Welcome to the Evangelist Podcast. Today we'll be talking about a very sober subject indeed. Today is uh the day of the funeral of uh Margaret Thatcher, and uh we're going to be talking about death and uh our legacy beyond death. Uh because not only did Margaret Thatcher uh die in the last week, but also uh George Beverly Shay, um that great servant of the Lord, and and also someone very close to us here at Revival, uh Ken Coventry, a man who served uh with this organization for many, many years. Uh, he's also gone to be with the Lord. So today we're we're thinking about death.
SPEAKER_00The Evangelist Podcast from Revival. Find out what's new in telling people the good news about God, the world, and you with Andy Brinkley and Glenn Scriver.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the Evangelist Podcast. Last week uh I said that we were gonna be uh joined by Ian Milmine talking about the history of revival and that, but uh he's not here. Nipped off to the Iron Lady's funeral, baby. Maybe. No, he didn't. He's busy doing uh accounts and stuff and this time, but uh he'll come back.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna do an impression of him, but then I thought I might lose my job, so never mind.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So um another person that's died, not only Margaret Thatcher, but uh George Beverly Shea.
SPEAKER_03I just heard that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02A chap who was with the Billy Graham Association, and uh he was the singer in Billy Graham's uh meetings. Um I got a little bit here, it says that he was the recipient of ten Grammy nominations, a Grammy Award in nineteen sixty-five, and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Grammy Organization in 2011.
SPEAKER_03My goodness. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Billy Graham. I mean George Beverly Shea's a hundred and four, was a hundred and four. My goodness. Billy Graham's in his nineties anyway. Uh but he says of George Beverly Shea, I first met Bev Shea while in Chicago when he was on Moody Radio, said Billy Graham. As a young man starting my ministry, I asked Bev if he would join me. He said yes, and for over sixty years we had the privilege of ministering together across the country and around the world. Bev was one of the most humble, gracious men I've ever known, and one of my closest friends. I loved him as a brother. My prayer for his wife Carline and his children Ron and Elaine is that God will strengthen them during this time. So, lovely uh words there from Billy Graham. I thought it'd be nice if we uh if we played a little bit of uh George Beverley's show, he's got a wonderful deep voice. Yeah. And uh this is him singing How Great Thou Art. That's uh George Beverly Show singing in nineteen fifty-seven.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02Amazing man used. Yeah. Mightily.
SPEAKER_03And the course got that he's got that same thing, doesn't he, that Billy Graham has, of it doesn't seem like there's any distance between himself and and the and the audience or the congregation. That same thing that Billy Graham had, you know, you see some preachers and it's like they're behind sort of double-glazed glass. But but both with Billy Graham and and George Beverly Shea, you've just got this real sense of immediacy and sort of direct kind of reaching out to uh to the congregation, and uh yeah, he'll be missed greatly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And of course, uh also in our own organisation, uh a man from Revival's History passed away, Ken Coventry. Ken was with the organisation for a long time. And he was the chap that sort of organized all the missions and and everything. And uh I've got a little section here from Your Master Proclaim, and this is the story of Eric Hutchings and the team. It's written by J. Erskine Tuck. It's uh got a little bit about Ken Coventry and how he came to work with the organization. It says the man who managed headquarters was Ken Coventry, who is still doing the same work for the Eric Hutchings organization. This book was written in nineteen sixty-eight. He has already been mentioned, but this was how the man who has ironed out more difficulties than any other fellow, concentrating on the managerial side of British evangelism, came into the team. Ken heard Eric's address at a rally in Bournemouth early in nineteen fifty-one. He phoned Eric at his lodgings to ask for a word with him before he left the next day. They met at the station and Ken remarked laconically, The Lord's told me I'm going to work for you. Eric replied rather naughtily, Well, that's strange because he hasn't told me anything about it. When the need for someone to manage the Hastings headquarters came along, Eric remembered that conversation, and he felt at once that Ken Coventry was the man for the job. Evangelist got in contact with Ken and he came to the Havelock Road offices where he was joined by Joan Pountney, Eric's personal secretary. So rather bold sort of entrance.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And he's such an encourager as well, Ken Coventry. I met it met him a few times and uh a great member of uh South Street Free Church here in Eastbourne and and uh yeah, such a lovely gospel-hearted, encouraging man, and and when you read about all that he did with this organisation, yeah, he was the man to iron out glitches, and so what a servant.
SPEAKER_02And and he managed the um the Christian bookshop here in Eastbourne for a number of years, and of course a lot of Christians in Eastbourne remember him from that uh era as well. But uh I was thinking what with uh Margaret Thatcher's funeral today and George Beverly Shea, Ken Coventry, you know, about the legacy that we leave people with when we go to be with the Lord often a a conversation starter is uh, you know, what do you want people to remember you for or what do you want written on your on your tombstone?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And uh really interesting to think that, isn't it? Because, you know, it it seems like Margaret Thatcher certainly spoke of a personal faith in Christ. And it, you know, it's it's certainly interesting to think, you know, in the last week, as uh each of these three servants of the Lord in different ways uh uh may well have have appeared before the Lord Jesus, you know, what legacies in terms of eternity they've had. You know, Margaret Thatcher may have had a uh a grand funeral today. Some people say it cost ten million, others just sort of dispute that figure and say that that's uh far in excess of what it actually did cost. But you know, what whatever the case may be, she had a funeral that you and I are unlikely to have. Um I don't think the Bishop of London will be preaching at our at our funerals. But um you know, it's interesting, Richard Chartres, when he did preach, um he brought everyone's you know attention way down to the the reality of death, and he said, you know, lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings. And when you have this massive state occasion and when you have all these sort of leaders gathered from around the world, um it was a real occasion, I I I suppose, for exactly what you're saying, you know, thinking about what's really worthwhile when the grave is right there. Um it reminds me of sort of Ecclesiastes chapter seven, uh the writer says it's better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone. The living should take this to heart. So uh very very appropriate words, I think, for today. When we think of a a woman who in earthly terms had an incredible legacy, but you just wonder whether the likes of Kevin Coventry might be being uh introduced by the Lord in into an inheritance that's sort of commensurate with all his, you know, very much behind the scenes, gospel-hearted, servant-hearted activities. And what we remember in this life won't be necessarily what's remembered in eternity. Um so when I think of when I think of Ken Coventry turning up before the Lord and Margaret Thatcher turning up before the Lord, Margaret Thatcher did wonderful things in her own way and had her own strengths and weaknesses in her own.
SPEAKER_02Some bad things in their own way. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Um Yeah, as as do we all. But in terms of in terms of investing in gospel work, uh it's just a great day for remembering that what will be honored in this life is not necessarily what will be honored in eternity.
SPEAKER_02I guess it's uh you know, you you you have a standing with the Lord and you have to trust that you know you're in it for his good will and uh, you know, for his purposes and uh not try to manufacture your own destiny in a way.
SPEAKER_03Well exactly. It was it was at Count von Zinzendorf who said um preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. That was his advice on the whole legacy thing. Preach the gospel, die and and be forgotten. Of course we remember that he said that, but but uh he was known for that. He was known for saying be forgotten, but I but I I I think there's a lot of wisdom to that. You know, and when the Apostle Paul, you know, he ends his his great chapter on resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. And having sort of laid out this theology of resurrection, he then says, Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm, let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. You know, there are a lot of things that are in vain. You know, they they they say sort of a a a definition of failure is to be very successful at things that don't matter, you know. Um and Paul says, make sure your labour in the Lord is not in vain, because you know, what is that labour in the Lord? Well he begins the chapter by talking about um preaching the gospel and holding fast to the gospel. That seems to be what he thinks labour in the Lord is preaching the gospel, holding fast to the gospel. That's what's not in vain. And and you know, the grave will come and judge all of what we do, um, but only what's done for Christ is what remains.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I was uh r remembering uh George Whitfield, a mighty preacher in church history, saying towards the end of his life, might have even been on his deathbed that he felt his life's work had been a rope of sand. And uh, you know, he was contemporary with John Wesley, and John Wesley left a you know a great sort of um legacy in a organizational way. Yes, you know, that perhaps George Whitfield didn't um in by the way of organization, but uh nevertheless his preaching was uh you know, in a sense just as powerful as uh as Wesley's, you know.
SPEAKER_03Oh absolutely. And and you know, by estimates, you know, he was preaching to sort of forty thousand people at that at some points, and yet that sort of thing didn't show up in his journal so much as he would just sign off at the end of his journal, I offered them Christ. You know, I offered them Christ and then my head hit the pillow, and that's you know, that's that's kind of it, isn't it? It's you know, preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. That's the moral of the story, isn't it? You know. Um but you know, the Lord, the Lord does not forget those labours. You know, as as a staff team, we we are reading through uh Revelation in our in our morning prayer times. And it's just been really interesting to think about um there's those seven churches at the beginning of Revelation, Revelation chapter two and three, and you get the idea that that the majority of these are are little congregations, little fellowships of people that are very downtrodden and just just clinging on in so many ways, and yet the Lord Jesus walks among them and he honors them, and that's you know, where do you find Jesus? He's walking among his churches. And then you read on in Revelation, you've got Babylon, you know, this other kind of anti-church, anti-bride, who is the powers of this world, kind of, and and she is very lofty and she thinks very highly of herself, does Babylon. Um, and yet, you know, fallen is Babylon the Great. And and and it's just really interesting to to think we're we're always being told that what is important, what's valuable in this world is is is the great and the flashy and the uh you know the the things of this world and and yet you know Jesus Jesus loves his bride which is this little you know these these little communities of faith preaching and holding fast to the gospel, you know that's that's the legacy that lasts.
SPEAKER_02And only really is there hope in the gospel because uh you know, as you say, nothing else m moth and uh rust and everything else disappears, but you know, our hope is in the Lord and uh it's tempting sometimes to get depressed and sort of say, Well our lives of are not living up to our expectations or other people's expectations, but uh we can trust that the Lord's got it all in hand.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and and their deeds shall follow them. Yeah, there's there's that wonderful promise from Revelation, and their deeds shall follow them. That you know, our our labours in the Lord are are not in vain. So it's I I can't wait to see Kevin Coventry again. You know, I can't I can't wait to see uh his inheritance and and and what he's done bearing fruit in eternity. So yeah, on a day like today it's it's very very good to remember what it is that lasts. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, uh what what's your uh legacy gonna be over the next hopefully?
SPEAKER_03Well, preach the gospel, dive if well.
SPEAKER_02Still going off to tomorrow and uh Friday going off to Southampton.
SPEAKER_03So UCCF work with students here in the UK and I'll be um yeah, just uh teaching some of the stuff uh a little bit about sort of 321 and sharing the gospel and that kind of thing over the next couple of days and then preaching on the weekends. So yeah, it'll be a be a good time, and as as we remember, yeah, what matters. It you know, this seems like a you know, a little work. It seems like an insignificant work, and yet, you know, it's preaching and holding fast to the gospel, and our our labours are not in vain. So yeah, looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, uh thanks, Glenn. We hope it all goes well for Southampton. We look forward to hearing all about it next week. Thanks for listening to the Evangelist Podcast. You can catch up with us on our website, revivalmedia.org, and get to this episode and show notes directly where you can comment on the specific show. Just go to revivalmedia.org slash TEP4.
SPEAKER_04Bye.
SPEAKER_02Something like that.
SPEAKER_04Cheers!