Distinguished UK Cleric to Visit Inland Empire

Richard Bewes, OBE, who served as Rector of the landmark All Souls Evangelical Church in London, England, for 22 years, will preach in Calimesa on Feb. 27. He will be guest speaker for the 11:15 a.m. Saturday worship service at Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church, 391 Myrtlewood Drive. The visiting British clergyman and writer has chosen as his sermon topic “When Foundations Are Shaking,” drawn from Psalm 11. The public is welcome to attend the service, according to Jon Ciccarrelli, senior pastor of the Calimesa congregation. Bewes pastored the historic central London church from 1973 to 2004, and in 2005 was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. He is the author of more than 20 books, and with colleague Dr. Paul Blackham hosts a dedicated sermon Web site as well as Bible programs such as Book-by-Book, with a daily audience of over a million viewers. He continues as Rector Emeritus at All Souls. A son of missionary parents, Bewes was born and raised on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya along with his two brothers and sister. He traveled to England for his secondary education before going to Cambridge University as an undergraduate. His study for the pastoral ministry was at Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge. The Bewes family has had a Gospel preaching tradition since Dwight L. Moody's sermon of September 26, 1882, when Richard’s grandfather Tommy, then 14, responded and later became a preacher himself. When he was appointed Rector at All Souls in 1973, the present Rev. Bewes found himself a successor to John Stott, the prodigious author, theologian, and leader of the worldwide Evangelical movement. Stott also held the title of Rector Emeritus at All Souls from retirement until his death in 2011. Richard Bewes’s speaking engagements have taken him into Europe, Australia, Africa, the USA, and Canada. He and his wife, Pam, are in southern California for lectures and appointments including a seminar with area Seventh-day Adventist pastors on March 1.