Revival at Rosslea – When God saved 4 policemen (60 min)

Revival at Rosslea – When God saved 4 policemen (60 min)

L to R; Ernest Gribben, W.J. Nesbitt and John Thompson

John Thompson (1921-2008) was saved on 22nd February 1937. He joined the Police as a young man and, on being promoted to sergeant in 1945, moved to Rosslea in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. What happened over the next few years was nothing less than a remarkable work of the Spirit of God. Sergeant Thompson witnessed to his colleagues, resulting in four R.U.C. constables getting saved. First John Rowe, then Norman Workman, and finally, on the same night – 17th May 1949 – Ernest Gribben and William Nesbitt. Mr Gribben and Mr Nesbitt heard the gospel over a period of time in a small hut in Rosslea in meetings held each Sunday and arranged by a Mr William Deering. Then, when the newly converted 25-year-old Harold Paisley came to preach in a series of gospel meetings in nearby Mullahara (with the encouragement of a Dr Thomas Hagan), constables Gribben and Nesbitt were converted. They were subsequently baptised by Mr Paisley in the River Finn. John Thompson went on to be a full time evangelist, commended in 1951. Mr Nesbitt the same, in 1958. Mr Gribben was for many years an esteemed elder in the assembly in Newtownbreda. In 2001 a meeting was arranged by the believers from Plantation Gospel Hall, and held in the Friends’ School, Lisburn, to commemorate Mr Thompson’s 50 years in the Lord’s work, supported by his godly wife Ena. During the course of that meeting (in which numerous speakers took part), Mr Gribben (1920-2004) and Mr Nesbitt (1927-2017) told of their conversions in Rosslea 50 years earlier. Mr Thompson also told his testimony. Those three messages, in that order, are featured on this historic recording.

L-R: W.J. Nesbitt, Harold Paisley and Ernie Gribben (Oct 2002)