John Nelson

The first time John Nelson ever heard the gospel message was when he heard John Wesley preach at Moorfields in London. He recalls, "O that was a blessed morning to my soul! As soon as he got upon the stand he stroked back his hair and turned his gaze towards where I stood, and I thought fixed his eyes upon me. His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me before I heard him speak that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock. When he did speak, I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me."

Nelson tried to stop any conviction that was taking place in his heart, that is, until he heard another man tell a group of women that he had been saved through the preaching of John Wesley. Nelson tells of the man's words: "When he began to speak his words made me tremble. I thought he spoke to no one but me, and I durst not look up, for I imagined all the people were looking at me." Nelson went and heard Wesley preach again, and he said, "I found power to believe that Jesus Christ had shed his blood for me, and that God, for his sake, had forgiven my offences. Then was my heart filled with love to God and man."

In time, John Nelson became one of Wesley's assistant ministers, and he went with Wesley to preach in Cornwall and elsewhere. As Geoffrey Thomas comments, "He too became a mighty proclaimer of the divine message of the gospel." (Robert Strivens, ed. Which Church? How to Identify a Biblical Church. Evangelical Press, 2007, p. 77)