NO DERELICTION TODAY...

...just a startled photographer!  

Today was the final service for our Minister, Steve and his wife, Christine;  what a great service it was and as you can imagine, very emotional at times.  We have only been members of the Baptist Church at Gorse Hill for a very short time, but Steve and Christine have been there since 2011 and it was obvious that there was a lot of love for them and their family, several of whom had travelled quite a distance to be at the service.  There were also representatives from Steve and Christine’s previous church in Devon and many other friends who shared in the service and it was also live-streamed on Facebook.  

As always Steve’s sermon was great, the singing was wonderful and it was good to see a full church;  the beauty of it being on Facebook is that we can listen to it all again!

The startled photographer is Gary, one of our Deacons, who was wearing an apron because he was part of the fantastic Team of Deacons who provided an excellent lunch, for about 200 people - and I just had to get a shot of him in action further down in the collage.  Next to him is his brother-in-law, Mark, whose father, John was the Minister at Gorse Hill several years ago.  The flowers in the entrance vestibule were beautifully arranged, so I had to have a shot of them in my collage. 

I thought that when Steve and Christine led the way out of the service they looked like a couple who had just got married and as I said, there was a lot of love for this wonderful couple.  They will be sadly missed as they entered into every aspect of the Church’s life - in the words of Mark, who led the service, Steve and Christine were “Available, Amenable and Adaptable”.  The bottom left shows Steve and Christine being prayed for by various people as they start their new adventure of being retirees, although I’m sure they won’t just sit and vegetate - Steve told us they have a large garden and an allotment where they are moving to, so that will keep them busy.  

The last photograph is of Heather, Gary’s wife - the lady in charge at the Community Fridge - and I loved the way she had put her keys down one side of her dress and her phone down the other side.  Well, what’s a girl to do when she has no pockets?  

All in all, a great service with an excellent lunch afterwards;  we are pleased and blessed to be part of such a caring fellowship, which is very active in the community.  Now the search starts for a new Minister, and we trust God to find the right person for the work in His Church and in our community.

“Wherever Jesus may lead us, 
     He goes before us.
If we don’t know where we are going, 
     we know with whom we go.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon : 
English Particular Baptist Preacher - 1834-1892