• My Father’s Faithful Example
    Awake!—1993 | December 22

    • A Memorable Bible Discussion

      In field ministry one day, when I was still only 17, I spoke with a man in a farm cottage. While I was visiting there, Winston Churchill, Britain’s leader during World War II, arrived. My conversation was interrupted, but Mr. Churchill took note of The Watchtower and commended me for my work.

      Several days later I was out preaching again when I rang the doorbell of a large house. A butler opened the door, and when I requested to speak to the man of the house, he asked if I knew who that was. I had no idea. “This is Chartwell,” he said, “the home of Winston Churchill.” At that moment, Mr. Churchill appeared. He remembered our previous meeting and invited me in. We spoke a little, and he accepted three books and invited me to return.

      Later, on a warm afternoon, I returned and was again invited in. Mr. Churchill offered me some lemonade and, after a brief greeting, said: “I will give you half an hour to tell me what you think God’s Kingdom is, but then you must let me tell you what I believe it to be.” That is what we did.

      Mr. Churchill felt that God’s Kingdom would be established through God-fearing statesmen and that until men learned to live at peace, it would never come. I was able to explain the Bible’s view of God’s Kingdom and the blessings it would bring. Mr. Churchill was very cordial and indicated he respected our work.

      Unfortunately, I was never again able to contact him. But I am grateful that, even though I was still a teenager, with the training and encouragement I had received from my father, I was able to give a good witness to such a prominent world statesman.​—Psalm 119:46.

      An Expanded Ministry

      In May 1950, Mother wrote to tell us that she was immigrating to Canada and would be taking with her John, my youngest brother. By then my brothers Peter and David were caring for themselves. So after 18 years with his firm (including the war years when he was kept on their list of employees), Father handed in his resignation and applied for the regular pioneer service. He began the full-time ministry in August 1950, after he returned from attending the huge international convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York. A little over a year later, in November 1951, Father was appointed a traveling overseer and began visiting congregations to encourage them. Meanwhile, in the fall of 1949, I was invited to serve at the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in London, England.

      Then came another rich blessing​—Father and I were invited to the 20th class of the Gilead missionary school in New York. The class started in September 1952, and we graduated the following February. Afterward, I served at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, while father was sent out as a traveling overseer in Indiana.

      The whole 20th class was held back from going to our missionary assignments so that we could attend the international convention in New York City in July. I had become very fond of one of my classmates, Kae Whitson, and we decided to get married. We were assigned to the traveling work in Michigan, and then two years later, we were given a missionary assignment in Northern Ireland.

      However, just as we were due to sail, Kae discovered she was pregnant. So we began another assignment, that of raising a son and three daughters to become successful full-time ministers, even as my father had trained me to be.