Historical Missionary Reports

Historical Missionary Reports

Unforgettable Stories (43 min)

Bob Surgenor (1928-) tells the story of his labours in the gospel in West Virginia, USA, beginning in 1970 to the present day. He pioneered the work there and, often helped by other preachers, saw the Lord save souls and an assembly planted in the town of New Creek. Using a Gospel Tent and hiring various buildings (including the historic Pine Church  in Purgitsville), series of gospel meetings were held in Keyser, Burlington, Fairmont, Petersburg, Birch River, Whitmer, Buckhannon and…

The Gospel in Brazil – Wilfred Glenn (30 min)

Wilfred Glenn was a missionary from Northern Ireland who served the Lord in Brazil from 1970 to his unexpected sudden homecall to heaven in 1987. During his 17 years of labour in Brazil, Wilfred and his wife Kathleen left their mark on the work, in particular in a place called San Gabriel in the Rio Grande do Sul. Very small beginnings had been made in the work there, and our brother and his wife moved there to press on with…

When 40 Were Baptised in Gander Bay (23 min)

In the 1970’s Marvin Derksen left Ontario and went east to help in the work in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He entered into the labours of men like Albert Joyce, Herb Harris and George Campbell. Marvin tells of the early days, but also of his own labours in various places, especially in Gander Bay where, after a year of work, 40 believers were baptised and an assembly was formed.  Reading: John 4:31-38. (Preached at the Belfast Easter Conference, Northern Ireland…

Bill Bingham – Holding forth the Word of life (25 min)

Bill Bingham (1929-2004) was born in Edenderry, Northern Ireland. Saved at 21, he shortly afterwards moved to British Columbia, Canada, in 1954. He worked as a construction contractor until 1968, when he moved to Nova Scotia, having been commended to the work of the Lord full time. He laboured for over 3 decades, preaching with the likes of Albert Hull, Bert Joyce and Wallace Buckle, all over East Coast (Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia etc.), and, because of his past experience,…

Andrew Bergsma – The early days in Holland (22 min)

Andrew Bergsma (1930-2013), whose whole family was “reached through a rice pudding”, tells the thrilling story of the early days of gospel labour in the Netherlands in the 1960’s where large numbers attended gospel meetings, souls were saved and assemblies planted. Andrew was a true evangelist, with an evangelist’s heart, full of infectious gospel fervour and willing to labour both on and off the platform. You will be stirred as you listen to the stories of these early days. (Report…

Lou Swaan – Preaching Christ in the Netherlands (24 min)

Lou Swaan (1930-2017) was known for his warm-hearted gospel fervour. Lou moved to Canada in 1948 from the Netherlands and was saved in Vancouver at the age of 21. He found his way to a local assembly by conviction from the truth of Scripture. Answering the call of the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Andrew Bergsma to take the gospel to the Netherlands, Lou headed back to the land of his birth in 1948. There, with the Bergsmas, Lou…

Joe Turkington – Venezuela Report (22 min)

Joe Turkington (1918-1982) was saved as a boy of 10. Later, while a member of the Baptist Church, he met Mr John McCann in the factory where the two men worked. Through Mr McCann, Joe Turkington learnt New Testament assembly truth and came into fellowship with the believers meeting in Lurgan Gospel Hall. In 1947 he was commended to serve the Lord in Venezuela. Along with his wife, Miss Ruth Saword, Joe Turkington laboured and toiled in Venezuela with dedication…

Gaius Goff – God at Work in Newfoundland (50 min)

Gaius Goff tells the story of the labours of Herb Harris, who was instrumental in the planting of 15 assemblies in Newfoundland, Canada. He then tells how he himself got involved in the work as a young man and was used to see the work expand and blessing abound. The emphasis in his message is on “vision”. What vision do we have for taking the gospel to a lost and dying world? This is a fascinating and stirring account of…

Harold Paisley – Report on High Street Tent (21 min)

When Frank Knox came to the end of his preaching days in the big Gospel Tent in Belfast, Mr Harold Paisley took on the responsibility of the work. In the early 1960’s, Harold gave a report at the Belfast Easter Conference about those first of his High Street Tent meetings which had upwards of 2,300 attendees on one night. (The singing was raised by David Kane). During the weeks many were saved. When the Tent was burned to the ground.…

William Bunting – 40 Years in the Work (11 min)

William Bunting (1903-1966) was saved under the preaching of Dr. W.J. Matthews in 1919. Baptised and received into fellowship in the assembly meeting in Wallace Avenue Gospel Hall in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Mr Bunting threw himself early into gospel work. At the young age of 21, he went out to serve the Lord full time, being known at that time as “the boy preacher”. He travelled widely preaching and teaching, being an orderly, careful preacher, as well as a kind,…

Tommy Thompson – God at Work in Alaska (29 min)

Tommy Thompson (1925-2010) came from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was converted to Christ in his homeland. He married Sadie Scott in 1945, and together they immigrated to South Africa. But in 1954, they heard the call to serve the Lord in the cold far off land of Alaska. For the next 50 years, they laboured and toiled through oft-times lonely years, but saw many souls saved and some assemblies established. The story of those years is told in the book…

Bert Joyce – The Early Days in Newfoundland and Labrador (33 min)

Bert Joyce (1927-2017) was saved on 16th April 1939 as a 12 year old boy, sitting at the back of a Hall observing the breaking of bread meeting. As he listened to the singing of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross he pondered its deep significance to the believers sitting in the circle. Opening his Bible to Isaiah 53:6, he was saved as he understood for the first time that he was the stray sheep whose sins the Lord had…

50 Years in Africa – The Legges (47 min)

Scottish missionary Jim Legge (1938-2020) served the Lord in Botswana for more than 5 decades with his wife Irene. On a visit back ‘home’ to Scotland in 2008 he felt a burden to share a word of testimony about how the Lord had called him and his wife into full time missionary service and had worked through them to see souls saved and assemblies planted in Africa. This recording of that meeting will touch your heart and stir your soul…

Robert McIlwaine – Gospel Work in Nova Scotia (60 min)

In 1930, Lennon Knox McIlwaine (1898-1984) and his beloved wife Sarah, arrived in Nova Scotia from Northern Ireland, having been called by God to preach the gospel to the Maritime people of Canada. Robert McIlwaine (1925-2021), their son, visited the UK in 1987 and related the incredible, stirring and heart-warming story of the faith-filled labours of his parents, himself and others who, during the years of the great depression and through World War 2 and beyond, laboured in all weathers,…