A PASTOR IN NEW YORK
The Life and Times of Spencer Cone
By John Thornbury. Evangelical Press. 224 pages. £14.95
ISBN 0 85234 512 7
This is a vivid biography of one of the giant unsung heroes of the 19th-century Baptist movement in the USA.
Having fought to maintain the freedom of his country against British aggression and being converted through reading the testimony of John Newton, Spencer Cone (1785-1855) was called to the ministry with his last and longest pastorate being that of First Baptist Church in the growing metropolis of New York. He was not only a fine preacher but became a great force for the beginnings of Baptist foreign missions and for Bible translation.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …