Author Archive

New Efforts for Youth Ministry in UK

Wednesday, August 26th, 2020

AIPM has sent youth workers to the UK for 18 years. Fifty committed young Americans have served in 28 British churches since we began in 2002. Of the 50, twenty-three came from Dallas Baptist University! This was largely because Christy Gandy (nee Brasier) served with Amy Shelton at Thornaby Baptist Church in 2005. They did a wonderful job and thoroughly enjoyed their ministry.

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AIPM Update: November 2018

Monday, November 12th, 2018

Great news! We have been invited to serve at Marsden Road Baptist Tabernacle (MRBT) in South Shields, UK. South Shields is near Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is about 320 miles north of London. Jerry Cox (wife Carolyn) has been invited to serve as their first American Interim Pastor. Jerry and Carolyn served at Bootle Evangelical Church in Cumbria the first half of 2017 and will get to South Shields in early April 2019.

MRBT began in 1840 with 2 brothers preaching in the market. And, MRBT remains a strong Gospel beacon to this day. Their mission statement includes, “Show the love of Christ” and the many outreach activities prove their commitment to this and their willingness to serve. Their commitment to reaching families is evidenced by twice-weekly Parents/Toddlers meetings as well as weekly Brownies, Girl Guides and Boys Brigade. And, each Wednesday there is a “Friendly Circle” for ladies over 60 that has 30 in attendance. There is a mid-week Bible study and a Saturday prayer meeting.


MRBT Worship Center and Activities Building

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AIPM Update August 6, 2018

Monday, August 6th, 2018

We’ve changed some things about our web site and I need to ensure that I can post updates. So, I’ll simply write about what is currently going on with our interim pastor and youth worker ministries.

First–interim pastors. The short answer is that we are currently helping no British churches with volunteer interim pastors. We were helping 3 until mid-2017 when all three reached the goal of having British pastors or at least making arrangements for that to happen. Since that time we have learned that 5 British churches may possibly be considering inviting some of our folks to help. Only the Lord knows what their decisions will be, but we are eager to help if the Lord directs them to us.

Second–youth workers. In early August 2 youth workers will return to the USA and we hope another one will get her visa in August to go to the UK. Malorie McGuff from Ft.Worth, TX is finishing almost 2 years work at Bootle Evangelical Church in Bootle, Cumbria. She will continue her university education upon arriving home. And, Ashley O’Bosky is finishing her 10 week assignment at Clare Baptist Church in Notinghamshire. She will return to her middle school teaching assignment in Lubbock, TX a few days after she gets home. We thank both of them for their hard work and advancement of God’s Kingdom in the UK. Alana van der Maas has applied for a visa to go to Enon Baptist Church in Sunderland in early September. She plans to help out there for a year. We are excited about her ministry at Enon.

We would be most grateful for prayers that the work that AIPM volunteers have done over the past 18 years including the work of these young ladies and prayer for future opportunities for both interim pastors and youth workers. And, prayers are appreciated for candidates for positions that the Lord will open up.

Way Overdue Update on AIPM

Monday, April 30th, 2018

Dear All,

I’ll skip the excuses and get busy writing an update. First, thank you for following our web site and I would be pleased to hear from you if you have questions or comments.

I’ll report on our volunteer interim pastor ministry. We most recently served 3 UK churches. They were: Bootle Evangelical Church in Cumbria–we served from June 2014 until July 2017 when they were able to call a bi-vocational pastor. Being able to have a British pastor met our goal and we are pleased for the church.

Ringstead Baptist Church in Northamptonshire was served for all of 2016 and felt that they would be able to take care of pastoral ministry locally. We have heard that they have an excellent moderator and things seem to be going really well there.

Stow-on-the-Wold Baptist Church in the Cotswolds was served from September 2015 until July 2017. They are now working with their Baptist Association, Southern Counties, and a UK mission agency called Rural Ministries and a strong local Baptist Church and planning a path forward for ministry and evangelism in that community.

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AIPM Invited to Serve at Morley Community Church in Yorkshire

Sunday, March 26th, 2017

AIPM has been invited to supply volunteer interim pastors for Morley Community Church (MCC). MCC is a conservative evangelical Congregational Church near Leeds in Yorkshire. It was started in 2000 by a group of Christians who lived in the town but worshipped elsewhere. They sensed the Holy Spirit’s leadership to start an evangelical church in their own town. Currently, Sunday worship attendance averages 18. MCC’s present leadership team consists of 2 deacons, Ray Baker and Andy Dalton. There is maximum involvement of the congregation and a high level of commitment.

Morley Community Church March 2017

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AIPM at St. Andrew’s Community Church, Tilbury, London – 2003 to 2004

Friday, March 10th, 2017

St. Andrew’s Community Church in Tilbury on the east side of London in the docks area was a local ecumenical partnership Baptist/Methodist church. The church had done very well the previous 6-years under the leadership of a Baptist pastor. When that pastor was called to a church much farther north, many of the key leaders left.

In October 2003, St. Andrew’s invited Shannon Duncan from Charlotte, NC to serve as interim pastor. As mentioned in the report on Milnsbridge, Shannon’s wife, Tillie, is on staff at a Baptist church in NC and cannot accompany Shannon on out-of-town assignments.

Shannon Duncan

Shannon served at Tilbury from October until December 2003 and went home for a few days over Christmas. He returned in early January and served until March 2004. Praise the Lord, Shannon is able and willing to pay for his own airline tickets so his initial round-trip to Tilbury and his trip home over Christmas cost the UK church nothing.

It is significant that Paul Hills, Regional Minister of the Eastern Baptist Association, made it a point to sit with Chuck McComb at lunch at Baptist Union HQ in 2004 to tell him about the closure of St. Andrew’s Community Church. The church required about GBP 50,000 for upgrades. The property was owned by the Methodists and they had insufficient funds to make the changes. They took the decision to close. Paul said that closure was in no way a reflection on Shannon Duncan or AIPM. We appreciate his concern that we not mis-judge the cause of the closure.

AIPM at St. Paul’s Baptist Church, Skegness – 2008 to 2009

Friday, March 10th, 2017

St. Paul’s Baptist Church (SPBC) in Skegness, Lincolnshire, learned about AIPM and inquired about a partnership. Chuck and Pat McComb visited the UK in September 2007 and stopped in Skegness. David Smith, SPBC Church Secretary, arranged a wonderful fellowship meal and presentations by the leaders of all the SPBC ministries. That was a great experience for the McComb’s and they were truly blessed by all the efforts to advance God’s Kingdom in that community. Chuck presented information about AIPM.

St. Paul's Baptist Church

SPBC decided to invite AIPM to serve alongside them. SPBC called Jim Martin (wife Brenda) from Lake Jackson, TX to be their first AIP. Jim and Brenda started their ministry in Skegness in January 2008. This was the Martin’s second assignment in the UK. The first being at Thornaby the back half of 2004. Jim had a 30 plus year career as an engineer with Dow Chemical Company. He and another Dow employee planted a church in Lake Jackson and Jim served as Associate Pastor. And, in 2017, Jim is serving as pastor of a new church in Brazosport, TX.

Jim and Brenda Martin

Interestingly, Jim and Brenda heard about AIPM on a Monday after he had retired the previous Friday. They were listing to a very popular Christian radio station in Houston, TX (KHCB) and heard an interview by station manager, Bruce Munsterman. Bruce was interviewing Chuck McComb from AIPM and Derek Allan from the Baptist Union of Great Britain. Derek and Chris Mepham (also from BUGB) were in Houston working with AIPM on the protocol for AIPM’s ministry in the UK. The radio interview was a way to try to spread the word about opportunities to serve Jesus Christ in the UK. It worked. Jim and Brenda heard, volunteered and served twice. On a similar note, John and Jan Ward also heard the interview and the Ward’s have served 4 times already. Praise the Lord for KHCB and for these 2 godly couples!

Speaking of John and Jan Ward, they were the second AIPM couple that SPBC invited to serve. They started in mid-2008 and served until late December that year.

John and Jan Ward

Larry And Judy Carter from Aurora, Illinois followed the Ward’s at Skegness. They served the front half of 2009. Larry had served many years as pastor of Baptist churches in Illinois before his retirement and volunteer work for AIPM at Skegness.

AIPM was extremely effective at St. Paul’s Baptist Church! Ten people were baptized in only 18 months! That is the largest number of people to be baptized at any one AIPM church over the 17 years of this ministry! Jim Martin baptized: Gbadebo Ogunbanjo, Timothy Waite, Christian Williams, Lynn Cooper and Stephen Degenkolb. And Tim Waite’s wife, Kate, renewed her baptism vows. John Ward baptized Don Stephenson and Larry Carter baptized: Keith Black, Deana Hulalt, Trish James and Philip Staples. Praise the Lord for these additions to God’s “Forever Family.”

Following are additional notes from John and Jan Ward from their experience at St. Paul’s Baptist Church: Skegness is a popular holiday beach town on the North Sea. The town is very full of tourist during the British school break periods, especially the 6-weeks that schools are closed for the summer holidays. In addition to tourists, there is a mission team from Birmingham each summer working from SPBC and conducting beach ministry.

John and Jan said, “Our first impression was, “Wow! This sure seems Anglican.” then “Oh, What country is this anyway?” St. Paul’s is a bit of an unusual name for a Baptist church. However, the premises were originally owned by the Church of England and St. Pau’s Anglican church was CofE property. The Anglicans saw a need to cease operating St. Paul’s and sold the property to Baptists in 1895. The Baptist saw value in retaining part of the name of the former church and called their new property, St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

John was privileged to baptize his first convert at St. Paul’s, a man who has come to meet us at each of our subsequent assignments. We still exchange letters several times a year. We keep up with other former members there by letter, E-mail, Facebook and Skype. We have left many precious friends and many memories. We returned for a week-long Christian conference at a beach resort. We found that we slipped away often to be with our precious St. Paul’s people.

AIPM at Central County Durham Churches 2005 to 2010

Thursday, March 9th, 2017

AIPM began in Central County Durham as a result of a visit to Texas of David and Miriam Lennox from Stocksfield Baptist Church. The Lennox’s were staying at the McComb’s and doing a tour of the fastest growing Baptist churches in the southwest of the USA. During that visit, they mentioned Hamsterley Baptist Church (HBC) in the small village of Hamsterley in the heart of County Durham.

David was serving as Secretary of the Northern Baptist Association and a tutor at Northern Baptist College in Manchester. He had preached at HBC only a few weeks before coming to America. David and Miriam reported that HBC was at risk of closing for lack of resources. When it was learned that Hamsterley was a church plant by Stocksfield BC in 1652 when Stocksfield was only 2 years old, our heart strings were tugged profoundly. How sad if that church were allowed to die on our watch.

Hamsterley Baptist Church

AIPM had never done so before, but we felt lead to try to raise funds in the USA to support AIPM at Hamsterley in partnership with the Northern Baptist Association. And, the money came in and we got started there in 2005.

The first American interim pastor at Hamsterley was actually a Scotsman! Bill and Margaret Taylor were born and raised in Scotland (and still had the Scottish accent). Bill began Gospel ministry while still in Scotland. He sensed God’s call to serve in New Zealand and served there for a number of years. God then called the Taylors to Texas to continue ministry. They retired while serving near Beaumont and then moved to Fredricksburg, TX for their retirement years. They learned about AIPM and the opportunity at Hamsterley and volunteered to serve the first half of 2005.

Bill and Margaret Taylor

Darrelll and Faith Grice replaced Bill and Margaret Taylor and served HBC the second half of 2005. This was Darrell and Faith’s second AIPM assignment. They had served the first half of 2004 at Milnsbridge Baptist Church near Huddersfield.

Darrell and Faith Grice

During the Grice’s ministry at HBC, the retired British layman that was taking services on Sunday afternoons at Wolsingham Baptist Church (WBC) became ill and had to retire. The folk at WBC asked Darrell if he would serve as interim pastor of WBC as well as Hamsterley and take Sunday afternoon services. The Grice’s felt the Lord’s leading to do this so AIPM expanded to 2 central County Durham churches.

Wolsingham Baptist Church

Shannon Duncan from Charlotte, North Carolina was called as the third volunteer American interim pastor for Hamsterley/Wolsingham. And, this was Shannon’s third assignment in the UK. Previously, he served at St. Andrew’s Community Church in Tilbury and Milnsbridge Baptist Church in Huddersfield. Shannon served about 4 months in Central County Durham in the first half of 2006.

Shannon Duncan

The next American interim pastor to serve at Hamsterley/Wolsingham was Gregg Trickett from Tulsa Oklahoma. Gregg had a career in construction and had done some preaching in Oklahoma. He put his construction work on hold and volunteered in Central County Durham for about 5 months in the mid part of 2006.

The 5th and final interim pastor for Central County Durham was Jim Williams (wife Sally). Jim and Sally had only recently retired from an evangelical church that Jim had planted and served as pastor for more than 10 years in Phoenix, Arizona. Within a year or so of Jim and Sally’s arrival in County Durham, both Bishop Auckland and Crook Baptist churches asked Jim to serve as their volunteer interim pastor also. That brought to 4 the number of churches within a 10 mile radius of each other that Jim was serving.

Jim and Sally served the 4 central County Durham churches for almost 4 years, from 2007 well into 2010. Jim encountered some health problems on a visit to the USA late in his ministry in the UK. He returned to serve the 4 churches for a few more months then had to return to Arizona to take care of health issues.

Jim and Sally Williams

Over the years after the Williams tour of duty, Crook had a former youth minister as pastor. Shortly after that man was called to a different church, Crook closed. Wolsingham decided to partner with another local Baptist church in the area. Of the 4, only Hamsterley and Bishop Auckland remained in partnership and have shared a pastor for many years.

AIPM at Littleover Baptist Church, Derby 2005 and 2006

Saturday, February 18th, 2017

AIPM had 3 couples serve at Littleover Baptist Church (LBC) in Derby. They were Ernest and Ann Weedon from Deer Park, TX; O.D. and Jean Oliver from Gilmer, TX and Claude and Delma Jacks from Beeville, TX.

Littleover Baptist Church

Littleover Manse and Auto

The Weedon’s were first to serve there. Ernest is a retired pastor who served First Baptist Church, Deer Park for a number of years. After retirement, he and Ann began an interesting ministry in their very own subdivision which is quite large. They get in touch with newcomers and invite them to attend either a church of their own denomination or FBC. If they choose their own denomination, the Weedon’s attend with them and help them get acquainted. If they have no preferred denomination, the Weedon’s try to take them to FBC and help them get acquainted there. Ernest and Ann simply turned this ministry over to other helpers for the 6-months they served in England. We believe God must be well pleased when His servants keep on serving in their retirement years. Indeed, retirees are the backbone of AIPM.

The Weedon’s followed the standard practice of American interim pastor couples and made many friends in their neighborhood. Ann decided to give a birthday party for Ernest. She invited the Littleover congregation and most of them came. But, that was only about half of the crowd of over 70 people. The other half were neighbors including some Muslim friends. Such is the way our volunteers are made to feel welcome in the communities where we serve.

Ernest and Ann Weedon

In January 2006, O.D. and Jean Oliver began serving at LBC following the Weedon’s. O.D. became very ill on the flight to the UK. He and Jean were told that the airline rules were such that if a passenger is too ill to proceed to the next stop, the airline will return to the USA’s nearest airport capable of handling that size plane. O.D. and Jean felt that he would be able to continue on to Manchester, UK and did indeed get there safely. O.D. visited the local doctors several times over the 2 weeks that they were at Littleover. Finally, the doctors advised them to return to Texas where their doctors had detailed records and would be better able to manage his case. The folk at LBC were so gracious to O.D. and Jean and were sorry to see them leave. But, they understood that it was best for O.D.’s health. Sadly, O.D. passed away a few months after leaving Littleover!

When O.D. and Jean realized that they would not be able to finish out their 6-month assignment, they mentioned another retired pastor and wife who might be able and willing to serve. They introduced AIPM to Claude and Delma Jacks from Beeville, TX. Claude had been a pastor of Baptist churches for many years and Delma had served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Mary Harden Baylor for a long time. Since AIPM had had no contact with the Jacks, we had on profiles or videos. Cecil Williams, then Treasurer of AIPM and an accomplished media person, solved the video problem. Cecil offered to tape a sermon by Claude and and interview with Claude and Delma that we could sent to Littleover. The folk at LBC considered Claude and Delma excellent candidates and called them immediately. It took only 4 weeks from the time we heard about the Jack’s until they arrived in the UK. In those days, we did not bet visas for volunteer religious workers as we do today. We simply took advantage of the visitor’s visa waiver agreement between GB and the USA that was in effect. We could enter GB and volunteer but had to exit the country within 6 months. In fact, that is the origin of what has become AIPM’s standard assignment of 6-months. That and our retiree’s need to visit doctors and visit grand children.

Claude and Delma Jacks

AIPM at St. Andrew’s Community Church, Tilbury, London – 2002 to 2003

Tuesday, February 14th, 2017

St. Andrew’s Community Church in Tilbury on the east side of London in the docks area was a local ecumenical partnership Baptist/Methodist church. St. Andrews’ was a church plant that was done by some Missouri Baptists and the Eastern Baptist Association in the UK. The church had done very well the previous 6-years under the leadership of a Baptist pastor, Bob Edwards (wife: Sue). Sadly, when Bob was called to a church much farther north, many of the key leaders left St. Andrews. In October 2003, St. Andrew’s invited Shannon Duncan from Charlotte, NC to serve as interim pastor. As mentioned in the report on Milnsbridge, Shannon’s wife, Tillie, is on staff at a Baptist church in NC and cannot accompany Shannon on out-of-town assignments.

St. Andrew's Community Church

Shannon had a good ministry at St. Andrews, but soon recognized that with the leaving of so many of the leadership, continuing ministry would be very difficult. In early 2004, the Methodists who owned the property announced that the building would require GBP 50,000 for upgrades to meet insurance requirements. The Methodists could not afford that expenditure nor could the local congregation so the church closed. It is significant that the Regional Minister of the Easter Baptist Association, Paul Hills, made it a point to tell me (Chuck McComb) that the closure of St. Andrew’s was in no way a reflection on Shannon Duncan or his ministry over the 6-month assignment.

Shannon Duncan

Shannon served at Tilbury from October until December 2003 and went home for a few days over Christmas. He returned in early January and served until March 2004. We praise the Lord that Shannon was able to purchase his own tickets to and from Tilbury as well as those for his Christmas trip home. When St. Andrew’s Community Church closed, we believe that the Baptists went to other Baptist churches and the Methodists went to other Methodist churches in the area.

There are many examples of the support and fellowship between churches in the UK. One involves St. Andrew’s and a sister church. Since St. Andrew’s did not have Sunday or Wednesday night services, Shannon made it a practice to walk a few miles to a nearby Baptist church for Sunday evening worship and Wednesday Bible studies and prayer meetings. That church is Sockett’s Heath and the pastor at that time was John Ireland. Interestingly, Sockett’s Heath supported the St. Andrew’s ministry by providing the manse and utilities at Tilbury! We are grateful to John Ireland and Socket’s Heath for their financial support and for making Shannon feel welcome and sharing fellowship with him the entire time he was at Tilbury.