BILL WILSON - World-Renowned Speaker, Author, and PastOR
We are so excited about the visit of US Children's Ministry specialist Bill Wilson to our services this Sunday, 23 October, at 10.30 am and 6.30 pm.
Wilson has been to Northern Ireland numerous times, with several visits to the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast, where he is still talked about in glowing terms. The founder and senior pastor of Metro World Child, headquartered in the heart of Brooklyn, New York, produced America's most significant outreach to children, with branches in various nations. It was established in 1980, formerly Metro Ministries, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in one of New York's toughest neighbourhoods. Its gang violence, crime, drugs, and poverty history were notorious. Even in the earlier years of his work, Pastor Bill was beaten, stabbed, and shot. Yet he persevered and refused to leave the neighbourhood, providing Sunday School programs and reaching children with the hope of Jesus. He eventually expanded into all five boroughs of New York City and many other places worldwide.
For example, what started in a small building in the ghetto of Brooklyn has blossomed into an international ministry that reaches over 200,000 children weekly. Metro World Child has Sunday schools worldwide, including New York City, Kenya, the Philippines, Peru, South Africa, India, Colombia, and Haiti. Wilson's heart of compassion for suffering children was acquired due to the pain he experienced as a young child. He first began sharing the hope of Jesus as a teenager in Florida, where he drove a van to take needy children to Sunday school. Pastor Bill's unique concepts of outreach and Sunday School programs, along with training courses and curriculum development, are now replicated globally.
A graduate of Theology at Southeastern University, he also holds a PhD from the University of Wales. He is the author of several books, including his bestselling autobiography, 'Whose Child is This?' Today Wilson travels extensively, frequently receiving invitations to churches, conferences, television programmes and radio broadcasts, making him a highly sought-after speaker, author, pastor and advocate for poor, inner-city children worldwide, having, for decades, impacted the lives of numerous men, women, and young people through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our senior pastor at Green Pastures, Jeff Wright, is extremely excited and encouraged by the visit of such a dedicated and influential servant of God. This week, he commented: "Pastor Bill always brings you back to the centre of what it takes to make the difference for Christ in our towns and streets. We are so excited about his visit."
People have always been fascinated by Bill Wilson and his remarkable story. He was abandoned at age 12 and left on a street corner. At the time, he had no idea that his mother wouldn't return for him, so he stayed there waiting for the next three days, alone and hungry, until a Christian man fed him and put him on a bus to a Christian camp. It was there that he says he met Jesus, and his life was radically transformed to help alter the lives of countless other needy children like himself. Having found hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is probably most notable for jumping on a yellow school bus and picking up inner-city kids to take them to church, not for a year, five years, or even ten years, but over fifty years!
As Wilson has recalled, no one at the camp he first visited would pray over him, possibly because of how malnourished he appeared, but it was there that he realised Jesus was the one who would never leave him, and He was right. Bill Wilson hasn't stopped spreading the gospel's good news ever since.
(Don't forget, our service starts at 10.30 am with a complimentary light breakfast, and we are back at 6.30 pm. You won't miss what promises to be a fantastic day in the presence of the Lord. Wilson always brings his listeners to tears, leaves people inspired and leads them to action. Invite your world; we know your world will be changed after this word from the Lord.
