That was until 1st November 1996. It was the first Friday of the month which meant it was Mill Lane Chapel's monthly youth rally. Well I finally agreed to go with Andrew to it and see what it was all about. I came in and received a lovely welcome, immediately something struck me, which may seem silly but the people there were normal! Well I can't tell you what the preacher spoke on that evening but something must have spoken to me for the following morning I found myself praying. That morning I prayed for Salvation. I confessed my sins and asked God to forgive me because of Christ's death on the cross.

Well I started to go to the Chapel for their midweek Sunday School / Bible class meetings. I started praying and reading the Bible, Andrew got for me. But I didn't want it to take control of my life. I didn't realise what God had to offer me, through His Son, was more than just Salvation. Luke 8v14 speaks of the seed that fell among thorns. "which, when they have heard go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection." Which sums up where I was, for after a few months I had started going out to the pleasures of this world for I started going out more and more with my school friends.

By the time June (1997) had come around I was only making rare appearances at Chehsunt's youth meetings. Then on the 25th of that month, Andrew Palfreyman was called Home to Heaven. This young man had been my rock, he had led me to Christ. He was known throughout the school as a Christian and as an athlete which is why when his heart gave way during a routine A-Level P.E. lesson the shock was greater. "A time to be born and a time to die" (Ecclesiastes 3v2a) reminds us that there is a time to die for each one of us, are we ready for that time?

Well, I would love to tell you that was the turning point in my life when I came back to Christ but instead I sought the comfort and support of my school friends and continued going out into the world of the cinema, pubs and later to the night clubs.

Towards the end of that year it was time to choose a university to go to. Well at this point I had to choose 6 universities to see what they would offer me. Well my parents were keen for me to go to Warwick or York so they naturally went down. Reading had a good reputation for computers so on that went. I had been to East Anglia a few times on holiday and so on that went. Exeter offered at that time a Computer Science with Statistics option which sounded a nice alternative to straight Computer Science. So all I needed was a sixth university. Well as I scanned the UCAS book, Southampton University jumped out at me and so on it went.

Well during the first few months of 1998 I went for open days at 4 of the universities. Having decided against Warwick and Exeter for various reasons. I went up to York and was very impressed and fairly sure I would go there. East Anglia didn't strike me that much. Reading seemed good and on the way back I was fairly sure that would be my reserve choice if I failed to make the grade for York. But then I went to Southampton Unversity. There I felt immediately comfortable, the course seemed more to my liking and it just felt the right place to be (now I can tell you that was the Lord's presence but at that time I was so far from God that I didn't know).

Well I spent a few weeks deciding between York and Southampton. I remember one day thinking that I wouldn't go to Reading as Daniel Palfreyman was there, and I wouldn't go to Southampton as a very good friend of Andrew Palreyman's lived down there and I wanted to make my own mind up about my faith. Well, thankfully when it came to putting down the two choices it was Southampton and Reading that went down on the list.

In June of that year as I was completing my A-Levels, I started going out with a non-Christian. For the first month I can remember praying most nights that she might become a Christian (probably more prayers ascended in that month that the previous year but I was still far from God, but He was always there watching over me) at the end of the second month she went on a week's holiday. As I was looking through the local paper on the Friday I saw a job offer, 9 months typing paying a good wage in London, I seriously considered applying the job so I could stay near her. However, the Lord had other ideas for the next day she suddenly dumped me, saying I was going to go of to university and meet some gorgeous blonde and dump her down the end of the phone (I'm still waiting to meet that gorgeous blonde but never mind). The Lord's timing was perfect, another day or two later and I may have applied for that job and stayed. Well with nothing to hold me back off I went to Southampton University not knowing what to expect.

Well the second day there I went down to the Hall's reception with my new flat mates planning to go on to the University bar. Thankfully we never made it, for one of them met an old school friend a year above us and she invited us to a party at her house 57 Harefield Road. Well halfway through it was announced it was the Christian Union introductionary party for that Halls of Residence. Well my three friends have probably never moved so quick in their lives, and exited smartish. But for some reason I stayed. On the Saturday afterwards I went to the mian Christian Union introductionary meeting and almost walked out! Having only been to the Gospel Hall in Chehsunt I was unprepared for the all singing and all dancing Christian Union. However, the Lord had placed a school friend of mine, who I knew as a Christian, there and after speaking to her realised it wasn't so bad after all. So I started to go to the Tuesday night Bible studys at my Halls of Residence.

On the second Thursday there I received a lovely letter welcoming me to Southampton from Andrew's friend (Sarah Roden) mentioned above. She invited me to come up on a Sunday to her house before going on to tea. I phoned her up that evening and agreed to go across on Sunday. Well plans were slightly changed and on that Sunday afternoon she appeared with her uncle, and I went to her uncle and aunt's (Nigel and Eunice Foundling) for tea. That evening I went to their Gospel Hall (now although it is in Freemantle it is on Millbrook Road East and more commonly known as Millbrook). Well I received a lovely welcome and enjoyed the meeting and the time of fellowship at Nigel and Eunice's. As I was about to leave Eunice asked me if I wanted to come round the next Sunday lunch time for a roast dinner. Now if you ask any student who is catering for himself, if they want a roast dinner, I would be surprised to find anyone who would say no. Since that Sunday whenever I've been in Southampton I've had an offer of lunch round someone's house from the lovely assembly at Millbrook.

So as time went on I made some very good friends from the Christian Union and went out with them to the pubs, cinemas and even night clubs. We had some lovely Bible study's on a Tuesday night. On a Sunday morning I would go with a few of them to Above Bar church in the city centre before going on to Nigel and Eunice's for lunch. In many ways they were my Aquilla and Priscilla, for we read in Acts 18v25-26 of how Aquila and Priscilla took Apollas in "and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly."

In February of 1999, it was time to find a house to rent with my university friends ready for the next year. Well I agreed with one of my friends from the Hall's Christian Union to look for a house with him, we also got someone from my course and his course as well, so we set of to look for a house one morning. The previous night Tom and myself had seperately prayed for God's guidance as we looked for a house. Well we looked at a few houses that morning, but one really struck us as being the right house. We phoned up the landlord and arranged to meet up that afternoon. Well it was only when we got back that afternoon and saw one of the other house mates that we realised that this was 57 Harefield Road the very same house where the Christian Union Hall's introductionary party was held on that first Wednesday. No wonder me and Tom felt comfortable there for both of us had kicked our Christian lives into gear during the past 6 months beginning with that first Wednesday. We rented that house throughout the 2nd and 3rd year.

Well at the end of that academic year I had been thinking a lot about Baptism. Before I left Southampton my old school friend from the Christian Union told me that I had one thing to do that summer and that was to get baptized! On the 27th June I was down in Somerset for Tom's baptism and then on the 16th July 1999, back at Cheshunt's Mill Lane Chapel I was Baptized. I am glad to say that I had not only my family there but also school friends, university friends and moments before I was actually baptized Nigel and Eunice arrived with their three lovely children having battled the M25 on a Friday night! There with the help of the Holy Spirit I gave my testimony and then went down into the water and was baptized by total emersion. It gave me the opportunity to tell what Christ had done for me to those who I perhaps would have found it difficult to find the time and way to do so. I came into fellowship on the Sunday afterwards at Cheshunt and then when I returned to Southampton I came into fellowship at Millbrook.

However, as the weeks went by after my baptism I was still going out to the pubs and night clubs with my unversity friends. Nigel and Euncie (among most if not all the belivers at Millbrook and Cheshunt) weren't happy about this but to their credit once they had said what they had to say once, never kept on about it, they left it to the Lord to smite my conscience. As time went on I became troubled and felt at times out of place at the pubs and clubs. As God wrestled, in love, with Jacob in Genesis 32, so He wrestled, in love, with me. I came to the conclusion in early March (2000) that yes I needed to give up the pubs at some point but not until I had left unversity, for as all my Christian friends went there, I would surely cut myself of from them. However, at this point I had started to go to young people's meetings at Crawley (where Sarah went) on a Tuesday nights and started to make more friends there. But I was still lacking a good male Christian friend my own age from the assemblies.

So we come to April 2000, and my spirit is troubled as I go the pubs with my school friends, and at times drink to excess. Then on Easter Sunday I was having a bath and praying over the matter. My mind was peaceful for a moment and the Holy Spirit brought three words into my mind "give up alcohol." That was it, I immediately had "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Phil 4v7). I knew what I had to do and immediately phoned Andrew's mum who had been of great support to me in the past few years and then Eunice asking for their prayers. They were overjoyed that the Lord had convicted me of this, and were of great encouragement. The Lord had made provision for this decision. For if the week that followed I was still at home with my school friends around I am not sure my faith would have been strong enough, but the Lord had made sure I was of to a Bible study week at Tintagel!

Tintagel Bible study week will always hold a special place in my heart. I went down there with the Palfreyman's not knowing what to expect and knowing only them and one or two others. I got there and received a wonderful welcome. It was a wonderful week spent away from the world where I could commit myself to God once again. I could recharge my Spiritual banks and make some great friends. On the Thursday night my heart was troubled. I had decided to give up alcohol but something still wasn't right. I went up to my room when everyone was downstairs and then when everyone came upstairs I went down to the kitchen to seek God's guidance in a quiet place. As I finished praying, the leaders Howard Coles and Colin Clarke came in and seeing me there asked if I was alright. As we talked about my problem, I reached the conclusion for myself that not only would I have to give up alcohol but I would have to flee the temptation of it and therefore leave the pubs as well.

Well I returned to Southampton with the Roden's and spoke to them, Jim in particular, about my decision. Then came crunch time so to speak. On the Monday I sent e-mails out to my new found friends from Tintagel, and other friends from Cheshunt, asking for their prayers as I made this stand for God. I sent e-mails to my university friends (mostly Christian) telling them of how the Lord had spoken to me and the decision I had made. The response I got from my Tintagel and Cheshunt friends was overwhelming support and I thank God for their prayers. My unversity friends reacted in different ways. They couldn't understand what was wrong with the pub, but thankfully accepted that if it was what I felt was right before God for me, then so be it.

I feel the need to explain what was wrong with the pubs and clubs I went to. At the end of the day each person individually has to make their own decision about this as the Scriptures do not talk about this directly. We know from Eph 5v18 it is wrong to drink to excess. Elsewhere in Scriptures we are taught to flee temptation. At this time whether I was out with my Christian friends or my non-Christian friends there was always the temptation to drink too much. Oh at times I would go and say I'ld just have one or two but after the first one my will-power was weakened and I would have more than just the one or two (on other occasions I would just have that one or two). When we went to the night clubs of course there was the temptations of the flesh, combined with alcohol which although God preserved me was not good for my testimony. We are meant to be "the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5v13). Oh I know well the argument that if we don't go to the pubs we don't have the chance to talk to non-Christians and tell them about Christ. It is an argument I used to use. But it was on rare occasions that conversations would go onto Christian things. What sought of testimony do we have if we do not show that we are not of this world?

Anyhow, back to my testimony, by the grace of God and through the prayers of many a believer (young and old) I have not had an alcoholic drink (not counting the breaking of bread) since that Easter Sunday and have never stepped into a pub or club since. I have only been into a bar when work demanded it and God preserved me there. As I made this break from my unversity friends I saw them less and less, whilst I would occasionally go to the Friday night Christian Union meeting, the assembly in Winchester was holding young people's meetings on alternate Friday nights. As I mentioned above I was lacking a good Christian male friend from the assemblies and I had distanced myself from my unviersity friends. But the Lord never takes away with out making provision.

I had out grown what the Christian Union had to give me. It had been a great blessing in getting me back on track but now I was it had little to offer me compared to the fellowship and ministry I was getting from the assembies. I had recently taken over helping on their web-site and gladly continued this until February of the following year, but rarely went to their meetings because as you will read below the Lord had made provision for Friday nights.

Just before I went home for that Easter, a young man named Jeff Hedges arrived at Crawley. I'm not sure anyone knew what to expect when he first arrived, least of all himself in some senses! Over the last two years Jeff has been that friend I had needed. Oh I had female friends who could give me some help, I had Nigel who could give me guidance but I needed a male friend my own age to relate to. We may have had our ups and downs but all good friends do, and you need the downs to remind you of how good a friend is. The Lord has blessed us both with a good friendship which has enabled us to help each other through the last two years which have been a struggle for both of us at times. On a few Fridays when Winchester wasn't on we would meet up enjoy a time of fellowship, start a game of Monopoly and end up ahving some informal Bible study. This was instead of going to the Christian Union on the Friday night and then going on to the pub or unversity bars with my Christian Union friends.

Well that Easter was a busy time for the Lord in His grace also provided me with an interview for a summer job which I got down in Southampton. This would be vital because whilst I had a few good friends from Cheshunt, I was not looking forward to having to spend 3 months there battling with my school friends. But the Lord is good to His own and provided me that summer with three months work. That would be split into two 6 week periods as Nigel and Eunice had invited me to join them on their family holiday to Portugal. There I met some lovely believers, one of whom, Jonas Pinho, would unknown to any of us (or him), would in 15 months time be coming to Southampton University

Well in October of that year (still 2000), I started the third and final year of my degree, and in November I enjoyed a lovely weekend away at Hill House (a Bible study weekend run by the same people as Tintagel) and met some more friends and caught up with friends from Tintagel.

So, as 2001 began I had to start looking for a job for when I graduated from unversity. Well I sent my CV of to various agencies and web-sites. I contacted my summer job but they weren't looking for anyone. I had three alternatives:
a) return home and commute into London (not something I really wanted to do from a Spritual point of view and I didn't find the idea of commuting into London that appealing either).
b) find a job in Southampton and stay at Millbrook (this was my favoured plan).
c) find a job somewhere else and relocate, God willing with a good assembly nearby.

Well the agencies struggled to understand that when I said I wanted to stay in Southampton, interview offers in Guildford, London, Milton Keynes and Bath weren't that appealing. But as I had friends from Tintagel in Bath, I decided I would have to go to Bath in case it was God's Will for me to move there. My friends offered to put me up the weekend before my interview, which was on the Monday, and give me the opportunity to see what the assembly was like. I would well recommend any believer planning to move to a new area whether it be university or work that they visit the assembly first. If for any reason they don't feel comfortable there, it may well be the Lord telling them not to come. However, if they do feel comfortable there it may well be the Lord telling them that is where He wants them. Don't get me wrong, the believers in Bath were lovely but something didn't feel quite right and I wasn't that dissappointed that I didn't get the job as my heart was still very much set on staying in Southampton and at Millbrook.

Well troubled by many things I went again to Tintagel. It was a lovely week away form the stress of my third year but my mind was thinking over a multitude of things. I should have followed the advice of 1 Peter 5v7: "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." Just before Tintagel that year it looked like I had got myself a job in Southampton but that fell through for one reason or another and I remember on the Wednesday night, stressed out as I was walking down the road and having a choice. About 50 weeks after I had given up the pub I could either turn left and drown my sorrows and stresses at the pub, or turn right to go to Mill Lane Chapel. I felt the Lord's comforting arm at that moment and thankfully went of to Mill Lane Chapel. This in itself taught me an important lesson, no matter how far we've gone, on matter what success we've had, the devil will always try to drag us back, I thank the Lord that he gave me the strength to resist the pull.

So I returned to the final term of my degree facing the prospect that if I didn't get a job in the next couple of months I would have to return to Cheshunt. I knew that if that was the Lord's Will then He would give me the strength I needed but I didn't feel comfortable with the idea as it was not the Lord's Will. If you pick up the local paper, you find a good range of jobs, but very few that would fit someone just completing a degree in Computer Science. But one Saturday Eunice, having not looked at the paper, handed me it to look through. There was a job for a Software programmer in Eastleigh. Well it only had a phone number and an address, and I wanted to get my C.V. to them as soon as possible so the Sunday evening I got back to my house and went on the web found their web-site and e-mailled them my C.V. and prayed.

Well I got a reply a couple of days later thanking me for my C.V. and asking if I could come up for an interview as soon as possible as the interviewer was going of on holiday the Saturday afterwards. Well it was quickly arranged for the Thursday morning. Now the job was actually in Fishers Pond which is in the borough but not the town of Eastleigh. It is out of the way a bit but there was one bus an hour that went up there from Southampton. So I got myself up on the Thursday morning and rushed to the bus stop getting there on time, but the bus must have been early for after twenty minutes there was still no sign of it. So I quickly rushed back found the company's phone number and explained the situation and apologised saying I would be an hour late. They were very good about it and said it was fine. Well the interview went very well and I was told by one of the two interviewers that he could see no reason why I shouldn't have the job and that afternoon I had a job offer in my e-mail. Well I didn't want to rush into anything and asked for a couple of weeks to make my decision in.

The Lord's timing is perfect! That afternoon I got offered an interview at a computer games company in the middle of nowhere (somewhere in the Midlands) I already had a conscience that while it would be nice to work on computer games the atmosphere of the place and some of the ideas that go into the games these days was not the place for me to be, it would also be a distance from any assembly. Before the job offer above I was getting a bit desperate and felt under a lot of pressure to get a job, but having had that job offer the pressure was off and whilst I told the agency I might be available for an interview the day my exams finished, I cancelled that idea and took up the job offer.

Well I was expecting to get a 2-1 (2nd class higher) for my degree and that was what all the agencies had been lining up interviews based on. I came back with a 2-2 (2nd class lower) degree. Now if I had taken any other job from any of the other interviews I had or had offered I might have had the offer withdrawn but the company in Eastleigh (Tecton) were not bothered and more than happy to take me on still. So it was now the 5th June 2001. I had less than four weeks to find somewhere to live in Southampton before my contract on the house I was renting with my university friends run out. Well whilst I still planned to continue going to Millbrook I felt it would be easier to get a place near work as I've never been good at getting up in the mornings. The Lord provided a flat in Bishopstoke, 5-10 minutes from work.

Halfway through that month I finally got round to taking my driving test. Only by God's grace did I pass that test. I ended up with 14 minors out of the 15 allowed! Having made a complete mess of reverse car parking, but it was God's Will for me to pass and pass I did. Then a couple of weeks later I got myself my nice Ford Fiesta, and on the Wednesday evening (4th July) was driving from the Rodens to Crawley and missed a left hand turning and ended up down some single track country lanes. As I went round one of the bends so did another car in the opposite direction!n By God's grace no one was injured, and although the car needed major repairs it was not written off. The car was needed not only for getting myself around but also other believers as well.

So now everything seemed to be slotting into place I had a job starting in August, I had a driving licenese and a car and a flat to live in. Well if I'm honest I wasted the next couple of months. I had decided I needed a couple of months to rest after my degree, I had plans to do various Bible studies but never did any of them. The Lord enabled me to go and help with the Weymouth beach mission for a couple of days but apart from that there was little for the Lord in my day to day live, apart from morning and evening readings and various meetings that I went to.

However in August, myself and Jeff were able to meet up on a Friday night in my new flat for a time of fellowship and a Bible study. These times of fellowship had not been so frequent towards the end of my third year due to my studies and Jeff's work but the Lord blessed them. In August we agreed to meet up every Friday night whenever Winchester wasn't on at my flat, were we would have a meal and study God's Word. This was now a lot easier as I had my own place as before then neither of us had a place of our own since Jeff had moved from Crawley to Winchester (to live, he was still going to Crawley's assembly). During the second half of August myself and Jeff received consecutive ministry about the importance of prayer meetings, and felt it was God's Will to have a short prayer meeting before the Bible study on a Friday night.

Also at the end of August, one of my unversity friends, Anton, who had been Saved in his first year, mentioned to me that he was beginning to think about Baptism. Well I had a busy week planned ahead of me, so invited him up on the Friday to join me and Jeff for a Bible study. He started to join us regularly. Then in October, Jonas Pinho (mentioned above) arrived at the unversity, and already Nigel and Eunice from their yearly visits to Portugal and myself from the year previous joined us at Millbrook. He also joined us on a Friday night. Bringing us upto 4. Then when Jeff heard that Ben Kimber at Crawley was coming into fellowship, he invited him as well taking us upto 5 which we believe to be our optimum number. These times of fellowship, prayer and Bible study have been of great blessing at times recharging tired batteries at the end of tiring weeks.

As mentioned above Jonas arrived at Millbrook and his good friendship like that of Jeff's has been a blessing to me. Coming to a new country hasn't been easy for him but by God's grace we've helped each other throughout the last 7 months. Well back in that month of August we had received news that Alf Poland was planning to come to Southampton having served the Lord for decades in Portugal through radio ministry and then in more recent years a Portuguese web-site (www.contosepontos.pt) which has enabled him to reach Portuguese speakers all over the world with the Gospel. Over the last few months the Lord has enabled me on occasions to give him some technical support for the web-site. Each one of us has skills that the Lord has given us, these are not Spiritual gifts, but can still be of use to help one another.

So that brings me on to this years Tintagel. I had a few things on my mind as I went and the first couple of days I tried to sort them out. However, what I needed to do was follow the advice from Psalm 46v10 "Be still and know that I am God." On the Thursday I took that advice, and during the morning break went up to my room to quiet seek God. Over the next 24 hours God showed me what He wanted me to do. And so over the next 3 nights and 3 mornings I prayed for God's guidance over how to send one of my "That was Tintagel e-mails" that one or two had already asked me about and also how to set up the website, thatwastintagel.net now known as assemblyyouth.net .

The Lord had given me the vision of setting up a website where young believers such as myself and those at Tintagel could encourage one another. Where we could request prayer for specific matters and give God praise for what He has done. This site is now ended its first month. The Lord has added to it more than I had planned. A ministry meetings page was requested and after seeking God's guidance was set up and then with other things planned for the web-site I realised the need for help in keeping it up to date. In my own self I already knew Jeff Hedges would be the man to the job but took it to the Lord in prayer that the Lord would get him to offer his help, which he did. I've always been encouraged reading other people's testimonies and prayed about adding this. When a ministring brother spoke about how the disciples at Emmaus had got up and testified of how they had seen Christ risen, I felt the Lord was emphasising the importance of testimony and so this testimony page was added.

I can honestly say throughout my life that I "know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." Romans8v28.