Three Important Men in My life
As Lyndon Bowring drove us back to London from our Prayer Retreat in Oxford today I suddenly realized that the three men in the car with me – Lyndon, Clive Calver and Rob Parsons – are the three most influential British men in my life since Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones died in 1981. I feel compelled to write about them now.
Clive Calver. In 1983, during the time he was president of the Evangelical Alliance, Clive came to my vestry at Westminster Chapel. I had never met him before. He came during the time of our greatest trial while at Westminster. In 1982 I had invited Arthur Blessitt, the man who has carried a cross around the world (and holds the Guinness Book of Records for the longest walk in history), to preach for me. Arthur preached for us six Sunday nights in a row during April and May 1982. He turned us upside down. It also led to six of the twelve deacons turning against my ministry. Arthur’s visit also led to doors being closedto me all over Britain. I was truly in No Man’s Land. Virtually no one in the Reformed world – of which Westminster Chapel has been a major part – wanted to have anything to do with me.
As president of the Evangelical Alliance, Clive became one of the most extraordinary leaders of change in Evangelical England in the past fifty years. He turned the Evangelical Alliance around and gave it a profile it never had. He became a founder of Spring Harvest – an annual Christian festival that brought many Evangelicals and Charismatics together. Clive came to see me with an invitation to preach at a gathering called “Leadership 84”. I accepted the invitation. It opened a new world to me – Anglicans, Evangelicals, Charismatics and Pentecostals. It was a world that I knew little about. This also led to Clive inviting me the following year to the previously mentioned Spring Harvest. I did the Bible Readings (as they are called in Britain – meaning Bible teaching) – seventeen years in a row. I became known all over Britain as a result. Whereas the Reformed world dropped me, I began receiving invitations from different denominations from all over Britain plus outside Britain. I can’t imagine where I would be today without Clive’s influence.
Clive was invited to be the president of World Relief in the USA. I was privileged to be one of two people to give references (the other being a member of parliament) before he was given the position. Clive was later called to be the senior pastor of the Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut. I preached for him there several times in recent years. He and his wife Ruth are now retired and live in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Lyndon Bowring.I first met Lyndon in 1985. He is Chairman of CARE, a Christian organization that seeks to bring laws and public policy in harmony with biblical principles. They have dealt with social issues such as pornography and abortion. Lyndon introduced me to Dr. James Dobson, who has since endorsed a number of my books and has had me as a guest on his radio show numerous times. Dr. Dobson put my book Total Forgiveness on the map.
Lyndon sat next to me on the platform when I first preached at Spring Harvest. A deeper friendship developed rapidly from that time. He was a major influence in helping me adapt to people quite different from congregations at Westminster Chapel. I had been used to bringing exegetical sermons to theologically-minded people. Those who attended Spring Harvest were vastly different. I doubt whether I would have been invited to Spring Harvest seventeen years in a row had not I listened to Lyndon’s shrewd, gentle suggestions how to adjust to a different sort of people. When I was invited to speak at Keswick in 1992 Lyndon’s input made a huge difference. During this time Lyndon introduced me to Wyn Lewis, pastor of Kensington Temple. Wyn arranged for my first meeting with Paul Cain. Lyndon was with me at that lunch. He introduced me to Colin Dye who succeeded Wyn at KT. Colin arranged for me to meet Rodney Howard-Browne. Lyndon was with me at that breakfast. The reason I go to KT for six months every year is traceable to Lyndon. He introduced me to Alan and Julia Bell, whose counseling enabled Louise and me to go through a difficult time in our marriage. Alan and Lyndon were with me when I first met Yasser Arafat. The three of us made at least a dozen trips to Israel.
Lyndon is the brother I never had, the best friend I have ever had, a man who knows me better than anyone outside my family. He and Celia became like family to Louise and me. For the past several years I have shared virtually all sermon notes with Lyndon in advance of almost every sermon preached at KT. He is amazingly apt in making suggestions I would not have thought of – only making my preaching better, more interesting and more relevant. And this is but a drop in the bucket when it comes to his influence and friendship. God has providentially put Lyndon at my side during our darkest hours, most critical times of decision and that influence continues to this day.
Rob Parsons.As Lyndon and I were walking in Down Street one afternoon, we ran into Rob Parsons, the chairman of Care for the Family and also the most popular Christian writer in the UK. I had never met him, but was flattered that Rob said he had just finished reading my book Once Saved, Always Saved. It is hard to say whether Lyndon or Rob is the “James Dobson of England” as both of them focus on marriage and the family.Apart from being an English teacher Rob was trained in law. He has since spoken to thousands of lawyers in seminars all over the UK and is one of the ablest speakers in the United Kingdom. A few days after Tony Blair became prime minister, I wrote to Mr. Blairto assure him of my prayers, then added a PS – “Enclosed is a book called The Sixty Minute Fatherby Rob Parsons”. The prime minister wrote back the next day. He did not mention my praying for him but thanked me for sending Rob’s book! Rob and Diane live in Cardiff, Wales.
When I finished my manuscript on The AnointingI sent it to Rob with the view that he might write the Foreword. He agreed and then volunteered to help me tweak certain sentences and paragraphs. He made this book twice as interesting. But there is more – much more. Rob has since kindly read almost every book I have written – helping me with his ingenious suggestions. I honestly feel like a fraud when people compliment me for my books. For example, my books such as In Pursuit of His Glory,Thorn in the Flesh,Total Forgiveness and Totally Forgiving Ourselves. After he read the latter book he phoned me to say, “R. T., I know what your next book should be – if you have the courage…Totally Forgiving God”.People have criticized me for the title but no one (that I know of) has criticized the contents. Rob also read the manuscript of Holy Fire and suggested the griping opening sentences of that book. I could go on and on. In a word: Rob Parson’s influence on my writing has been incalculable.
So here I was today, driving from our Prayer Retreat in Oxford, with these three men. And I have hardly come close to conveying how God has used these men in my life over the past thirty-five years. Thank You Lord.