Phone Call at Dedridge
By Kieran Banks, Minister of Dedridge Baptist Church
Kyle has kindly given us permission to share his story.
The phone rang and an anxious, uncertain voice introduced itself. Kyle lives near our church, and during lockdown began to feel a heightened concern about a few things; among them, God and the future. To try and address these concerns, he came down to the church, took contact details from the display board, and decided to ring.
We met up and discussed everything and anything, but the subject matter always came back to God. Kyle shared how his grandmother, a member of our church, often talked about the things of God. Most of the time it flew over his head, but she had made a veiled reference to the fate of unbelievers, and it stuck! He felt convicted and wanted to explore the theme. As I listened, I thought of Peter Hitchens, who writes of a trip to France where, in an art gallery, he was confronted with Van der Weden’s masterpiece, the Last Judgement, and realised he was no different to those without hope in it. The same Spirit Jesus said, would ‘convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment,’ had convicted Peter Hitchens, and now Kyle.
Kyle listened as we talked and thought about the ‘Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.’ He received Him as his own personal Saviour and has now joined the family of faith at Dedridge to worship on Sunday and dive deeper and deeper mid-week into the gospel. Kyle’s now waiting with two others for baptism.
I continue to find Kyle’s story so refreshingly ordinary, in New Testament terms. The witnessing grandmother, the convicting Spirit, the needed and available Christ, the family of faith cradling and nurturing the spiritually new-born. Oh, and Kyle’s at college. The students have been given five-minutes to share something that interests them, with fellow students. Guess who he wanted advice on talking about? So refreshingly New Testament. Isn’t Jesus just great!
