I was not brought up in a Christian home, although my parents were not against religion, just indifferent. Sunday School wasn’t the normal part of the Lord’s Day.
As a lad of eight, I remember peeking into the living room through the french doors. In that room lay my father, in a wooden box. I was very afraid! He was so still and cold. My little heart thought, "Where has he gone?" I was told he was killed in a road accident. That was my first introduction to death. My mother was devastated at his sudden death, and being left with five children. The year was 1944.
I will not go into too many details, but one thing I recall is that we moved many times. Every year we seemed to go to a new school. Later on, a stepfather entered the picture; after about six years and two stepbrothers and one sister, he left us. We were alone once more. Now we were a family of eight and I was the oldest. At 16, I began to apprentice as a mechanic. All my earnings went to help mother and the family. At that time we were living on a farm near Burks Falls.
I came to Toronto in the late 50’s to work. I went home every other weekend, 180 miles. Up to this point, I had not thought about God, heaven, hell or eternity. I attended a few church services, one in particular remains in my memory. It was a Baptist church (we were nominally Baptist) and it just happened to be Communion Sunday. I stayed and partook of the emblems at the end of the service. Then a man arose and quoted 1 Cor. 11:29 "he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." I could not get out of that building fast enough. I felt that my stomach was burning, so stopped for a coffee. Was it possible that I wouldn’t go to heaven, when I died? I had not fallen into a life of sin, a little gambling but nothing more. When I look back on it, that was the first time I was truly convicted by the Spirit of God.
On Sunday evening, July 3rd, 1960 I found myself on Yonge Street at Dundas Square in Toronto. There was a small group of men and women gathered for, what I later learned, was an Open-air Gospel Meeting. I stood off to the side listening to the various men speak. Toward the end of the meeting a crowd had gathered. Some began to make fun of the preachers and at that point the Lord seemed to speak to me, "Well, what side are you on?" I knew the answer, I belonged to that group of hecklers. Oh, I wasn’t saying anything audible, but my heart was far from God.
I went home without speaking to anyone. At 2.00 a.m. I couldn’t sleep; I got down on my knees and found I couldn’t pray. I stayed there for some time and then a verse I had heard somewhere came to memory — Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Immediately, I realised that it was my sins that nailed him to the cross: then and there a sinner met the Saviour and was saved for eternity.
I returned to the Open-air the next Sunday evening. After the meeting I told the Christians that I had gotten saved after the open-air the prior week; the saints invited me to Central Gospel Hall on Wednesday evening for the Prayer and Bible Reading. On August 28, 1960 I was baptized. In September I was welcomed into the fellowship of the believers, who gathered to His Name. I remained there and learned much from godly brethren who loved our Lord Jesus Christ. When at home, I went to the Chapman Valley Gospel Hall, about eight miles from the farm, where a number of my family professed Jesus as Lord. I still have good friends and memories in that part of the country.
In April 1962 I requested a letter for Broadview Avenue Gospel Hall, as it was a smaller assembly, and have stayed there until this present day. I began to teach Sunday School, invite people to hear the gospel, help with various duties in the hall, and later worked in the capacity of deacon and then elder.
For some years, I was exercised about going into the work of the Lord in Toronto. To my knowledge, there was no one working full-time in this large city. I prayed and agonized over the decision before approaching the brethren for a letter of commendation. With weakness and trepidation I received their blessing on November 25, 1978 at the age of 42. I had really no idea just how I would approach this rather unusual task but one thing I did know — I wanted to tell people about the Saviour and how they could know their sins forgiven and be on the road to Heaven. I also wanted to acquaint them with the assemblies.
Over the years, I have worked in open-airs, door to door visitation, shopping malls, arranged for various special meetings, city-wide (one night) in auditoria with fellow brethren to help with the preaching. Several years I centred on prophecy with a gospel thrust. A couple of years I rented a tent, had it erected on city property in one of the crime areas and had young men give testimonies and then I would close with a short gospel message. These are just a few of my activities of the past. Weekends are kept for assembly preaching in various halls.
Now Metropolitan Toronto has a population of over three million with large immigrant sections from all over the world — a mission field right at my door! There are so many streets and neighbourhoods, that are still yet to be covered. The Lord’s Coming seems so near; the fields are still white.