Part 1 - From Physical Birth to Spiritual Birth to Baptism

My full name is Jeffrey Allan Hedges, and I was born on the 15th May, 1976 to a non-Christian family in Swindon, Wiltshire. Shortly after my birth, my parents split up and divorced each other and remarried. I lost contact with my father until I was 18. My mother remarried but again this did not last long after the birth of another child. My mother, although a unbeliever, took me and my younger brother to a Sunday School at the local Gospel Hall in Liddington Street, Pinehurst, Swindon. I can still remember the first time I entered the building, being dragged in and not really wanting to be there at all. However, this changed by the end of the first session and I wanted to return every week. I listened to the things that I was told with great interest. For the first time in my life I was told that someone loved me. My mother had 3 sons and had to work a lot to feed us and clothe us. This meant that she was not around a lot.

At the age of 7 I became involved with some friends that were thieves. They taught me all that they know and to this day I can remember the ways of avoiding capture when stealing. By the time I was 8, I had become a very successful thief myself. However, the Lord had other plans for my life and, despite my knowledge of escape, I got caught shoplifting. I was taken home in a police car and given a spanking by my mother. This happened on the Saturday, and on Sunday she took me to Sunday School. On the way, she said something that has stuck with me. She said "You need to pray for forgiveness because you have been a very bad boy" Little did she know that these words would be taken up by the Holy Spirit to convict me of my sins. During Sunday School I listened to the teacher but I cannot remember what he said. When I got home I played with my brothers as normal, but mum's words kept returning to me. As I went to bed, I could stand it no longer. I did not know how to pray or even if the Lord would listen, but I did know that I needed to ask Him to forgive my wicked ways. I asked God for forgiveness and I am happy to report that He did just that. At the age of 8 years old, I felt the peace of forgiveness which has never left me.

So where do we go from here?
Well, the Bible says "By their fruits, ye shall know them" (Mat 7 v 20). After being saved, I told no one for many years. This was not because I was afraid but because no one would listen. My family were and still are very anti-Christian in the attitudes. I am greatful that they did not try to stop me from attending the meetings when I wanted to, but they did not understand when the Christian life took over my physical life.

Life at school was very difficult for me after my conversion. My friends expected me to continue to lie, cheat and steal anything that I could. When I returned to school on the Monday completely unwilling to do any of these, my so called friends turned on me. From that day until the day I left school at the age of 16, I was beaten up on a daily basis. At Junior school it was not so bad, but by the time I was in the fourth year at Secondary school it was really bad. I could not tell anyone. I went to school in fear for my life at times, but the Lord my God promised to go with me wherever I go and He kept me safe. To just illustrate just how bad things got, I remember walking home with one of my friends once and being jumped on by no less than 6 kids. I have never liked fights so I did what I always did. Let them. I never fought back because that normally only made things worse. When I was crying and laying on the ground, the kids left me there. My friend was of no use, because he was outnumbered. He stayed nearby and helped me home. My mum never found out what happened at school but the Lord knows. It was because of this, that I failed to grow in the way that I would have liked but the Lord kept me in His loving arms.

Since the age of 11 I had attended Kingfisher Camp in Cheddar. This was a chance for me to spend a fortnight (camp lasted a fortnight and I tried to attend both weeks) with fellow believers. I loved it as a child, coming from a home where no love had been shown, to spend two weeks away from that home and in a place where love is all around. Through the loving prayers of the Saints in Swindon and the teaching gained through the Sunday School and Kingfisher Camp, I started to grow but it was not without problems. As well as the bullying at school, there was an additional problem. I got involved in the Christian Union at school, and this led me to attending a local Pentecostal Church. I have nothing against the Pentecostal Churches, but the teaching that I was receiving became less and less. However, the Lord once again intervened and over a period of time led me to a desire to be baptised. As I considered this, the desire got stronger until I knew that it was what the Lord wanted. I spoke to a couple of family members that went to the Pentecostal Church, but these recommended that I was baptised at the Pentecostal Church. After further prayer and consideration, I approached the Elders of Pinehurst Gospel Hall and asked them to baptise me. They were overjoyed at this prospect, but because I was still only 15, they had to approach my mum and ask her for permission. I was so thrilled when Dave Penman reported that my mum had agreed to the baptism and the arrangements were begun. Due to the fact that Pinehurst Gospel Hall does not have it's own baptistry (that's the pond that is found under the floorboards of some Gospel Halls (it is not limited to Gospel Halls but I try to remain in them as much as I can)), permission was sought for me to be baptised on my Birthday at Florence Street Mission Hall. Unfortunately, Florence Street had a meeting on that Friday night, so it was arranged for the following week. On Friday, 22nd May 1992, I was baptised. It was the only time that most of my family have been into a church building since they attended Sunday School so I count it as a great success.