In Depth:  Richard Bewes

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Billy Graham – living proclamation

Billy Graham – living proclamation

Richard Bewes

Richard Bewes, former rector of All Souls, Langham Place, recalls his meetings with the great evangelist

The first time I ever heard him, it was like a drumbeat in my head: You are going to be doing this for the rest of your life.

Just a boy amidst the Revival

Just a boy amidst the Revival

Richard Bewes

Richard Bewes recounts his childhood with missionary parents in East Africa

My parents were missionaries in Kenya.

The Communist experiment

The Communist experiment

Richard Bewes

Richard Bewes reflects on the revolution of 1917 and its fruit in the last 100 years

Forget Trump for the moment.

Cliff Barrows 1923 –2016

Cliff Barrows 1923 –2016

Richard Bewes

‘Morality’, wrote Augustine, ‘has perished through the want of good men.’ For this reason, the emergence of a true giant of integrity, goodness and grace will make its mark – even upon millions. One message emanating from the life of the late Cliff Barrows is that character is the only thing we can take into the next life.

Cliff Burton Barrows, born in California in 1923, died, aged 93, on 15 November 2016 in Charlotte, NC. Having gained a degree in Sacred Music, he became a Baptist minister in 1944.

When Ali met Billy

When Ali met Billy

Richard Bewes

Muhammad Ali, the world heavyweight boxing champion, died at the beginning of June.

I wrote to him back in April 2005. For years I had watched Muhammad Ali’s fights on TV, and now – aware of the Parkinson’s disease that was taking its severe toll on his health – I felt constrained to write him a letter. I wrote as tactfully as I could – as a minister of the gospel.

Gerald Williams 1929 – 2016

Gerald Williams 1929 – 2016

Richard Bewes

Honouring tributes poured in from the world of sport, when tennis commentator Gerald Williams – known for his Christian stance – passed away at the age of 86 on 21 January.

Welsh-born, his early years were divided between Carmarthenshire and Surrey. His first job in journalism was with the Croydon Advertiser. It was not long after BBC commentator Harry Carpenter introduced him as a sports sub-editor for the Daily Mail, that tennis began to take over. Although no outstanding player himself, Gerald’s perceptions of court play and his superb voice projection came eventually to win him the acclaim of BBC’S Brian Johnstone, Bill Threlfall and Cliff Morgan (who became his boss). Dan Maskell was to invite him into the Wimbledon commentary box. Open Tennis was taking over, and – with the increasing speed of play - Max Robertson’s ball-by-ball approach would give way to Gerald’s more laconic style of coverage.

When the vicar won Wimbledon

When the vicar won Wimbledon

Richard Bewes

Richard Bewes mixes the gospel with the strawberries and cream

‘Lawn Tennis’, wrote J.B. Priestley, ‘is a name with the mildest associations.

Charlie at the Corner

Charlie at the Corner

Richard Bewes

On Sunday 11 January, while the big unity rally was happening in Paris, Speakers’ Corner in London saw Jay Smith, veteran debater with Muslims, take up the issue of the recent terrorism in France.

Bearing in mind the violence against cartoonists such as Georges Wolinski and others at Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris earlier in the week, and because of the enormous outcry by millions around the world, Jay Smith decided to show six of the most controversial covers used to mock Muhammad and compare them to others which have been used to mock Jesus Christ. He then sought reactions from Muslims concerning whether these caricatures, which are offensive, should be censored, or whether the cartoonists should be killed.

Jean Wilson, 1928-2013

Richard Bewes

She deliberately kept well below the radar. But around the world of gospel enterprise ‘Queen Jean’ underpinned, administered and supported servants of Jesus Christ, the prominent and the unknown alike. She passed from this life on January 13.

It appears that Jean Wilson never had more than three or four hours’ sleep a night. If she was not phoning across the world, she would be checking the proofs of Decision magazine, or waiting at Heathrow’s Arrivals having already arranged London accommodation for an incoming overseas visitor on behalf of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Jean Wilson spent 50 years with BGEA (and later, Samaritan’s Purse). At the age of 26 she had been asked by Billy Graham to set up a London office for him in the wake of his momentous 12-week nightly campaign at Harringay Arena in 1954.

How to wreck a church

Richard Bewes

It has been tried across the centuries — in public arenas, through mob violence and by official banning.

In the first 300 years of the New Testament church, ten massive persecutions took place, and the Roman emperor Diocletian even had a medal struck — inscribed with the boast, ‘The Christian religion is destroyed, and the worship of the gods is restored’.