My name is Samuel McQuigg. I am 47 years old and live in Wolverhampton in Great Britain with my wife and her eldest son. I am remarried and have two boys who live with their mother. We are moving to Cornwall next month so that my wife can look after her aging parents and we can start ministering to the people in the South West region of the country. As our country moves away from God and becomes more secular, ministry becomes more difficult. It is not that we receive persecution as some in other countries go through, but simply that people do not believe and there is a hardness in their hearts through the spread of evolution throughout the media and education system.
I was brought up in a Christian family, so have always believed in God as far back as I can remember. So it was easy for me to say the “sinner’s prayer” when I was 16 years old. However, not understanding the truth of the gospel and God’s love and grace towards me, I spent the next 30 years in and out of relationship with God and constantly struggling with sin and condemnation. When I got things wrong I felt that I has messed up, lost my relationship with God and had to start all over again. So I went through a cycle of being born again, trying to live a right life, failing and believing that I had lost my relationship with God and salvation. When I was about 36 years old I received some tapes from my brother by an American teacher called Andrew Wommack, who’s main focus on teaching is God’s grace, faith in God’s Word, and our identity in Christ. After hearing these and understanding the true message of the gospel, that God loves me and continues to love me, even when I make mistakes, that I was able to begin a more meaningful relationship with Him, one that has lasted and matured over the years.
Subsequently, I attended Charis Bible College, founded by Andrew Wommack, from 2005 and studied there for 3 years. During this time I met my current wife, Roz, who was studying at the college in the year below me and we married in 2007. I completed my 3rd year in 2008 and started to work for the college and then transferred to working for the ministry, Andrew Wommack Ministries – Europe, in 2012.
Our ministry dream is to connect with churches in the South West region of Great Britain to share the gospel truths that we have received. We hope to start local bible study groups using Andrew’s Study Guides and the Discipleship Evangelism material available through the ministry and, in time, develop a Christian Centre to hold these meetings, Christian conferences, a Charis Bible College, a church and for it to be a place of rest where Christian can come and spend some quiet time with the Lord in the beautiful county that is Cornwall.
I identify with Pastor most as I have a teaching gift and it is my desire to disciple Christians from their conversion, to find and develop the spiritual gifts that God has given them and send them out to fulfil the vision that God has placed in their hearts.
Through college I discovered that I had the gifts of teaching and preaching, having had the opportunities to practice and develop them, both in the college and at my brother’s church. Also, the vision of the college is to train up and send out Christian leaders, so I had sat under that for 3 years and have the strong desire to do something more with my life than everyday work and attending church on Sundays.
Having not started ministering in Cornwall or the South West yet, I don’t know what specific challenges we might meet. I know that the road system is less developed than other parts of the country and it will take longer to travel distances than it does now, but other than that we don’t know.
My brother and the college/ministry has always encouraged me to follow the calling on my life.
My wife will be a major part of the ministry, as we have both studied at the college and, being unique and very different people, will have different skills, talents and gifts to bring to the ministry.
The scholarship at CLI is very important to our ministry dream as it will offer us a way to obtain ordination. I could be ordained through the ministry, but this would not be recognised by any church, ministry or organisation that do not know Andrew Wommack or recognise his teaching gift. While this will be an additional period of study for me, it will not require me to go through a full-time college again, to have to relocate or save up the considerable sums of money to purchase a good standard of education. This scholarship will allow me to study in my own time to build up to a significant level of recognised education as well as the opportunity to be ordained.
As we step out in faith, I would just ask for prayer for wisdom for us and blessing on our ministry, that we would see the opportunities and provision that God has already made for us there and that we wouldn’t be distracted by things that look good, but aren’t from God.
Simply, we just want to walk with God throughout our lives and allow Him to direct us fully into what He has ordained for us.
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