During the ’60s and early ’70s, a dynamic Welsh preacher achieved what many of his peers at that time thought impossible: he was able to be fully Pentecostal in outlook, pastor a thriving and growing church, and yet also command the deepest respect of christians from many different denominations.
And at his funeral, the great preacher, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones called him a ‘spiritual statesman’, saying: “I have rarely known a man who had a larger and clearer worldview of the present situation of the Christian church and what we should all be doing.”
Born into a mining community at Crosskeys, South Wales, in 1916, WTH ‘Billy’ Richards came to Christ at the age of eight under the preaching of a Welsh pastor called Tom Mercy. His family suffered a terrible tragedy when his older brother was killed climbing a quarry for a ‘dare’ when only 11 years old, and during the great depression of 1929, Billy found himself the main family breadwinner at the tender age of 14.
For the next six years while he worked underground, Billy gained a sound knowledge of the Bible and learned many secrets of prayer. In his late teens he gained a reputation as an evangelist, conducting rousing underground hymn singing, preaching in the open air and leading popular youth rallies.
At the age of 20 Billy went to London. He was so raw that when he saw his first underground train come out of a tunnel, he threw himself against the station wall in fright! He enrolled in a Pentecostal Bible college, but his funds ran out after 11 weeks. However, he was allowed to stay on providing he led a newly-formed work in Barnet, and by the time he was 27 he had also helped to build a church in Hammersmith and pioneered another of around 100 people in Ealing.
However, it was in 1943 in the midst of a heavy WWII air raid that Billy received the call from god that was to shape the rest of his life. He later wrote: “It was the name of a town that I had never visited... I knew nothing about the district and did not know one single person there. The name of the place was Slough.”
Denne historien er fra #30 Apr-Jun 2017-utgaven av Heroes of the Faith.
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Denne historien er fra #30 Apr-Jun 2017-utgaven av Heroes of the Faith.
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Telling Tales About Canterbury
How those tall stories of pig's bones and gospel heroes contain more than a hint of reality.
Sophie Scholl
The Young Woman Who Defied Hitler
Jonathan Goforth Revivalist Apostle To China
Jonathan Goforth was born, the seventh of eleven children, in February 1859 near London, Ontario, in Canada. His parents were hard-working farmers and, if the young Jonathan learned about the things of God through his devout mother, he also learned hard work from his father, who once went to Hamilton for food and walked all the way back through the bush – a distance of 70 miles – with a sack of flour on his back!
John Wycliffe
Morning Star of the English Reformation.
Billy Nicholson The Irish Whitefield
William Patteson Nicholson (1876-1959) was a Presbyterian preacher and evangelist born in Bangor, Co Down. Nicknamed ‘The Tornado of the Pulpit’, Nicholson spent his early years on his father’s cargo ship, but began to preach in 1899 at the age of 23. He was known for his ‘men-only’ meetings and straightforward language. In the Belfast shipyard of Harland & Wolff, a ‘Nicholson shed’ was erected to house stolen tools that newly converted workers returned as a result of Nicholson’s preaching!
Wth Richards - Pentecostal Statesman
During the ’60s and early ’70s, a dynamic Welsh preacher achieved what many of his peers at that time thought impossible: he was able to be fully Pentecostal in outlook, pastor a thriving and growing church, and yet also command the deepest respect of christians from many different denominations.
The Parachute Padre
An unlikely war hero who volunteered to serve miles behind enemy lines alongside one of the most ferocious fighting units of the British Army
Time To Reform Our View Of The Reformation?
Five hundred years ago a cataclysmic change was begun in the Western church when a renegade monk nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg.
The Big Picture
The much-acclaimed film ‘Hidden Figures’ is the heart-warming real life story of three African-American women who worked on the space programme in Virginia in the 1950s.
The Cambridge Seven
How a move of God among Britain’s students answered the desperate prayer of a missionary on the other side of the world.
