I still remember looking at the map in March 1979 to find where Rochester was.
I remember the Church Secretary asking me in September 1979 if I would be interested in coming back as pastor. I think it was then that reality kicked in. I had one more year to complete at the Irish Baptist College in Belfast, and had still hoped that I could return to my previous job which I loved.
The church asked me to come. There were six weeks of intense discussion, because, due to critical family circumstances, the move to Rochester would be quite drastic. But we came, and I started as pastor in September 1980. The situation in the church was so dire that I offered my resignation to two deacons two hours after the induction service. I felt like I was going to be cannon fodder, which in the words of one of the deacons would ‘soon be gone anyway’. What he meant was that he would soon see that I moved on.
