 In his biography of Charles Spurgeon, Arnold Dallimore tells the story of Spurgeon's early years as a Christian. One of the activities of the St. Andrews Church in Cambridge, which Spurgeon attended, was a lay preacher's association that sent men out into surrounding villages to preach.
The leader of the lay preacher's association was James Vinter, who was admiringly known as "The Bishop."
Vinter heard Spurgeon speak in Sunday School and immediately recognized his gift of preaching and desired to send him to preach in the villages. Fearing that Spurgeon would refuse, however, Vinter cleverly asked Spurgeon to go to the town of Teversham on Sunday evening because "a young man was to preach there who was not much used to services and very likely would be glad of company."
Dallimore's account reveals the amusing outcome and Spurgeon's quick-witted response:
Spurgeon agreed to go and, with the young man whom he assumed was to do the preaching, he set out on the Sunday evening for Teversham. As they walked he remarked to the companion that he hoped his preaching would be blessed of God. The companion was startled and cried out, "I have never done such a thing in my life! You're the one who is to preach! I'm here to keep you company!" Spurgeon was equally surprised and stated he was both inexperienced and unprepared for such a task. But the other countered that Spurgeon was accustomed to addressing the Sunday school and could easily repeat one of the talks he had given there.
Though amazed by what had happened, but also richly attracted by the opportunity, Spurgeon says, "I walked along quietly, lifting up my soul to God, and it seemed to me I could surely tell a few poor cottagers of the sweetness and love of Jesus, for I felt them in my own soul."
The place of meeting was a thatched-roof cottage, and the audience was, in his language, "a few simple-minded farm-laborers and their wives." Spurgeon took as his text the Scripture, "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious," and he spoke of Christ's glory and grace-that which he had himself received and which Christ offered to all who would come to Him.
The moment he finished preaching an elderly woman cried out, "Bless your heart, how old are you?" Spurgeon replied that there should be no interruptions in the service. But as soon as the last hymn was sung she burst forth again with her question, and this time he replied, "I am under sixty."
"Yes, and under sixteen!" she declared. Her enthusiasm was felt by the rest of the congregation, and they virtually demanded that he return and preach to them again as soon as possible."
It was James Vinter who gave Charles Spurgeon his start as a preacher, and who encouraged him to use his public speaking gifts to the glory of God. Millions know of Spurgeon, but certainly "The Bishop" goes down in history as a wonderful example of an everyday leader who faithfully applied his gifts in a way that unleashed one of the most influential preachers in history.
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