around
the walls of a large room. An elder prayed and then I spoke on the absolute
greatness of Christ. During the second hour they asked various questions about
relationships and the message I had given. We came back to Mack’s home and he
made popcorn and sandwiches and I completed sending off my letters. Around 10
p.m. an old friend arrived. Mack’s heating and air-conditioning system has
reached the end of its usefulness and this brother had driven here to install a
new system. He was up early this Monday morning beginning the work before he
had a break when we had a breakfast of scrambled egg on toast. I had a pile of
Emails from Barbara and Fflur and friends in the UK and the USA, all so welcome
when one is far away. But I love being here and hearing all the news of
Christian life and strife in this mighty nation.
In the afternoon Mack took me to Barnes & Noble’s
bookstore where I bought a compiled book of essays and paragraphs written by
C.S.Lewis that I had never seen. It had been given the title The Reading
Life. It is so easy to read; its first three chapters are entitled ‘Why We Read, How to know if You Are a True
Reader, and Why Children’s Stories are Not Just for Children’ and there are
many more such brief chapters. There is a chapter entitled ‘The Case for
Reading Old Books.’ The print is large and the small hardback is not heavy to
hold. I paid for it with $100 bill because I needed some change.
An elder’s wife has the reputation of being a great
cook and she has cooked a chicken for us and Mack promised me that it was going
to be the best chicken I has ever eaten. I told him I liked gravy! It indeed was
delicious, the best chicken I have tasted for a long time, that is, not dry, but
tender and juicy (Don’t I spend too much time in these musings writing about
food? Sorry. I am married to a great cook. No slur on Barbara). Jarrod and
Joann Courtney came for supper and they stayed until after 9 and we happily
talked away.
Then Tuesday we travelled 90 miles to Graham, four
of us, Mack, Lee, Jeff and me. sometimes passing groups of Long Horn Texas Cattle,
and, my, they are long, five feet from the tip of one horn to the tip of the
other. We often past clusters of the Texas national flower, the bluebonnets. In
Graham we entered the most extraordinary and beautiful modern house at the side
of a lake, a pool and a hot tube outside. The ceiling of a vast kitchen was as
high as Alfred Place ceiling with flowing wood everywhere, vast doors and huge
windows overlooking the lake. The house is a second home of a Christian oil
man. Three women served our meal and then the twenty or so men sat around and I
spoke on Christian Encouragement. The men were almost all under 35, young
fathers, having been less than 15 years in the ministry, some much shorter, but
part of the new wave of men who have discovered the doctrines of grace. We were
four on our table, and I was able to ask them what parts of the Bible, what
books, were they preaching on at the present time. They made helpful comments after
I had spoken and they gave us some books.
The most joyful discovery of the day was my brand
new autobiography, In The Shadow of the Rock. They were selling it for
half price $15. It is full of photographs and almost 300 pages in length. It
looks beautiful and I searched through it from first to last page and was
impressed. I don’t suppose it will be in the UK until May. They have almost
sold out all the sets of the four children’s books, while the new evangelistic
paperback, Everyone’s Welcome, is selling well and the 900 people coming
to the Conference which starts tomorrow night will probably buy the lot. This
was a most interesting day. We arrived home at the end of the afternoon and
Mack cooked steak on the outside grill for supper which we ate with baked potatoes,
salad and sweet, smaller, darker, brown, baked beans more delicious than our HP
baked beans. There I go harping on about food again . . .
Wednesday was an unforgettable day, and as you hang
in with me you will discover why. We began by a visit to a Cowboy-themed
restaurant in the old centre-city square of Denton, Cartwright’s Restaurant
Café, where I had hash browns, a strip of bacon, egg and tomatoes swallowed
down with a large glass of ice cold orange juice. Then we called in at a
charity shop for five minutes where I got a garment, and then drove on through
blocked highways (a crash?) to the Dallas branch of the Reformed Theological
Seminary to hear Sinclair Ferguson who is teaching there all this week. We
finally arrived at 1.10, but the afternoon class had not yet started. The dozen
or so students were drifting in. settling in and chatting with Sinclair entering
and joining them. Then he spotted me. “Geoffrey Thomas!” he cried and came over
and hugged me and then, rapidly changing his mind, he announced that for the
next two hours I was going to teach this class! What an honour! He said lavish
things about me, and then asked me a question or two and I was away, speaking for
the rest of the afternoon. It was a delight, not difficult being steered by him
about my ministry, and then about preaching and the situation today, and then
he handed it over to the class and they asked me good complicated as well as
straightforward questions. I got a round of applause at the end. It was an exhilarating
experience, though I would have enjoyed listening to Sinclair. We drove back in
30 minutes to Denton.
The early arrivals at the Fellowship Conference were
turning up and we met three of them for sandwiches and soup at five before
making our way out of Dallas and into Denton. I was preaching at the opening conference
prayer meeting at 7 and about eighty gathered for that. I spoke on Philippians;
“In everything by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God. And
then the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your heart and
mind,” and there was a gratifying reference to the talk in many of the prayers
that followed for an hour at the end of my speaking. But this was the first
time I had spoken in the USA on this visit when I felt that the preaching was
ordinary – my frequent experience. I want to hit a home run every time I come
up to bat but the Lord knows how to temper my understanding of the impact of my
messages. He steers the people away from talking to me in praise of what they
have heard. He removes the inner testimony of assurance that something had been
blessed by Him, but God did bless the meeting. Then we wandered around the
lovely conference centre and went to the main 1000 seater auditorium and there
were all my books, especially my new evangelistic book Everyone’s Welcome. I
saw it for the first time. Attractive. 100 pages and I read the first chapter
and it was enjoyable. That was the icing on the cake at the beginning of the
conference. What a book table, 40 yards long! Magnificent books. I used to have
many of them but I gave them away to Newcastle’s Westminster Seminary. But if I
could read the books that I now have then that would be more than enough. I
know what books I will be reading next, the two new one that I have written.
Once when John Murray was staying at our house I told him how much I had
enjoyed in the Calvin Theological Journal his essay on Definitive
Sanctification, “Has it been published?” he asked in astonishment. I went
upstairs and got it for him. That was it for the next hour as he read his essay
carefully from beginning to end. I did not disturb him.
At 8 a.m. my phone rang for the first time. Wow! I
didn’t know it was working. It was the optician in London booking me for an
appointment. Then I spotted that there was an unanswered call from Barbara and
I pushed a button and I actually spoke to her in Germany, 7 hours ahead of me.
She told me of her journey yesterday and of a good reception from Hermann and
Ann her sister, and that her niece was arriving to show her how to download her
Emails. That was great,
In the day I went to a Louisiana restaurant with
Mack and Timothy Conway and most of his family. I had Louisiana gumbo, that is
a fish soup with rice. Three of his children were there, the trio who are
converted. The one who has thrown aside the faith was not with us. One is
getting married a week Saturday 7 bridesmaids and 6 ushers. Another has been
married three months and I sat with him and we discussed the call into the
ministry. Then we went across to the Conference centre and picked up Kenneth
Kiambati and his new wife Elizabeth. He is finishing in a month at Joel Beeke’s
seminary and he hopes to return to his native Kenya and teach in the Nairobi
seminary set up by Keith Underhill. I spent an hour with them. They are staying
with Mack in Mack’s house and attending all the meetings of the conference. He
has been to this conference twice. He is a gem and so is she. I have never met
her before. While he first heard me preach years ago in Kenya. I think she will
easily survive being the only white woman in the congregation
All six of us speakers at the Conference met for a
meal at 5 along with the wives of some and then we prayed together. I moved
into my room and then we went to hear the first speaker who spoke on the nature
of saving faith and urged the congregation to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Afterwards I signed the first three copies of my autobiography for three
working men in their twenties, one of whom had been attending the ministry of
Derek Thomas for 14 years. The other two I have known for a few years. It was a
lovely evening but I struggled to send my Emails out with the weakest
connection. I later found the situation of the strongest connection in this
hotel, and then I can send out my Emails from that spot. The conference
organisers kindly gave me a box of flavoured teas and I could heat some water
in the microwave oven and enjoyed cherry flavoured tea alone with one golden
wrapped chocolate ball.
On Good Friday I heard one of the most animated
preachers I have ever heard. He was even a little over the top on a couple of
occasions. It is not something I often meet. He preached on the Lord’s relationship with
his people from the Song of Solomon and challenged us all. Then after lunch
which is at 12 I returned to the auditorium whose walls are lined with tables
full of books. It was 1 p.m. I was the third of four men to speak to 200 or
people about books. My vocation was to show and tell my own books. I found
about 9, not spotting the biography of Ernest Reisinger or my book on the Revival
in Samaria until late that night. I think all the children’s books were
sold immediately and quite a few copies of my autobiography. Most of the two
evangelistic books, You Could Have It All and Everyone’s Welcome
were also sold (and there were many of them). They had ordered many copies of
my autobiography but they did not sell so well except to old friends. There
were plenty left over. I spent the rest of the afternoon going over my notes
for tonight’s big meeting. Every seat was taken, around 1000 people. They
largest number ever. They listened well, though I ‘went on a bit.’ Afterwards I
had about six different people coming on to me. We sat at the front and there was
an hour of counselling. What a privilege! There was one bit of advice I wanted
to give to a man who asked for a ‘last word of counsel;’ I was silent for a whole
minute as I struggled to think of the words I wanted to tell him, but they
would not come to me. Yet, the moment he had gone and a few other people came to
talk then I remembered what I was struggling to tell him. I looked out for him
afterwards but could not find him. So now I am back in my suite, three rooms to
myself (or even four if you separate the toilet and shower from the sinks and
mirror). I am really being spoiled. But the food is pretty basic. But there are
plenty of ripe bananas and apples, but no machines selling chocolate! But I
found them later. I talked with an old friend, a dentist. His wife bought every
book of mine that I had shown, and his daughter bought her own copy of In
The Shadow of the Rock. She is a terrific photographer and will take our
photo on the football pitch tomorrow. She is also the photographer at the
wedding of Tim Conway’s daughter next Saturday in San Antonio. I can read the Times
each day, and I have Borodin’s 2nd String Quartet playing over and
over again on my Ipad. I told everyone I talked to that Barbara had been tuning
in to our Conference and heard me preaching last night in Germany!
This morning’s preacher is a missionary in Lebanon
and he was special. The father of 8 or 9 children meeting attempts to kidnap
one of his little girls to send her to Syria, and also to kill him. He was
running out of petrol one day last year and he wouldn’t stop in one garage
because the owner was an Islamic extremist. but he went up the hill from the
garage but the car stopped. So he reversed down the hill and stopped next to a
petrol pump on the forecourt. This man came out, recognised him, and knocked on
the window. He let down the window and the man spoke to him, telling him “You
know who I am?” that he had been paid to shoot him last year. However, some
years ago members of his family were ill and this missionary had raised some
money and had bought a number of drugs and given them to the family and they restored
the woman to good health again. “How could I kill someone who had been so kind
to my family?” he asked. Men see our good works and God is glorified through
such a response. By the way I have been asked to go to Jordan next year to
speak to some Arabic Christian pastors at a couple of small conferences. Some
of the men from here are talking of coming to John MacArthur’s church the first
week of October where I am preaching at the Puritan Conference.
This Saturday afternoon from 1 until 2.30 six of us
speakers sat on the stage and we each had a microphone and about 20 questions
were addressed to us one at a time each to one person. I think I had four and
there was one when I floundered. I was distracted by an old woman in a wheel
chair in the front row who had a telephone call She took ages to find her phone.
It rang on and on, and, then, finding it, instead of switching it off she
engaged in conversation with the caller, while I was trying to answer a
difficult message on the meaning of a verse of Scripture. It was sad. That was
my weakest answer, but two answers were spot on and they laughed loud and long
at something I said, and that was very reassuring. It was a good afternoon for
me.
Then a group of young men gathered around me on the
platform and asked me questions and we talked for an hour. They are all from
San Antonio and I will be preaching for them twice next week. What an educated
blessed crowd they are. It is a remarkable church and I hope I have real
liberty when I am there as the final days of this happy time in Texas draw to a
close.
My friend Lee preached at 7, my spot last night, at
this Saturday night meeting to 800-900 people. We sing some old-fashioned
Southern Baptist hymns, but I chose “The power of the cross” for the last hymn
last night and loved singing it. But they love to sing the great English hymns
of Watts and Wesley, etc. Lee preached on Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and it
was a fine, helpful, moving message. When it was over I signed a dozen copies
of my autobiography. I am being given 12, and so they will be for most of the
grandchildren, the three daughters and Rhiain and Keith. They will arrive some
time in a month or so.
Blessings on you,
Geoff
No comments:
Post a Comment