God has called me to the office of pastor-teacher and burdened me to labour in personal, local and global evangelism.
In 1997, by God’s grace through faith, I became a born-again Christian. Soon after I acknowledged God’s call on my life and I surrendered to serve Him. Until April, 2018, I served as a missionary pastor in local churches throughout the United Kingdom.
God has burdened my heart to see Him glorified in this world. I know that word “burdened” may seem old fashioned and foreign to some, but I do not think that word has it’s equal. This burden stems from the vision that God has given me.
Keep reading find out more about my burden and vision.
Mission Statement
To bring glory to the Lord; to preach and defend the truth; to win the lost to Christ.
To bring glory to the Lord We desire to bring glory to the Lord in our private and corporate testimony. Scripture teaches that the life of a Christian should have a distinctive difference to those outside of Christ. Once an individual comes to God through Christ He will begin to conform them to the image of Christ. A life lived in submission and obedience to God will bring glory to the Lord. A person that recognises the Hand of Providence in their life will give God the glory for all the good that comes to and through them. A person that knows Christ has an obligation, but even greater, a desire to bring glory to God.
To preach and defend the truth Our church verse, 2 Timothy 1:13, encourages the Christian to ‘hold fast the form of sound words.’ To fulfil this command we will preach and defend the truth found in God’s Holy Bible. We cannot accept any error or make affiliation with any groups or organisations that accept error. We will preach the whole Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, not excluding or avoiding any passage or principle regardless of its popularity or repercussions. Part of preaching and defending the truth necessitates that we name those who have departed from the fundamentals or propagate error. As we preach and defend we will constantly adhere to the encouragement to do so in faith and love.
To win the lost to Christ Our Lord laid down His life in obedience to the Father and for His love for His Bride, the church. Christ shed His own blood for the Church; such is His love for us. We believe the ‘Great Commission’ is a primary mission for believers. For this reason we will be active in home and foreign missions.
Our Family
My wife, Carrie, is from the United States, I am from England and our children are just confused! We have four beautiful children.
Martin’s Testimony of Salvation Calling
I was born in Reading, England. I have been taken to church since I was around 6 years old. Brimpton Baptist Church is my home church and is in many ways my home away from home. At Brimpton I heard the Gospel and was saved, went to the Christian school established by the pastor, met my wife and was ordained. Clearly it is an important place for me.
Each day at the school we had a time of devotions. One day during school devotions Pastor Dotson spoke of the rapture and the fate of those left behind. The Lord impressed upon my heart the truth that today is the day of salvation. As soon as possible I went to Pastor Dotson, and he took me through the Scriptures and led me to the Lord. I was born to the Lord on Friday 5th August 1994
For several years I ran from the Lord, but He never let me go. Through various circumstances God got my attention. Although I had an idea for many years that the Lord wanted me to serve Him “full time”, it was not until I was 17 that I could no longer ignore the call. One night, the 17th of November 1997, though no voice was audible, I heard the calling of the Lord loud and clear. Nineteen months passed before I answered and fully surrendered my life to God.
Much has happened in the years since. One of the greatest blessings to me has been my wife, who by the grace of God, I married in 2004. God has blessed us with four wonderful children, Ashleigh, Samuel, Sophie and Emily.
Ministry
In September 2005 I accepted the call to Pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Glengormley, Northern Ireland.
Faith Baptist Church was started by Thomas Fittis in 1999. Originally they worked out of Braehill Baptist Church, Belfast, but when the opportunity came they began meeting in the home of a gentleman who had been saved through their outreach work.
In October of 2008 I resigned from Faith Baptist and my family and I moved to Sunderland, England. In the interim a deacon from a nearby church will lead Faith and in the long term a US missionary-pastor was invited to continue the ministry at Faith Baptist Church.
At Sunderland I lead the evangelism and teaching at two mission halls, Ford and Hallgarth. They had been started by Bethesda Free Church many years ago to facilitate evangelism in local communities with the goal of bring them into Bethesda. We were invited to lead them toward becoming independent churches.
In 2010 Pastor Tom Dotson resigned from his ministry as Pastor of Brimpton Baptist Church. We know the Lord is continuing to use them mightily where they are now.
Brimpton is where I was led to the Lord, grew up and received training.
When Pastor Dotson resigned I was serving as interim pastor. As someone who was led to the Lord here, was called to the ministry here, trained here and being well known by many in the church, it was assumed I would step into the office of pastor.
However, I did not want to take anything for granted and so as soon as was suitable I asked two of the men in the church to form a pulpit committee.
This led to a church business meeting where the church unanimously voted to invite me to pastor the church.
I served as pastor of Brimpton Baptist Church until April 2018.
Statement of Faith
Download a PDF copy of our statement of faith here: Personal Statement of Faith
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