201 – July 19 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

They named him “Christmas”

Perhaps the greatest Baptist preacher that Great Britain ever produced was the Welsh preacher Christmas Evans. Born on Christmas Day 1766 into an impoverished home, he lost his father when only nine years old, and spent the next few years with a disreputable uncle. When he was 15 he still couldn’t read but when he was 18 he was converted and joined the Presbyterians. He was six feet tall and His very presence spoke of leadership and they urged him to preach. The development of his untrained mind is an amazing story. He learned to read his Welsh Bible in one month. He read every book in the scant local libraries. “He became skilled in Hebrew, Greek and English.” With a desire to expose the Anabaptists, he studied the New Testament carefully and came to the conclusion that there were no verses that taught infant sprinkling and at least forty for baptism on profession of faith. In 1788 Christmas was immersed in the River Duar by the Rev. Timothy Thomas. He began a pastoral ministry until he was called to the Isle of Anglesea in 1791. There were two chapels and 8 preaching stations. Spiritual deadness prevailed when he began his 35 year ministry. In a short time the Isle was revived, and by 1826 the preaching stations multiplied to scores, and 28 preachers flooded the Isle with the message of grace.  He traveled to Velin Voel for an associational meeting in 1794. After two ministers had addressed the assembly in the heat of the open air, Christmas Evans was asked to speak. He spoke for 3 hours on the Demoniac of Gadara. This became his landmark sermon. He lost an eye early in life but the one eye it was said was like a brilliant star, it shined like Venus. On his death bed, he waved his hand as if with Elijah in the chariot of fire, and cried the words of an old Welsh hymn: “Wheel about, coachman, drive on!”

Dr. Greg J. Dixon From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 295-97.

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365 – Dec. 31 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

First Revival in Kentucky

 

1783 – John Taylor found his wife in a very helpless state, in that she was within one month of delivering their son Ben. He and Mrs. Taylor had arrived at Craig’s Creek in Upper Kentucky a little before Christmas. They had made the trip from Virginia with great difficulty without a friend or acquaintance to accompany their young family. Taylor said that they took an ill fixed boat of strangers down the Ohio and that not a soul was settled from Wheeling to Louisville at that time. Also according to Taylor, “Not a soul in all of Bear Grass settlement was in safety, but by being in a fort”  Though it was winter they set out to go the eighty miles to their destination on Gilberts Creek. They had three horses, two packed with all they owned and the other was ridden by his wife. The trail was narrow and difficult as they waded through mud and forded creeks and rivers up to their waists, often in bitter, cold weather. It was in Taylor’s own cabin, that a revival commenced in the winter of 1784-85. Taylor performed hard physical labor during the day and preached at night. The revival at Clear Creek settlement resulted in the founding of a Regular Baptist church. Many of those first thirty members had migrated from Virginia under the ministry and leadership of Elder Lewis Craig. That summer Taylor baptized some sixty of his neighbors. This was considered the first revival in the commonwealth of Ky. Taylor Organized a church at Bullitsburg where he baptized 113 persons. He also founded churches in Trimble County, Franklin County (Frankfort), and Buck Run in Franklin County. He was a true, hard working, pioneer church-planter.   [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 717-19. John Taylor, A History of Ten Baptist Churches (Bloomfield, Ky.: Will H. Holmes, 1827), pp. 54-55.]   Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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200 – July 19 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

They named him “Christmas”

 

Perhaps the greatest Baptist preacher that Great Britain ever produced was the Welsh preacher Christmas Evans. Born on Christmas Day 1766 into an impoverished home, he lost his father when only nine years old, and spent the next few years with a disreputable uncle. When he was 15 he still couldn’t read but when he was 18 he was converted and joined the Presbyterians. He was six feet tall and His very presence spoke of leadership and they urged him to preach. The development of his untrained mind is an amazing story. He learned to read his Welsh Bible in one month. He read every book in the scant local libraries. “He became skilled in Hebrew, Greek and English.” With a desire to expose the Anabaptists, he studied the New Testament carefully and came to the conclusion that there were no verses that taught infant sprinkling and at least forty for baptism on profession of faith. In 1788 Christmas was immersed in the River Duar by the Rev. Timothy Thomas. He began a pastoral ministry until he was called to the Isle of Anglesea in 1791. There were two chapels and 8 preaching stations. Spiritual deadness prevailed when he began his 35 year ministry. In a short time the Isle was revived, and by 1826 the preaching stations multiplied to scores, and 28 preachers flooded the Isle with the message of grace.  He traveled to Velin Voel for an associational meeting in 1794. After two ministers had addressed the assembly in the heat of the open air, Christmas Evans was asked to speak. He spoke for 3 hours on the Demoniac of Gadara. This became his landmark sermon. He lost an eye early in life but the one eye it was said was like a brilliant star, it shined like Venus. On his death bed, he waved his hand as if with Elijah in the chariot of fire, and cried the words of an old Welsh hymn: “Wheel about, coachman, drive on!”

 

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: adapted From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 295-97.

 

 

 

GOD GIVE ME JOY

God give me joy in the common things:

In the dawn that lures, the eve that sings.

 

In the new grass sparkling after rain,

In the late wind’s wild and weird refrain;

 

In the springtime’s spacious field of gold

In the precious light by winter doled.

 

God give me joy in the love of friends,

In their dear home talk as summer ends;

 

In the songs of children, unrestrained;

In the sober wisdom age has gained.

 

God give me joy in the tasks that press,

In the memories that burn and bless;

 

In the thought that life has love to spend,

In the faith that God’s at journey’s end.

 

God give me hope for each day that springs,

God give me joy in the common things!

 

Thomas Curtis Clark

Christmas Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria – official video – YouTube

Christmas Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria – official video – YouTube.