All photos courtesy of Unsplash
Edward Fogarty was very active in preaching and Sunday School work in Belfast but in 1918 a business trip to the North of England was to change his life forever. He saw the great spiritual need of Co Durham and Northumberland and gave up his employment to take the message of the Gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, to areas rarely visited by any preacher who was prepared to go there.
He would preach in the open air and in his wooden tent. The wooden tent was a canvas tent with wooden sides, Edward himself having a room inside, which he used as his living quarters. He had little to support him for he was pioneering in areas of mining and farming that saw men taking home low wages. He moved amongst the poor with many only having the bare necessities of life. Nobody was too poor, too ill or too disagreeable for Edward to challenge them with his message. What, however, was the message that he preached unashamedly, whatever the cost to him.
In his early years Edward heard preached, at an open air meeting, that the Bible says that all have sinned before God. Furthermore as sinners men face awful consequences but God had provided a unique way to save men and women from the penalty of their sin forever and give them the free gift of eternal life.
