Read how close friends and neighbours, Gavin and Ross, came to get baptised.
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away- well 40 years ago in Bath. I grew up in a loving family in Bathford and went to school in Bath. I went to church with Mum and Dad in a Congregational church in Batheaston which was the closest thing to Mum’s church, the Church of Scotland.
"I didn’t think I wanted Jesus in my life, now I know I need him." - Gavin Williams
Sunday school was good fun and I learnt a lot about the bible. But in my teens motorbikes and bad haircuts were more important and then at 18 I joined the RAF. Soon after Sharon and I got married and we spent 6 years in the RAF in Lincolnshire, Scotland and Suffolk. I joined the Police in 1993 on
leaving the RAF.
All my life I’ve read a lot, particularly loads of Science Fiction and when I don’t know something, I go looking for answers!! Because of a novel by Robert Heinlein, I read the book of Revelation at age 14 and again later on when I got into Iron Maiden.
Nothing I then believed or read made me think that God existed. I liked the Bible, but it felt no more real to me than my other books.
As Yoda put it “All his life he has looked away to the horizon, to the future. Never his mind on where he was, what he was doing.”
So how did I come to be here at Welton Baptist Church?
Well, I became a governor at Writhlington School and I discovered one of the teachers there called Gwyn, read the same type of books as I did. Gwyn was a Christian and she started to invite us to events and services at the church.
Sharon started to come regularly to Church and eventually I began to come as well because she wanted me to. I even listened to what was said. But I never prayed or took communion.
Then slowly things began to happen …….. In December 2002 I was involved in a road traffic collision at Hallatrow when the Police car that I was driving hit another car killing the driver. The Duty Inspector was Paul Bright and that night I asked him to pray with me for the driver. 
I was also aware that people at this church were praying for me. That was a first for me, I didn’t think I needed prayer, but I found it strangely moving that people could care so much.
Last Winter Sharon and I were asked to do the Alpha course. I didn’t want to as I didn’t feel I needed it. But Sharon wanted me to and I knew there would be some good food on offer so I did it. The course was brilliant. It answered questions that I didn’t even know I had and proved to me that Jesus existed with lots of examples and quotes like this from former Lord Chancellor Lord Darling
“ No intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true.”
I love my bikes and while the Alpha course was running, at work we were getting some new off road motorbikes, and I was one of the 3 Officers who would be riding them !!!
This made me reflect on all the good things that were happening in my life and whether they were accident or design (or Divine). Then one Sunday in January Rob Addicott was preaching and Carl Beech spoke about CVM (Christian Viewpoint for Men) ….. and about bikes!
After the service I was still buzzing from what had been said and I felt compelled to make a choice, believe in Jesus or not but after a few moments it seemed like the moment to make the decision had passed. I mentioned this to Sally Evans and her response was “Well do it now then” !!
So I did make my commitment to Jesus then .... I didn’t think I wanted Jesus in my life, now I know I need him.
As you can imagine my job puts me in some pretty distressing and uncomfortable situations and it is a great comfort to fire up a quick prayer for people in times of need. In fact my first prayer chain request was made from Bath custody unit!
Things are different now, something I read on the Christian surfers website says, “Sitting on your surfboard out the back waiting for the next set of waves, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the creation around us”. In fact the new saying in our house is “See that, God made that”
I leave the final word to a very wise lady called Ellis Peters
“I do believe we have been given free will and can and must use it to choose between right and wrong if we are men and not beasts. Surely it is the least of what we owe, to try to make our way to salvation by right action…. It is for our own actions we shall answer when the day comes.”
I’ll answer for my actions, will you answer for yours?
"Why not give God a go? He will never let you down! " - Ross Oakey
I just want to thank you all for coming to share this special day with me, it was probably hard for some of you to come as church can seem to be a very daunting place. I know, I’ve been there as I was brought up in a non Christian family and never liked going to church, even if it was only once a year with the school at Christmas.
Growing up with my Dad, Mum and twin sisters was good - we always had what we wanted and never went without but throughout my teenage years I did a lot of regrettable things and never once thought about God. Drink and Drugs were the attraction and socialising with my friends is what I lived for. I started to go to church now and again because my wife Max insisted that I come and have a look at what the children were doing!! The teaching didn’t interest me but meeting new faces did and I quite liked the attention people were showing me. I then started to attend more regularly as Max was using a very powerful form of persuasion, which involved throwing a dustbin lid at my car if I tried driving off to avoid church! If I didn’t go then my “pride and joy” was going to get it.
Each time I turned up at church, Paul Evans, one of the church Elders, made me feel very welcome and after attending for about a year he asked if I was going to make a commitment. I let this pass by because I didn’t want to change my life style.
On the day of my commitment to God on March 13th 2005 Pastor Mike was preaching about Heaven and Hell and I felt that God wanted me to make a decision either to live a life with or without him. My arm was consistently going up in agreement with what Mike was saying and I really wanted to make the right choice of going to Heaven. Mike then asked me to the front and being full of the Holy Spirit I couldn't get out to join him fast enough! It was there that I gave my life to God and there that I was saved!
I’ll never forget Paul’s reaction as he leapt to congratulate me and “too
k out” out the projector and projector stand in the process!! Looking around at the church in a mixture of smiles and tears of joy I realised then how much everyone cared about me and how important it was to have Jesus in my life. The following day I went into work on “a high” and started to encourage my work mates to experience what I had on the previous day.
Since then Jesus continues to make an impact in my life. He has helped me overcome numerous problems I have had with various people and has helped me rebuild and create a better relationship with them. I have an inner peace that only God can provide and have also seen many answers to my prayers. Jesus wants me to have only the best relationship with my family and friends and I have been given many more friends through attending church and housegroups and I am confident that I can turn to them for help and support if needed.
Why baptism? ..... well when my wife Max asked me if I would, I replied “when Mike asks me”. That following Sunday to my astonishment Mike approached me with that very question confirming to me that this is what God wanted me to do. But really I chose to be baptised because the bible says “believe and be baptised”.
I had to get baptised with Gavin today because about a year and a half ago we had a conversation on my door step on whether or not we would turn to the Lord. To which we both agreed we would not, and were only going to church to keep the wife happy!!! “Anything for an easy life” as Gav put it. As you can see God had a different plan. A few weeks after that conversation I became a Christian with Gav following a few months later after careful analysis of statistical facts of course! I could go on forever about how faithful Jesus has been to me and how he benefits my life but the only way to know is to accept him into yours.
Why not give God a go? He will never let you down!