Reggie Weems’ Blog

Last week I enjoyed the great privilege of teaching 1 & 2 Samuel at Word of Life in Budapest, Hungary.  Teana had the opportunity to minister to the girls in the school and we enjoyed sweet fellowship with many friends at WOL whom Heritage supports as missionaries in Hungary.  When the week of ministry at Word of Life finished, Teana and I awoke at 3:00 am on Saturday morning to take the 45-minute car ride from Toalmas to the airport in Budapest.  We left Hungary at 6:00 am and with the one hour time change, arrived in London two and a half hours later at 7:30 am.  After checking into the hotel, we immediately set out to do what sightseeing we could enjoy before entering into another week of ministry.  Rather than using the tube that evening, Teana and I took the bus from the Portabello Market back to the hotel.  In route we traveled the length of Oxford Street, London’s version of Fifth Avenue in New York City.  From the 2^nd story windows of the English bus we were able to enjoy the city’s Christmas lights ablaze while tens of thousands of Londoners began their traditional Christmas shopping.  Yet it was that same joyful sight that equally caused our hearts to melt at the thought of so many people without Christ.  It also set our thoughts to seeking God’s face about the work He might do through just the two of us in such a large metropolis of such great, spiritual, eternal need. 

Sunday morning we awoke to travel just one tube stop and arrive at Oxford Circus/Langham Place and the world-famous All-Souls Church.  Heritage is using All-Soul’s “Exploring Christianity” course in our own Muslim ministry.  All-Souls has an international ministry both in London and around the world.  Teana and I attended the 2^nd service (11:30) which had only a few empty seats in the sanctuary with an untold number of people in the simulcast; the vast majority of attendees being young people from all around the world whose hearts are on fire for God’s glory all on every continent of the planet.  This weekend is “Remembrance Day” in England, our equivalent to Veteran’s Day.  Before attending All-Souls, Teana and I watched as representatives from around the world placed memorial wreaths at the Military Memorial near Parliament on the Thames.  For this reason, the Sunday morning sermon focused on remembering God’s mighty deliverance of Israel in the Exodus and the ensuing commandments in the Decalogue. 

After lunch, Teana and I made our way to Speaker’s Corner at Hyde Park.  We arrived in the middle of the afternoon but remained until after dark.  The day was windy and often, ‘umbrella’ rainy but the weather was quickly forgotten as we both engaged in discussions with Christian and Muslim friends.  After walking around several different groups and listening to several speakers, both Christian and Muslim, I settled in to debate one particular Imam.  He and I stood face to face while as many as twenty people surrounded us listening in on the debate.  (May I suggest to our Muslim team and those who attended the lecture on Islam at ETSU that the discussion was much akin to what we encountered that evening)  Nonetheless, I was greatly encouraged as our argument, centering on evidences that Jesus Christ is God, kept him engaged with me and off of his ladder forwarding his own cause.  Our discussion ended only when, far after dark, he folded up his ladder and left Speaker’s Corner.  What a challenging, enlightening and enjoyable afternoon.  Pray that God will be greatly glorified as Teana and I continue to seek opportunities for ministry in a nation that gave us our Christianity but that now, much like America, is in great spiritual need.            

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 9th, 2008 at 7:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.