Meet the Ministers!

I have pulled our ministers aside from their busy schedule to ask them a few questions so that if you are new to the area you can get to know a little about them, and so that we can have a better understanding of how to pray for these men as they serve Him in our midst.

Rev Dr Ben Johnstone

Wen did you move to Skye?
January, 2003

Where did you grow up?
Near Glasgow

Tell us a little about your family?
We have one daughter, Laura, and three grandchildren.

You are a minister in a Christian church so obviously Jesus Christ is hugely important to you. Has this always been the case? If not, please tell us a little about how this came to be?
A regular church upbringing came to be seen to be insufficient; and that a personal connection with the Lord was necessary. This emphasis was presented in the Church Youth Fellowship, until that step of personal commitment was taken; and the Lord Jesus Christ began to be increasingly life- affecting and real; and has remained so.

What made you decide to become a 'minister'?
The seed-thought came into my heart, overtaking the intention to go for Medicine; and firmed itself up to a conviction that this was God's definite call. Circumstances came in behind to confirm it.

Tell us a little about your previous ministry experience?
14 years in Hamilton, Lanarkshire (a town charge); 13 years in Mallaig (fishing and sea-centered); before coming to Strath and Sleat in 2003.

Are there any books you have found especially helpful to your Christian growth?
Bible commentaries by trustworthy authors; books on Church History, giving, and helping to sense, the historical "trail" of God's work in the world; John Piper's books.

What Bible verses or Bible stories have had the biggest impact on your life?
Revelation 3:20; and truths underscoring the fact of God's Sovereignty over His work, and in our lives.

How can we, as members of the parish and interested friends, pray most effectively for you?
For steadiness, stamina and faithfulness to the responsibilities of ministry; and that the flame of being personally aware of God's love, and my concern for others to come to faith, be kept keen and alive.

Rev John Urquhart

Wen did you move to Skye?
August, 2003.

Tell us a little about your family?
My family consists of a beautiful wife, Muriel, to whom I was attracted since the first day I met her. We were married in 1998, we now have 3 delicious children: Mairead (sensitive and arty), Eòin (gentlemanly and studious), and Sìleas (funny and... ballistic!).

You are a minister in a Christian church so obviously Jesus Christ is hugely important to you. Has this always been the case? If not, please tell us a little about how this came to be?
I was almost 25 before I became a follower of Jesus. I was asked to go to a service at St. Columba’s Church, Glasgow. Even though Churchgoing wasn't my habit, I agreed to go - because the service was in Gaelic, my first and favourite language. To my astonishment, that very day I met God in power and I was irrevocably converted to follow Jesus the Messiah.

If you had to sum up your personality in no more than 20 words, what would you say?
I'd probably say, "I'm an absentminded professor... except, without the intellect."

If your wife had to sum up your personality in no more than 20 words, what would she say?
My wife might say of me, "Being married to him is good for my sanctification!"

What Bible verses or Bible stories have had the biggest impact on your life?
Two years after I was converted to Christ, I was called to the Ministry, through the verse:
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Luke 10: 2).
That harvest is the precious souls for whom Jesus lived and died so as to save them. This verse haunted me for weeks until I agreed to go bring in the harvest for Him. The second one is the verse which was preached at the Ministry selection school I attended:
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6: 8).
This verse always challenges me to grow spiritually, because I still find that my very flesh rebels against doing the good things God asks for in it.

Give us a run down of some of the responsibilities you have as a parish minister?
A run-down of my duties are: Firstly, that I am to be the good looking one of the two ministers in our Church. Seriously? Ok...
I regularly lead: at least 2 services on a Sunday, a weekly midweek Bible study and prayer meeting, school assemblies in 4 different schools, services in the 2 local homes for the elderly. I also conduct funerals for anyone in our area who asks for such, I visit the: sick, newcomers, and the spiritually concerned, as well as the two hospitals (less regularly than our Parish minister does), and the Gaelic college, as Chaplain, once a week. In addition to that, I sometimes reply to e-mails and phone-calls. But most important of them all, I am a husband to one, and father to three - all of whom need to experience the reality of my being such. There might be more duties... but I'm absentminded and have probably forgotten them.

How can we, as members of the parish and interested friends, pray most effectively for you?
Pray that I may live a life worthy of God (1 Thess 2: 12), and, "Pray that I may declare [the mystery of the Gospel] fearlessly, as I should" (Eph. 6: 20).

A Prayer For Our Ministers

Father, we give you thanks for bringing Ben, John and their families to our parish.
We thank you for all that they do here in our midst:
spreading the Gospel of Jesus,
equipping us to spread the same Gospel,
and encouraging and teaching us faithfully from Your Word.

We pray that in all they do they would know Your keeping in their lives,
giving them strength, steadiness and stamina to carry out the work to which You have called them.
We pray that you would keep reminding them of Your love - and our love - for them
and keep their hearts burning with a God-given passion to see folk coming to faith in Jesus
and to see the Christians under their care growing daily in their walk with God.

We pray that they would know a continual confidence in the Word they proclaim
and an authoritative boldness in their proclamation.

We thank you for the continual example of their Christ-centred lives, lived out amongst us,
and ask that you would daily protect them and strengthen them to live lives 'worthy of God'.

May You continue to use them in Strath and Sleat for our good and for Your glory.

In Jesus' name. Amen