During the course of my studies at the College, I came to a clear conviction  that it was the ministry of the R.P. Church that God was calling me to rather than to some other form of Christian service.  Also during my time at College I met Jennifer Maze who was to become my wife.  We met at an evangelism training weekend in Portrush.  I really enjoyed my time at the College and benefitted greatly from the fact that the men who were doing the teaching were men who themselves were actively engaged in ministry.  The camaraderie among the students was great and I have particularly fond memories of various pranks that were played on professors, of our end of year college meals and also of consoling one another after a particularly severe mauling we received from the College Committee after our student preaching efforts during our second year.

All went smoothly during my first year at College and I enjoyed my student placement with Newtownards RPC in May/June 1987.  Then near the start of my second year I took ill with glandular fever and was out of action for a while.  In addition to the physical effects of the disease I also experienced a mild form of depression which thankfully lifted fairly soon.  Illness struck again in May 1988 just two weeks into my placement with Cregagh Road RPC.  This time it was post-viral fatigue syndrome which left me feeling weak, drained and unable to concentrate.

God once again granted recovery and I was able to commence my final year at the College.  When everyone else was finished at exam time I still had six weeks of placement to do from my previous year and thankfully managed to fit it in just in time to graduate along with my classmates at the meetings of Synod in Cullybackey in June 1989.  Andrew Stewart and I then delayed our licensure in order to go for a year to the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh to study for a Master in Theology degree.

Pittsburgh was a great experience, but for me it was once again interrupted by illness.  In November 1989 I came down with another dose of post viral fatigue syndrome.  I rested up and tried to resume my studies on a couple of occasions, but was not able to, so had to return home early in February 1990, just in time to attend the commissioning service for Raymond Blair who was going to Galway.

After further rest, I was well enough to be licensed by my Presbytery in June 1990 and around the same time Andrew Stewart, Samuel McCollum and Robert Robb were going through the same thing.  For all of us it was then a time of waiting to see if we would receive calls from one of the congregations that were vacant at the time.  One of us would have to wait longer than the others.

Within a short time of arriving at my halls of residence God provided me with two good friends who were living in the same block as me and during my first week I met many other fellow students who would be friends throughout my university days.  I was also blessed in finding a church where I was immediately at home and benefitted much from the fellowship at Buccleuch & Greyfriars Free Church.

Those happy days at the start of university life were soon to be shaken when word came to me of the sudden death of a good friend from school.  He had been killed in a tractor accident back home and it brought home to me most powerfully the urgency and seriousness of the gospel message. 

Shortly before beginning my second year of studies I had another unsettling experience.  While attending our church’s Youth Conference, the minister in the Newtownards church where we were worshipping issued a challenge about God’s call to the ministry.  It was something I couldn’t get out of my head after that.  My own minister had earlier asked me to consider it, but now I became more aware of an inner call that didn’t seem to be going away.  That became a year when I lost my previous sense of direction for the future.  I became aware that I enjoyed the work I was doing in the Christian Union and in the Church Youth Fellowship much more than I did the subjects I was studying for my degree.  Having always sailed through exams before, I found myself struggling and required a couple of re-sits to get through.

At some stage during that year I decided that it might be wise to take a year out from my course and explore some other options.  Therefore in October 1984, instead of heading back to Edinburgh, I found myself embarking on a new venture doing what our church would now call short term service.  Arrangements had been made by the Mission Committee for me to go to Cork to work alongside Rev. Drew Gregg in the small congregation there.  For eight months I did a variety of things.  I led a girls youth club, taught a Sunday School class, worked in the YMCA helping to operate a drop in centre for juvenile delinquents, attended classes at the Irish Bible School in Thurles and had my first few attempts at preaching.  It was a challenging time but at the end of it I went home believing that God was calling me to some form of Christian work.

Next it was back to Edinburgh where I spent my final year studying New Testament Language and Literature, Ecclesiastical History and Metaphysics yet somehow came out of it with a science degree.  It was during this year that I encountered the Bible being taught by unbelievers and it opened my eyes to so much that I had been sheltered from previously.  I became exceedingly thankful for being part of a church culture where the Bible is believed rather than being ripped to shreds by people who see themselves as wiser than God.

After finishing at Edinburgh I was accepted by my Presbytery as a student to train for the ministry of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland.  At that time I was not sure that God was calling me down that particular road, but my Presbytery assured me that with time things would become clear.  As it turned out they were shown to be right.   To be continued ……    

As far as I can tell, that did not change until I was 14 years old.  In those years a highlight of the summer for me was attending a  church camp for boys aged 11-14.  On my way home from my final year at that camp I prayed that the Lord Jesus would save me and make me one of His own.  At the camp I had seen clearly my need to have my sins forgiven and for my life to change.  I placed my trust in Jesus as the One who died in my place and I began to seek to live for Him.  The lives of the officers at that camp had been a good influence upon me, but they were building upon what many others had taught me and upon the prayers of many for me.

Sad to say I do not think I made rapid progress as a Christian in my early years.  One thing that stands out though in my mind as being good for me was going on an outreach team where I did door to door visiting in the homes around the Clarendon Street RP Church in Derry.  That helped me to see the great need that existed for people to hear the gospel.  I found myself speaking to people who had gone to church for years but had no real understanding of what Christianity is all about.  Soon it was time for me to move on from school and I headed off to Edinburgh University with the intention of doing a degree in Pharmacology and going into some form of drug research work as my career.  At that stage I had no thought whatsoever of becoming a minister, but God had other ideas and I was to discover the truth of what we are told in the Bible in Proverbs 16:9 – \In his heart a man plans his course