The world cup 2026

UKinUSA from Washington, D.C., USA, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

Watched Canada draw 1-1 with Bosnia Herzegovina last night. Typical world cup - great fans, sturring anthems, lots of boring bits and one or two flashes of brilliance. I think most games will be on in the middle of our night so I won't see much. It's a great spectacle though. (My wife thought they should have shown more Michael Bublie).

Upcoming Conference in Sydney

 

Catalyst 2026 Day 3

Four Baptists among friends
(I had friends from Germany and France staying and my father-in-law was there too)

Today was perhaps the best day with all four men doing very well. Reuben Hunter spoke helpfully about persecution from John 16 and Sinclair Ferguson on John Owen and the fellowship of the Spirit. Good stuff too from Harrison Perkins and Kelly Kapic. Sorry not to have given any detail but the videos will be available soon. Here's one brilliant take away

"The love of God is like himself — equal, constant, not capable of augmentation or diminution; our love is like ourselves — unequal, increasing, waning, growing, declining. His, like the sun, always the same in its light, though a cloud may sometimes interpose; ours, as the moon, has its enlargements and straightenings."  John Owen

MIdweek Meeting June 10 2026

Six of us present and one online yesterday evening as we looked at union with Christ. A good time of prayer too.

Catalyst 2026 Day 2

Another good day at Catalyst with similar vibes to day one. Reuben Hunter moved on from John 14 to John 15, Sinclair Ferguson from the love of the Father to the grace of the Lord Jesus. Kelly Kapic focussed on the church in regard tio liing as a Christian. All very helpful. They will be up online soon, I'm sure.

Here is a snippet from Thomas Watson which I believe Reuben Hunter quoted today

You who are the branches of this Vine, let me beseech you to love the Vine which bears you—kiss and embrace Christ! Let your souls sound forth hallelujahs to the whole Trinity. Admire God the Father in sending a Vine from heaven; admire God the Son who was a bleeding Vine for you; admire God the Holy Spirit who has, by His mighty power, implanted you into this Vine. Turn all your sullen discontentments, into triumphant songs! You who were once dead—are now made living branches! You who were once unclean—are now made holy branches! You who once brought forth thistles—you now bear luscious grapes! Oh, make melody in your hearts to the Lord! Admire and celebrate free grace! It is well that there is an eternity coming—and that will be little enough time to praise God!

Catalyst 2026 Day 1

Great to be in IPC Ealing once again for the Catalyst Conference. Four sessions roday - two Brits in the morning and two Americans in the afternoon. So Reuben Hunter and Sinclair Ferguson followed by Harrison Perkins and Kelly Kapic. Feguson and Kapic, the Owen scholars, stood out in terms of presentation and content but a good and encouraging day all round. What a privilege to be there. I drove there with two guests we havesaying with us from France and Germany.

Lord's Day June 7 2026

Over fifty in the morning but a very small number in the evening. We began with a fairly well attended communion where we welcomed in another new member, agaiin a young lady (and with the same name as the last). We then had sermons on Gethsemane and Jesus's arrest from Luke 22.

10 men who changed their names for gain

1. Edward Austen Knight, Jane Austen's brother. Born Edward Austen, he was legally adopted by distant, childless cousins (Thomas and Catherine Knight). Under the strict stipulations of the Knights' will, he legally changed his surname to Knight in 1812 to inherit three expansive country estates.
2. Lord Byron: The famous poet's mother-in-law, Lady Judith Noel, died in 1822. Her will required that he change his surname from Byron to Noel in order to inherit half of her massive estate. He obtained a Royal Warrant to do so, briefly signing himself "Noel Byron".
3. Sir William Harcourt, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Born William Vernon, this prominent 19th-century statesman legally altered his name to Vernon-Harcourt. This allowed him to inherit the vast, historic Nuneham Courtenay estate in Oxfordshire when the male line of the Harcourt family went extinct.
4. Hercules Brabazon Brabazon, renowned English Artist. Born Hercules Brabazon Sharpe, the famous Victorian landscape painter changed his surname to Brabazon in 1847. He did this to satisfy the strict conditions of his uncle's will, instantly inheriting the beautiful Oaklands estate in Sussex and a massive financial fortune that funded his lifetime of art and travel.
5. William Edward Nightingale. Born WIlliam Edward Shore in 1815, upon turning 21 years old, he legally changed his surname to Nightingale. This was a strict requirement to claim a massive industrial fortune and multiple estates left to him by his eccentric, wealthy great-uncle, Peter Nightingale.
6. Davies Gilbert. Born Davies Giddy, he was a prominent mathematician and President of the Royal Society. In order to inherit the substantial estate of Thomas Gilbert of Sussex (whose niece and heiress he had married), Giddy took his wife's family name.
7. James Smithson. The wealthy English chemist and mineralogist was born James Macie, but changed his surname to Smithson in honour of his father, the Duke of Northumberland. When he died in 1829, he left his immense fortune to his nephew on the condition that he change his surname to Hungerford. Because the nephew died without heirs, the money was famously used to establish the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.
8. Richard Chandler Alexander Prior. Born Richard Chandler Alexander, this 19th-century English physician and botanist legally changed his surname to Prior in mid-life to inherit a substantial fortune.
9. George Spencer-Churchill. In 1817, George Spencer, the 5th Duke of Marlborough, was required to legally add the surname "Churchill" to his own, becoming George Spencer-Churchill. He did this by Royal Licence to preserve the immense wealth, estates (including Blenheim Palace), and legacy of his great-grandfather, the legendary military commander John Churchill. This is why his direct descendant was named Sir Winston Churchill.
10. Sir Arthir Conan-Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Born Arthur Cnan Doyle, his life changed drastically due to his wealthy, childless great-uncle, Michael Conan. Upon his great-uncle's death, Arthur was left a substantial inheritance, but it came with a explicit legal stipulation: he had to officially preserve the family legacy by carrying the double-barrelled surname. Arthur legally adopted the compound surname, becoming Arthur Conan-Doyle and causing great cnfusion all around.

Gimson's Heroes

I've really enjoyed reading this book of fifty well written short biographies. They vary appropriately in length and in the type of person chosen. From politicians like Ernest Bevin to poets like John Betjeman; from the famous, such as Nelson and Churchill to the lesser known, such as Burke and Shaftesbury, to some I was unaware of - such as Stan Hollis and Michael Wharton. There are ten women (Boudica, Bess of Hardwick, Elizabeth I, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Fry, Grace Daring, Florence Nightingale, Octavia Hill and Noor Inayat Khan) by design or happenstance. They are all British except the last, Nelson Mandela. The approach is fairly amoral and so one or two sneak through who I would not be keen on. When I was a boy my mother expected me to know about people like Alfred, Raleigh, Drake, Nelson, Livingstone and probably Shackleton. That way of thinking is less popular today but people likeGimson are still writing on thos elines and it is interesting to note.

10 women who are named in Scripture

James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1. Adah wife of Lamech
2. Jemimah daughter of Job
3. Keziah daughter of Job
4. Keren Happuch daughter of Job
5. Azenath wife of Joseph
6. Cozbi daughter of Zur
7. Shiphrah (and Puah) the midwives
8. Rhoda the servant girl in Acts
9. Damaris (Acts 17)
10. Claudia (2 Tim 4:2)

Midweek Meeting June 3 2026

Six of us in the room and two online last Wednesday to look at an important point of doctrine. We alos prayed and also had a brief members meeting where we agreed to baptise three people.

In Writing 147

 I should have mentioned that IN Writing 147 is now out.

Art of Shepherding 2026

It was good yesterday to be with about 40 others at the annual Art of Shepherding conference at St Giles in Islington. The conference for ministers is quite laid back with a flexible but predictable format that includes plenty of coffee and an excellent pulled pork lunch.

The fixed points are the first and third sessions - Phil Heaps on the Bible - this year from 2 Corinthians and Brad Franklin on a historical pastoral theme - this year from Bonhoeffer’s Shared life.

With that this year we had one session on politics and one on envy. For the first they invited John McDermott over from Magherafelt in Ulster who drew on his experiences in that divided world to help us think through our situation. Finally, we had Rob Pickering on the subject of ministerial envy a common enough phenomenon but one rarely touched on in conferences.

All four speakers did well and along with the opportunity to chat to fellow Reformed Baptists new and old the conference proved both challenging and encouraging. The very last thing was a meal with several conference attendees. The usual curry was not possible this year so we headed to the holloway Road to a Lebanese grill and very enjoyable it was. Big thanks to all involved in organising this year's conference.

Evangelical Library Annual Lecture 2026 Brian Edwards on Tyndale

It was great to be one of over twenty gathered at the Evangelical Library in London on Monday to hear Brian Edwards speak on William Tyndale and 500 years of Bible translation in this anniversary year of the first appearance of Tyndale's New Testament. It was an excellent lecture taking us all te way from Luther to the AV and delivered in good style. The lecture will be on our YouTUbe site soon. Btina has a book on the subject available here - Day One

Lord's Day May 312026

A large congregation and then a small one as is ouor patern on the last day of the month, as we continued through Luke morning and evening. We looked at the Last Suppr and the disciples' argument over who was the greatest.