2010
Our outreach into the United Kingdom has led us to Bible colleges in both England and Ireland. When Delron was dean of Indiana Christian University, he visited London to help set up and then to officiate at the first graduation of an extension school there. In 2010, Peggy and Delron headed off to the United Kingdom together to minister in England and Ireland. Although it had been more than a year since the directors of Charis Bible College in Belfast had invited them to come as guest teachers in the school, schedule conflicts had prevented them from actually fulfilling the request until this Thanksgiving, since they both had time off from the school in Colorado while the school in Ireland was still in session since Thanksgiving is not observed in the UK. While the plans for the trip were being finalized, arrangements were made to extend the visit to include teaching at the Bible school and a church in England as well.
At the school in England, Peggy taught from her book, Women for the Harvest, and Delron shared from his book, People Who Make A Difference. We also had some sessions in which we shared personal experiences and advice for the students to help them prepare for their callings. One area of real focus was hesitance to actually step out into ministry due to fear and lack of self-confidence. When we had special prayer for the students, a majority of them stepped forward for freedom in these areas. We look forward to hearing the follow-up testimonies as these students go on their school-sponsored missions trips and eventually step out into their lifetime ministries.
The visit to Ireland began with a visit to Revival Press to meet with Carol and Sam Adams who direct the publication of millions of tracts and other forms of gospel literature that is shipped all over the world. The days at the campus were again focused around practical instructions in understanding God’s will, recognizing His call upon your life, and operating in the power of the Spirit to fully complete the call. The classes were also punctuated with times of prayer and personal ministry. One really dramatic event came when one of the students came forward for freedom form the bondage of not being able to trust others because of serious injuries in her past. When we began to minister to her, she was so bound up that she couldn’t even look us in the eye and could not open her mouth when we began to ask her make confessions of freedom and deliverance. After extended coaxing and prayer, the bondage was finally broken as she was finally able to speak out her confession and to look us in the eye. As we left the school, she was smiling and joyous in her new freedom.
The ministry continued even as we made the trans-Atlantic flight back to the States. Ryan, a young English man on his way to medical school in Utah, shared a seat in our row. As he began to ask us questions about what he could expect in Salt Lake City, we suggested that he be cautious of the Mormon influence in the area, which opened up a whole discussion about religion. Eventually the discussion came to the point that Peggy was able to ask him if he would like for us to pray with him so that he could know that he was personally born again. Although he didn’t want to do so in the plane, he asked if he could call or visit us after he got settled in at the school. It was at that point that we finally understood why he had been booked onto a flight all the way to the West Coast rather than into a port of entry such as New York or Chicago, which would have been more in line with our route to Colorado.
One other ministry that the Shirley family has had in England was Christopher’s stop over to minister in London when he was part of a mission team sent out by Teen Reach when he was part of