It is a strange thing for any minister of the gospel to be called to one’s home town since the Lord said … “A Prophet is not without honour except in his own land and among his own people.” Yet, by the providence of God and by His clear leading in my life I have returned to my roots “….and among my own people” so to speak.

I was 27 years of age when I left the town to go into full time gospel work and by coincidence I had been away from the town 27 years when the church in Newtownards issued the call.

I had a very happy childhood. As an only child, I had no brothers or sisters to fight with! I was educated at Londonderry Primary (A rather confusing name for a school in Newtownards!) and then on to Newtownards Technical College. Leaving school I served my time as a printer in the Spectator Newspapers in Bangor.

I met my wife Anne in 1970 and after five weeks I had ‘popped the question’ although we had decided not to get married until 1973.

At this stage I was not a Christian, in fact I did not even believe that there was a God.

While working in a printing firm in Belfast during those dreadful days when terrorist atrocities were happening almost on a daily basis, I had a rather fortunate escape from an I.R.A. bomb that totally wrecked our building. That night Anne had said that she was going to pray that God would get me a job away from the city. I protested vigorously …. arguing there was no God!

Although Anne was not a Christian she was anxious that I would lose my atheistic tendency and with the aid of a Christian work colleague began to quote the Scriptures to me. Over a period of three months Anne and I were discussing the things of God more and more and as we read the Bible I was not only convinced that there was a God but we both began to feel our need of God, of our guilt and sinfulness before Him, and of our desperate need of Salvation.

It was on the evening of 28 th. June 1972 that Anne and I under deep conviction of sin trusted the Saviour …. What a night that was for us!!! What a transformation had occurred, in that very moment we were born again of God’s Spirit, cleansed by the precious blood of Christ and adopted into the family of God! From that moment in time we were heaven born and heaven bound!

We are just so thrilled that God by His mercy touched our lives and made them complete …. It is a Salvation that is all of God and all of grace. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!

For the next five years we were members of and deeply involved in the life of Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church and in other Christian work. In 1977 I was approached by the Belfast City Mission and in September of that year was appointed to the staff of that Mission and commissioned to Lord Street Hall. We were there for seven years when I received a call to the pastorate of Dromore Baptist Church where we spent ten years before answering the call to Mullaghmeen Baptist Church in Fermanagh where we were for a further nine years.

It has been a great privilege and joy to my own soul to preach “The glorious Gospel of the Blessed God” and to see lives transformed by the matchless grace of God!

Anne and I have three daughters and two grandchildren. Ruth is a nurse in the City hospital and was recently married to Gareth Thompson; they live in Donacloney. Sharon, who signs for the deaf, is married to Philip Bain, and they live in Dromore (County Down). They have two children Matthew and Emily. Deborah is our youngest daughter and is presently doing her P.G.C.E. year, training to be a sports teacher.

We bid you welcome to any of our services. As you surf the pages of our website may you know the blessing of God!