[0:00] I'm probably atypical in what a lot of people brought up in the church. And I'm also atypical, not like a lot of other people brought up in the church. I am atypical in the sense that I'm a child of Christian parents.
[0:16] So I don't have a dramatic testimony because I'm a covenant child. Or was a covenant child. And I was brought up to ignore the truth.
[0:28] So no Damascus Road experience for me. So from a human point of view, it's not a very interesting and exciting story. I wasn't outwardly in the gutter or anything like that.
[0:42] But nonetheless, my story is just as miraculous as anyone else. Please don't help me. It might not look so dramatic on the inside.
[0:53] And I can't tell you exactly when I moved from that into life. But spiritually it's worth. Because I never outwardly didn't believe. But there was a point at some point. And so I was brought up in a Christian home.
[1:08] I'll say a little bit more about that in a minute. So I'm typical of many people brought up in the church that way. And I think that's a great thing. I don't think we don't need to have dramatic life experiences.
[1:20] If you're one of the youngsters here that's in a Christian home, you don't need to go wild and mental and go away from the faith. I mean, from that, it can be a very gentle thing to know and love Jesus.
[1:34] And it's one of the great blessings and great privileges that have been brought up in a Christian home. It comes to your dad's very majestic. And avoids some of the excesses that can happen.
[1:46] So I'm atypical of a man. But I'm atypical in another sense because I'm 55. And I've only lived nine years outside of a man. Okay, so that's pretty atypical.
[1:59] A bit of a year. Okay, so I was brought up in a man. My dad was a minister. So I grew up in a man. And then I left the man just for a few years to study and work. And then I became a minister from a back of my life.
[2:12] So I've worked for a long time in a man. That's a good thing. So, yeah. That's quite too much. It's like, it's on the files. I really just want to say two things.
[2:25] One is, in terms of two important things. Other than God, obviously, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Two really important things. And I think this is significant for all of us.
[2:35] One is my parents. My dad was a minister, I would say. And apart from the first six months of my life, I was also, I also lived in Edinburgh and St. Columbus.
[2:48] I didn't live in St. Columbus, but my dad was a minister in St. Columbus then, which is where I ended up. Which is also a bit weird. So I grew up in St. Columbus. A very different church then.
[3:00] But my dad was a minister. So my dad was a minister. And I was a minister's son. So, be good to your minister's children, okay? Because it's really tough.
[3:13] Because everyone thinks you're goody two-shoes. And you're the minister's kids, so you're treated differently. You're supposed to be better and behave better than everyone else.
[3:26] Which is patently not true in my case. Anyway. So my parents, in terms of my coming to faith, my parents were the huge influence.
[3:40] There were two influences. One I'm taking, my parents have won. My parents. Their love, their unconditional love. Their guidance, their teaching.
[3:53] Their care. The time, they knew when I needed freedom. And they knew when I needed coffee over the year. And discipline and freedom and love and teaching.
[4:07] And the amazing thing, particularly about my dad, for me, was that I saw Maudie Reek in a school. Preacher. And the great thing was, I didn't really see anything different in the church.
[4:20] So there was a consistency. In fact, he wasn't perfect in any way. I'm not trying to suggest that. But there was a consistency. There was a genuineness of who he was. From what he preached to how he lived in the house.
[4:34] And that was a huge influential thing. So there was no hypocrisy. There was no double standards. There was no saying, ah, yes. There was no like that. All like that. Right now I have.
[4:44] I feel like to speed up. So I can see Christ in him. Dad done this thing. I don't know. And I have to be at that. I can feel speed up.
[4:54] And I have a huge influence. They were very ordinary people. Okay. I'll do nice and quiet. They were superheroes. Superheroes. They had a genuine faith. And they lived there every day for us to see as children.
[5:09] So they had a huge influence on my life for becoming a Christian. Because I was attracted by what they had. And as well as people eventually receiving.
[5:20] And the group that received all the time. And what they did. So I think that's a great encouragement to Christian parents here. The astonishing and sorrowful influence you have.
[5:34] It doesn't matter what we're getting from a friend.
[5:45] By far the biggest influence in a child. So that's a great encouragement. And it's a great challenge. And it drives, it's certainly driven me, to, as a parent, to the Lord Jesus.
[5:58] Again and again. For nothing else than for forgiveness. For making a mess of it. But to tell that to your children is also significant. Because they need to know that. Remainlessly.
[6:09] We'll rubbish it sometimes. So my parents were a huge influence. I'm going to say. And the other great influence was for future tramps, actually.
[6:24] So from Asia, 10, I went to future tramps. And having people, leaders, for example. We were just a few years older than the school were Christians.
[6:34] And also people your own age who were Christians or were interested in the Bible. That made a huge difference to me. I longed for camp from about one day when we were home.
[6:46] For 364 days. I longed for the next little time. It was fantastic. My second camp ever was in Paris, in Paris, actually. In the old school.
[6:59] It was a tremendous camp. And the camps in these days were absolutely legendary. They were much more mental than they are now. But I'm not going to know all the things that happened.
[7:10] But it was a great camp. But you know, you've got great teaching from leaders who were, you know. It was slightly different from church. It was church that preaching was something you should go over your head.
[7:21] You didn't quite get it. But a camp that was really relevant to exactly your level. And then you had gone discussions for you. That's what you placed. And sometimes it was in Sweden. You know, either a free church context or my dad being a minister.
[7:36] He didn't get it. I was. My dad was a pastor at the church. And some of these. Not because I was scared of them. But it was difficult. So camps were hugely influential.
[7:50] And I think, again, what has stuck with me right now in the system like this is a report. You're Christian friends. Christians, you're only. However you find them.
[8:02] That's a really significant thing. It's also very brutal. You're older and younger. But for people of your own age that you're accountable to, that you're friends with, that you grow up together.
[8:14] I share that fact with me. I was a student with me, Mullen, and Donny. All of them attended the up in the ministry. And we've been really close friends over since.
[8:25] And that is one of the greatest blessings, I think, I can say, I have in my life. So friends and parents were hugely influential in me.
[8:36] So I don't know exactly when I became a Christian. I kind of believed. I never consciously just knew. I was never a atheist when I became a man. I was a man. I recognized in my June years.
[8:48] I had to drink it there. I was a Christian. I was a Christian. It was based on the fact that my dad or mom, my dad's dad and mom was coming. I was a Christian. I was a Christian. I needed to make that decision publicly and confess Jesus as a Christian.
[9:02] How can you tell him? And I'm saying I wasn't. And in our context, it's similar to here. That was when my professor was created. I became a member of the church. And I did that at the age of 16.
[9:15] It was 40 years ago. and then in these times I was in St. Thomas in our context I was pretty young to become and I remember at the time it was a terrifying experience 15 besuited elders in a room all about 75 or 100 and you were asked to go in they were all looking very solemn and serious and you were asked to go and test with a 16 year old that was absolutely wrecked going in a 16 year old and I remember the first question one of the elders asked me and if we're not going to say this room this is so you can stop it sorry sorry I didn't know I was going to say that just happened what's that he said are you not too young to become a man no got it I'm not knowing what to say
[10:16] I jibbered something for a fire and my dad had gone out and my dad had me said he left with me because I didn't think I was very fair and Professor Collins he came and said which wasn't really very comforting he was even more scary than anyone else he was so I did and I was fine but I remember interestingly years after this same gentleman coming up and telling me he was seriously rebuked by my answer which I have no idea but I said and he felt convicted as a long question he doesn't he I said he was great it was I need to take off what is need to be aware I was very glad I professed because a year later I left home and we came to study and I knew at that point that because
[11:19] I professed people knew about Christian and the great thing was I went to church there immediately there was guys there from camps and we managed to immediately felt I know if I hadn't professed it would be much easier for me to slip away because I never said anything and so I think it was a very important step to me to take all my doubt and stories of weak faith but I would have to also say that probably most of my battles spiritually have come soon to profess faith it's not like you profess faith and everything is easy in fact it's quite the opposite quite often actually no battles coming and struggles and battles things happen in your life you're more aware of your sins sometimes sometimes you back side badly and all these things happen in the trips of life camp I'm sorry I can't have your bid as a倍 b the support and friendship and significance of our young friends or at that time young friends were really intelligent and needed to become a Christian that God used to become a Christian
[12:36] I think in our context in a free church context camps have been by far the most profitable and faithful evangelistic spiritual work we've been doing nearly all the people my friends all people and many are in the state of the church and taking strong forces and leaders through the work of camps and we're very much worthy of the support of the church tell me when I was a minister I was in Ruskin in the islands very happy with and it was just after there was a big spot in the free church in 2000 and St. Columbus was probably the worst effect of the congregation 80% of the people left there was only 20 people left and it would be a sad people from the outside there's someone who had grown up there to see that and someone wrote me out there and said he'd come down and preach and it was a weird experience because the moment I'd read that letter
[13:50] I knew I would do that and I didn't tell him I was kind of afraid of it and I'm not one really for receiving suggestions from the Bible especially speaking in that kind of way but he did very proudly in the middle of the readings I was just praying for the heavens in the course of the weeks I had two very very powerful verses this quote one was I will do a new thing it was from Isaiah and then from Acts I had many people in this city but two verses it really struck with me again very very powerful about that was weird actually the reading through Acts at the time and I had a second verse and he headed down the side and he moved to the side they took the road to the side and eventually I had to say and my wife I think I'm going to go here by the way so through many tears and sadness and it all happened very quickly
[14:56] I ended up going from a church and maybe 250 other people got a stone on in Ireland and I ended up seeing conferences of dark things horrible brown varnished that made the place with as dark as sin and 25 people and terrible sinning what have I done I had have I come here but what kept me going kept us going as a fan at that time was just he promised that God was working and had a purpose so God has been very gracious and people it's been an exciting journey there's been lots of battles and struggles but it was been good and I think it's the end of this show and I'll move on and someone else will put them in the store so but that's really what I think just before you go how came it way for you to find Sir Colombo's I think one of the challenges and I please let's say for me our city centre it's a gather church it's very transient so there's always people coming and going so last summer 50 people went into congregation about a quarter of the congregation that was a huge blow because some of them were really poor families who moved on or moved to a different area you know professional guys moved to the city or maybe families if they're not working one career now you moved career all the time or you moved play the same as you're moving career so people move on so 50 last summer was the nightgown maybe 17, 18, 20 this summer and that's challenging because you have to keep you have to keep refocusing to welcome new people get to know them give their heart to them then they leave and they lose part of your heart and then you start a game and you have to kind of refocus what we're doing as a church because people have all forgotten what the purpose is but we've tried very hard to do at the city centre of church a strong community that's looking to reach out to the city by planting churches because the way we believe the gospel will flourish in the city by planting more than one church because there's only about 3% of the population of Edinburgh to go to any church and the evangelical church is less than that the correlation has been far higher than that far higher and there's 500,000 people in Edinburgh and so we believe that the planting church is a big and we can't reach more people between the 3 churches we've planted there's probably about there's probably 800 or 900 people in there not all obviously new some moved down there's another there's another maybe a third of them in the plant centre and new people to the gospel and to church so please pray that we'll be wise because we are thinking about a 4 church plant but I can take a deep breath and fear when I think about all that will be involved in that so pray a lot of wisdom to know what to do and where to do it if we're going to do it
[18:14] God will meet up and just pray for our core people particularly that they will not it's not a little news park but they're just they're just tired doing what they do and I'm always asking be welcome and be open and be open and look out for the other ones and that can be tiring and they need to be nurtured and nourished themselves so paper I quote people they do so much for the first point in our leadership so that's really good thank you thank you thank you thank you