Past pastors

This page gives details of pastors who have left the church since 2001.

Rev Carl Beech

Carl joined the team in 1996 (having previously worked as a financial advisor) and began training at Spurgeon's College on the Church Planting and Evangelism course whilst simultaneously planting a new congregation on the Queen's Park estate. After Spurgeon's, Carl was ordained in July 1999 and continued his work on the estate seeing the new congregation mature and grow.

More recently, having always been involved with the youth activities in the church, Carl oversaw the youth and children's work across our three congregations. In April 2003, Carl was inducted as senior pastor, taking over the helm from Bob Allen.

In December 2005, Carl was called to leave us and take up a position with Christian Viewpoint for Men.

Rev Ian Smith

Ian joined the team in September 2002 after working in Investment Banking for seventeen years. He trained at Spurgeon’s College on the Church Planting and Evangelism course alongside his work for the Church. Having been involved with the Youth Work, and then having responsiblity for Evangelism and Early Discipleship, Ian left us in 2005 to take up the post of senior pastor at Christ Church, Stock.

Rev Bob Allen

Bob was the senior pastor of the church from 1995 to 2003. He was trained at Spurgeon’s College, and, during his 30 years in the ministry, has pastored churches in the Midlands, south-east London and at Gold Hill. He and his wife, Debbie, have three grown-up children, all married, and a large number of grandchildren. Bob’s main emphasis is in teaching and training, which he intends to continue during his retirement in Gloucestershire.

Rev Phil Wright

Phil left us in September 2002 and became pastor at Friars Baptist Church in Shoeburyness, where he stayed until August 2006. Phil had special responsibility for the South Green congregation. He was a member here while training at Spurgeon’s College, and during that time he was a student pastor at nearby Ramsden Bellhouse Baptist Church. Previously, he pastored a church in Surrey before joining the BBC team in 1996. In late 2000, Phil went to Thailand for a few weeks on sabbatical, visiting the Karen people. This link to the church still exists.

Rev Jerry Brown

Jerry joined us in 1992 to head up the youth work in the church. He is married to Debbie with two daughters, Katie and Abigail. Jerry led the youth work as well as having a special gifting in worship and prophetic ministry. He completed his studies at Spurgeon’s College in June 2000 and was ordained into the ministry shortly after that. Jerry left us in February 2001 to take up a post as senior pastor at Rayleigh Baptist Church.