In another city

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul as his manner was, went in unto them, and reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed…” Acts 17:1-4a

GOD AT WORK! In another city (#6 on stick #45) Two young men joined Mr. Harris at Corner Brook in the summer of 1950 to help him in the work there. Bert Joyce and George Heidman came from Toronto and crossed on a schooner to Newfoundland to take the heavy work from Mr. Harris who was fifty-five years old, and had a heart condition that he suffered with until he passed away. They had huge crowds to preach to on the street corner on Broadway, but it wasn’t easy to get people to come to meetings in a tent or building. Bill and Lillian Butt had moved to Corner Brook from the Carbonear area to find work. There were some of Mammie Pelly’s family living and working in Corner Brook, as well as Noel connections, all from Carbonear. A customs officer named George Evans was saved and became a good help in the assembly. He was limited by family considerations because he was the only one saved in the house, but he was a man who could be counted on to do what he could. Before long Eugene and Mary Skiffington were saved in that area. Most if not all, of their large family of girls and one boy have been saved by God’s grace.

Bert Joyce stayed and helped Mr. Harris in the work of the Gospel in Corner Brook for several months before returning to Toronto. A young lady happened to be at the airport when Bert went back to Toronto, and he was quite conscious that “a wise man’s eyes are in his head.” It wasn’t long before he knew that he and Emily Gould from the assembly at Kenora, ON (not far from Winnipeg, MB) had similar interests in the things of God and the work of the Lord. Bert’s mother’s sister, Miss Edith Gulston, was a missionary in Venezuela, and Emily was thinking perhaps the Lord was leading her to that country to serve the Lord. It wasn’t long before they knew they were to serve the Lord together wherever He chose to send them.

A year or so later Bert Joyce and his new wife Emily moved to Corner Brook for quite a period of time. Mr. Harris went to the mainland to have some Gospel meetings, and the Joyce’s were there to carry on the work in Corner Brook on their own with the help of the new believers who had gathered there in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the places Mr. Herb Harris had a series of Gospel meetings in 1951 was at the South Main Gospel Hall in Vancouver. He had held Gospel meetings in Vancouver from time to time for thirty years. At the fall conference in Vancouver, a young Dutchman named Andrew Bergsma was saved and that made quite a stir in the city among assembly Christians because he had walked right up on the platform to ask the preacher to tell him how to be saved right then.

The Bergsma family was quite large and God did a work in saving those religious people. There was an obvious interest in the Gospel created at that conference, so Mr. Albert W. Joyce, Bert’s uncle who had preached a lot with Mr. Harris, joined him in a Gospel series that started in October and didn’t finish until January 1952. It was during those meetings that George Douglas Campbell was saved by God’s grace. A large number of people came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior during that long Gospel series. Some nights people were in the South Main Gospel Hall until the early hours of the morning wanting to be saved. A number of veterans from the war were among them, one of whom was George Campbell who had been guided there by an obvious work of the Holy Spirit. But that is a story to be covered at another time.

After spending some time in Corner Brook, the Joyce’s, who now had young children felt led to move to Sydney, Nova Scotia where they preached the Gospel on Cape Breton Island. While living in Sydney, he was asked to have Gospel meetings in Prince Edward Island where they saw quite a number of people saved. So, they moved to Prince Edward Island for a few years. In 1956 a boat was purchased to travel to the coastal villages of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador with the Gospel, of which we will speak more of later. Bert Joyce was an airplane pilot and knew navigation, so Mr. Harris asked him to come and pilot the “M.G.M.” the first year as they traveled the coast. The same thing happened the next couple of years, so the Joyce’s decided to move from Prince Edward Island to Red Bay, Labrador in the fall of 1958. He got an airplane to use on that shore and they lived there until in the 1970s when they came back to live in Corner Brook. They made their home there until both were well up in years before they went home to heaven.

Bert Joyce knew the Gospel from infancy, so the fact that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” was in his mind from earliest childhood. But that did not mean he was a Christian and he knew it. Herb Harris had been preaching the Gospel with another man in the Brock Avenue Gospel Hall in Toronto, Ontario which was the place his parents attended. It wasn’t during a Gospel meeting the Holy Spirit reached his soul, but during a remembrance meeting on Lord’s Day morning when the believers there gathered for the Lord’s Supper. Each person took the bread and the cup individually in an act of worship and remembrance.

A hymn was given out during that meeting that seemed to resonate with Bert as a twelve- year old boy. The words are: “When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died; my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” Even when he was an old man unable to get out or travel much, I heard him give out that hymn in similar meetings in Newfoundland and Labrador. “Let us sing verse three quietly,” Bert would say. “See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down; did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?”

After the singing of the hymn, sitting in the observer’s seat in the Brock Avenue Gospel Hall, he read the words of Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him, the iniquity of us all.” He then understood that the Lord Jesus had died on the cross for him personally. He laid on Jesus the sins of Bert Joyce, and by His stripes Bert Joyce is healed. He was saved by God’s grace sitting in an observer’s seat that morning as the Lord’s Supper was being shared by the people of that assembly.

That assembly was his training place and he was a good learner. It was from there he went to Newfoundland in 1950, and not long after met Emily Gould who also had an interest in the things of God. Not too long after they met, they were married and committed themselves to the work of the Lord in eastern Canada. Mr. Bert Joyce was nearly seventy years preaching the Gospel in the Maritime provinces and mainly in Newfoundland and Labrador. They lived in Red Bay, Labrador for about fifteen years before moving for their last move, to Corner Brook. It was there they passed into the presence of the Lord, both of them around ninety years old.

During the early 1950s when the Joyce’s lived there, Bert got a motor boat so he could travel to other villages around Bay of Islands. It had a “make and break” gas engine that was started when a pin was put in the flywheel and then cranked by hand until it caught and started. It was very important to have that pin loose, so that when the engine started, it could easily be pulled out. Unfortunately, one time, Bert didn’t get it out quick enough and it broke his arm.

He and George Campbell, went to Lark Harbour and had Gospel meetings. Mr. Harris went with them some times, and there was a bit of interest. I think one or two were saved at that time, but never enough to see a work established as an assembly. They also went across to the north side of the bay and put up a portable hall to have meetings in. When the Joyce’s went to Sydney, the Howard family moved to Corner Brook for a while before moving on to St. John’s for two or three years. Mr. Howard put up the portable hall on the north shore for a while, but there wasn’t a lot of interest among adults. Mostly it was a children’s work. Brothers from the Canadian Sunday School Mission came to the north shore some time afterward, and worked among the young people there for several years. The assembly in Corner Brook met in a portable hall that was used first farther up on Country Road and then was set on a foundation as a permanent building for the assembly at 8 Valley Road.

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While the work was being established in Corner Brook, both the Howard and Joyce families had a few years there at different times. George Evans, a customs officer, Eugene Skiffington who worked at the cement plant, and his wife Mary became part of the assembly. Bill and Lillian Butt were in the Corner Brook assembly also. Harvey and Phyliss Lynch moved there for a few years in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Melvin Hancock from Forteau, Labrador took his final years of schooling in Corner Brook, and later Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Diamond from Curling and quite a lot of other people were saved there and became part of the assembly.

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The Lord saved some men who worked in the mill and others who worked in the woods, so the number of people in the assembly gradually grew in number. Young people from outports who had trades or wanted higher schooling came to Corner Brook and were added to the assembly. Some of the children of the believers were saved and they too became part of the fellowship that met at the Gospel Hall at 8 Valley Road. In 1971, a Gospel tent was erected higher up the valley on Country Road and the Lord was pleased to save a few more people. It was decided to buy the property on which the tent had been placed and build a new and larger Gospel Hall. The location where the original hall was, has since been filled up with landfill and there is a shopping center there now.

Mr. Bert Joyce and his family moved from Red Bay, Labrador to Corner Brook in the early 1970s. With his airplane he could travel back and forth to the Labrador coast in two or three hours depending on the weather. The airport at Deer Lake was less than an hour away by car and it was a good and safe place to keep his airplane. The older members of his family were adults and are a wonderful asset and addition to the work in Corner Brook. Some have gone on to different locations.

The Bay of Islands has a fairly large population, so there has been a lot of opportunities for outreach in the many communities around that bay. Quite a number of believers in the assembly live in Pasadena on the TransCanada highway going east from Corner Brook, so meetings have been held there in a tent and other efforts in that part of the province of which we will write later.

In recent years other people have been saved in Corner Brook, and other believers have moved to Corner Brook from the out-ports to find work. The close of the cod fishery quite a few years ago made it necessary for young men to either leave the province, or get training at the Trade Schools and work in cities. This has resulted in continuing growth in the assembly, meeting at the Country Road Gospel Hall. There has been an active Sunday School work there that continues and has been a good area of outreach for the assembly. Wallace and Olive Buckle and their family moved into Corner Brook for a while in 1971 and worked in the outreach of the Gospel in visitation and Gospel meetings including open-air preaching.

Mr. Herb Harris told us about many of his experiences in preaching as a way to get points across to us, but also to share how God works, and also to give us a serious view of how important Gospel preaching is. Some of his stories really sobered us to the reality of what really happens in Gospel meetings.

In a tent meeting one time, the Lord was working and it was obvious the Spirit of God was speaking to people through the preaching of the Gospel. There was a young couple in the meeting who were engaged to be married. They sat together on the bench and both looked at the preacher the whole time but with very obvious differences of opinion. The young man sat stoically looking ahead with a hard set to his mouth and there was no trouble to see he was not at all interested in the Gospel or God’s salvation.

The young woman, on the other hand, was just the opposite. She was obviously convicted of her sin, and righteousness, and judgment. Her face showed she was taking in the message and was considering the importance of God’s salvation. The need of receiving Christ for herself was apparent and so after the meeting was closed, she sat on the bench quietly crying with her head down. The preachers were at the back quietly greeting the people and one of them kept an eye on the young woman and was going to speak with her when he noticed the young man standing at the back of the tent with a sneer on his face. There are times when we can feel that someone is looking at us, and it seemed that was the case with the young lady because she turned her head and looked at the young man and saw his facial expression. The preacher watched this and saw the young woman rise from her seat and come down the side aisle to follow her fiancé to the door.

After shaking hands with the young man and greeting him, the preacher said to the young woman, “Would you like to be saved?” She never replied but kept her head down. “This is a very important matter and you shouldn’t put it off,” he said as he tried to get her to express her interest.

The preacher tried a couple of other times to get her to let him help her find Christ but she would not respond but shook her head and walked on out. The preacher was feeling sad at her reluctance to hold a conversation but felt even worse as he overheard the conversation just outside the tent wall. “Look, if you want this stuff, go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Those were the words of the young man.

But even worse was the reply the preacher heard from the young woman. “Listen, when I saw the look on your face in there, I knew that if I got saved, you would leave me. Now listen good! I made a choice in there for you, not Jesus, so never speak to me again about this.” We never saw them again in a meeting. Sometimes a look can settle a destiny.

A tough man who had been known for his hard living and lawless ways, was caught, tried and convicted of murder. He was in prison awaiting execution for several months and he seemed indifferent to his upcoming date with the executioner. He would laugh, joke and curse at any and all around him.

The night before his execution, he was different. He paced the floor of his cell; he wouldn’t lie down on the bunk, he didn’t want anything to eat, so a guard kind of mocked him and asked, “What’s the matter; are you afraid to die?” “Afraid to die, am I afraid to die? No,” he replied, “I’m not afraid to die. Many’s the times I’ve faced death at the muzzle of a policeman’s gun. No, I’m not afraid to die, but tomorrow morning at 6:00, I’ve got to meet God and I’m not ready.”

Night after night, another young man came to the Gospel meetings. He seemed to listen well and there was a lot of interest evident in his attitude. However, he didn’t seem to be getting any closer to salvation. He seemed to have come just so close and then stopped.

Going out of the meeting he remarked to the preacher, “This is my last night coming to the Gospel meetings. I wanted to tell you that I appreciate the interest you have had in me. Thank you for all the good messages. They have been very enlightening.” The preacher wondered out loud, “Are you going away?” “No,” he answered, “I have just decided not to be saved now.”

“Have we offended you? Is there something you don’t understand? Is there some way we can help you?” the preacher asked. “No, no. There’s nothing like that. It’s just that I know if I get saved things will have to be different. Things that I do now I would have to stop and my life would be changed. I’ve decided to go out and have as much fun as I can. When I get older and can’t enjoy myself so much, I’ll get saved. But not now. I would miss out on too much. But thanks very much for taking an interest in me. I really believe you want the best for me. I just want to sow some wild oats.”

The preacher was grieved but reached out and shook the young man’s hand and said, “I am really sorry to hear this. I had hoped and prayed you would be saved before now. However, if you really are not coming back, I would like to give you a verse of scripture to take with you.” Holding the young man’s hand tightly he quoted, ‘Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth. And let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. And walk in the ways of thine heart and the sight of thine eyes…’” And he stopped his quotation.

The young man looked at him in amazement as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Is that in the Bible? I’ve never heard you say anything like that before. Wow, that’s just what I want and it says it right in the Bible! This is great!” And he started to walk on.

But the preacher still held his hand and gripping it tighter he said, “But that’s not all of the verse. The rest of it says, ‘But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment.’” And the young man tried to pull his hand away as he put his head down.

The preacher bent down and looked him in the eye and repeated, “But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment.” Again, the young man tried to pull his hand away and again the preacher repeated, “But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment.” This time the young man jerked his hand out of the preacher’s and with head bowed went out into the night.

We need to remember, that every action has a reaction. Every decision has a consequence. Every choice has an effect. Every step taken cannot be reversed. Every word spoken cannot be recalled. Every influence is indelible. Like George Campbell used to say often in his preaching, “Pay day, some day!”

There is much more to say about the work in Bay of Islands which is in a later part of this account of the work of God in that part of Newfoundland. When we take the time to trace the hand of God on His servants, and the grace of God toward sinners, we are moved to thanksgiving and praise for His wisdom and sovereign work on behalf of believers and unbelievers alike.

Harvey and Phyllis Lynch lived in Corner Brook for a while. So did Cron and Louise Lynch shortly after they moved back to Newfoundland from Toronto. People who have connections to assemblies all over the province have moved to Corner Brook and Bay of Island communities. Young brothers and sisters have come there for university, trade school and other training facilities that are located there. From that assembly, believers have moved on to various parts of Canada for work. Rebecca Flynn is nursing at a mission hospital in Zambia, Africa and others have gone there from time to time helping in the work others have been doing in that country.

Most outports have a declining population, so the main cities of the province: St. John’s, Corner Brook and Gander, where there are assemblies of Christians gathered to the Lord’s name, are profiting numerically from the declining numbers in the outport assemblies. It is of great importance that a solid, scriptural Gospel testimony be maintained in those centers, because almost all the other “churches” have adapted to the changing culture that is leaves people thinking they are children of God, without having been truly born again. Young and old alike in the assembly needs to be actively involved in some way in the outreach of the Gospel.