On Thursday last week Paul Nicholson (Herts Mid Branch) and Stuart Walker (National Office Team and Dover Branch Member) met with a church leader, Rev Christ Short from Park Street Baptist Church, St Albans. This is Chris’s story.

“I grew up in a non-Christian home. I went to Hereford Comprehensive School in Grimsby and was given a red New Testament in 1981. I read it occasionally and read, “Where to find help” and “Guidance in Life”.

Significantly, my grandmother died and I started thinking about death. I was about 20 years old and I had a disturbing dream, I felt I was going to die. I decided to read the New Testament and I read the whole of Mark’s Gospel, then I started to read John. I didn’t understand the “Word was God” until I got to verse 14, “the Word became flesh” and I understood that was Jesus.

That same night I had another dream of hands coming through my curtains in my bedroom. This was a spiritual dream and I remember wanting to see if the hands had holes in them, but I didn’t get that confirmation. I did however have a great peace. I didn’t tell anyone, but I started praying and reading the New Testament regularly. My journey to Christ had started.

When I was 21, I was a keen golfer and in a competition with my golf partner. Things were not going well and it was nearly all over, so I spoke to God as I had become accustomed to and said, “I’m not sure about You and I want you to reveal yourself.” About 5 minutes later, I had to make a hole of about 50 metres in one shot to stay in the match. I said to God, “this is your chance to prove it.” I completely duffed the shot, the club hit the ground and pulled to the left. I was angry and I swore. I watched the ball as it shot off to the left, it hit a bump and went to the right and you guessed it, it went all the way to the hole and in. My golf partner was jubilant, but I was dumbstruck because of my conversation with God. “That was good enough for me.”

My faith just grew from that moment and I reflect that of the tens of thousands of shots in my golfing experience, that was the only bad shot I have ever made that has gone into the hole.

I am now the Pastor of Park Street Baptist Church and have been a Baptist minister since 1999. I am so grateful to The Gideons who gave me that New Testament, which was the start of my journey to finding Jesus Christ.”