About Noel 3)

Though it was clear that Noel was highly regarded in the Baptist World, I had absolutely no idea that he was going to become President of the BWA 1985-1990. Whenever he visited England he would stay with us as the unassuming friend he had become.  I am not quite sure how it worked but he must have been behind me becoming a member of the Doctrine Commission and therefore a regular member of the annual meetings held on every continent in sequence. I became part of a little travelling British gang. I learned so much and on each occasion  he always spent time with me.

 Owing to the many visiting academics who visited our Cambridge Church I had begun what became a very significant relationship with Baptists in Australia.  Several concurrent years I was the annual convention state speaker in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and at other mission events.  Such a privilege. But never  Perth and W. Australia which lay so far away from what became our main centre of gravity in Sydney.  Noel lamented this absence.  

When I became seriously ill in 1986/87 he came and stayed in Cambridge with us. He grew even closer in friendship. I found him an exceptional mentor.  When I was asked to submit my name for Principalship of Spurgeon's College in 1993 he was a wise supportive guide. (However, when I asked his advice on my move to the US he was less convinced it was right!) 

Eventually I did visit Perth to speak at the college and spent time with Noel in his home.  The icing on the cake was the later invitation to fly out and preach at the 50th anniversary of the college's foundation. Renamed Noel Vose Seminary it was memorable in many ways, not least because Noel and his two successors were present to join the celebrations.  I think you can tell from just this snatch overview how much I valued him and friendship seemed to go both ways.  Indeed his biographer included  Noel's over-generous assessment of me with warm words about Carol, Simon and Robert. 

How good it is to recall influences like these in our lives.  And it was his dedication to me inside one of the G.H. Morrison's books of sermons that began this memory trail.