A PLANT CALLED SHADWELL
October 21 Sunday 2007

I do happen to think that Shadwell would be a nice name for a plant, but it’s actually the name of an area where HTB has planted a church, called St. Paul’s Shadwell. Each of the interns has been assigned a church plant, and St. Paul’s is mine.

I’ve been going there every Wednesday (which is a bus, tube & train ride away) dividing my time between the Worship & Creative Arts Ministry; producing new promotional material & designs; and setting up the Alpha Course in the evenings.

It’s a wonderful church and it has a fascinating history. Thomas Jefferson’s mother used to worship there before emigrating to America, and it was also the scene of John Wesley’s last sermon before he died. Perhaps the most famous parishioner though, was Captain James Cook.

Captain Cook was one of my heroes as a child. When the rest of my friends were obsessed with dinosaurs, cars & robots – I collected everything I could find on Captain James Cook and his adventures. He was an explorer, navigator and cartographer, and he was the first European to discover Hawaii, a place which has remained in my heart ever since, and a place I long to go back to one day.