David Hathaway

Aged 13, I became anxious to evangelise in my church. Of course I was not allowed. Eventually after much persuasion, it was decided that, as they did not use the church on Fridays, I could have it then. Together with the other young people we advertised, arranged a worship group, and I was the preacher. It all went according to plan, except for one thing. That night I went home really distressed and asked my father what was wrong? I was in tears as I explained, I had preached from the Bible just like he did, and I expected someone would repent, wasn’t that the purpose of preaching? My father sat patiently with me; after all he wasn’t just a pastor, he was Superintendent in charge of all the pastors. Slowly he calmed me down and that night, aged 13, I learned the biggest lesson of my life which would change everything and show me the secret of evangelism. In simple terms, my father said that it is not just preaching which brings people to repentance. He said you’ve not yet received the Holy Spirit; he told me,