"The historical roots of Baptist itinerancy are found in the Interregnum, especially the period when Cromwell ruled. There was enough freedom for Baptists such as William Kiffen and Thomas Collier to travel widely, preach, baptize, and form churches."

Last time I introduced you to William Crabtree, the first pastor of the Baptist Church in Bradford, who was followed in the ministry by William Steadman. Crabtree’s life is worthy of being told and contains several noteworthy lessons.

"Steadman’s second great labor in Bradford was raising up a Baptist ministerial academy. Some at the time still opposed ministerial training and even those who saw its value were often unable to agree upon a shared vision or raise the resources to implement it. The local Baptist Association had formed the Northern Education Society to do this. And Steadman was their man for the next 30 years, almost single handedly giving it life."

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"William Steadman arrived in Plymouth on June 6, 1798 as a pastoral partner to Isaiah Birt. This left the Broughton church without a pastor, a situation that was to continue for eleven years. But in God’s strange providence, the church finally began to grow during this time. The surrounding Baptist pastors cared for the church until 1809 when a graduate of the Bristol Academy, Hugh Russell, was called as pastor. This is a good reminder that God’s church is built, not by men, not even by good, qualified, zealous, and called men, but by Christ and that he uses whatever means and timing he thinks best."

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"During this time, William constantly studied his Bible and read a wide range of evangelical authors. These included Calvinistic Anglicans like William Romaine and James Hervey and many volumes of John Gill and John Brine, the high Calvinistic Baptists. This appreciation for and experience of the value of other genuine Christians, even of a different mind in some things, was always a part of Steadman’s life. While a convinced Particular Baptist with strong evangelistic impulses, he appreciated and cultivated friendships across the evangelical spectrum. In this he was representative of many Particular Baptists."

"There is another pastor connected with late 18 th century Plymouth that need to be highlighted. His name is William Steadman and he is an important figure in Particular Baptist history especially for his ministry in the north of England. Much of what we know about his life comes from a biography written by his son, Thomas, shortly after his father’s death in 1837. It is called “Memoir of the Reverend William Steadman, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist Church, Bradford, Yorkshire, and president of the Northern Baptist Education Society”. It can be found online through Google books."

"Having looked at the life of Isaiah Birt and his friends, let’s return to the Plymouth Baptist Church and Pastor Philip Gibbs. Now that Birt was pastoring the nearby Baptist church in Plymouth Dock, Gibbs needed an assistant. The church was alerted to William Winterbotham of London, and in January of 1790 he supplied the pulpit. His preaching was edifying and the people invited him to become assistant to their pastor which he readily accepted. Before we proceed with the story of his pastoral and political life, here is what we know about his background and conversion."

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"It strikes me as unlikely that a born-poor, persecuted Baptist boy like Isaiah Birt would one day grow up to be friends with a wealthy, high-society, evangelical Anglican named John Broadley Wilson. But that is in fact what happened. At the same time, the story of their friendship illustrates the complementary truth that members of Particular Baptist churches were often a tight knit and even inter-married community."

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"Isaiah Birt’s ministry in Plymouth lasted over 30 years. About 1815, he moved to Birmingham, where his son in the faith and dear friend, Samuel Pearce, had pastored until his death in 1799. For a dozen years, Birt ministered to this body of believers, preaching “only twice on the Lord’s Day” but also on many weekday evenings. Eventually, physical weakness made this impractical. Then he stepped down, moved to London, and preached for others as he was able."

"Last time I presented a study of the conversion and 51 year pastoral ministry of Philip Gibbs at the Particular Baptist Church in Plymouth. The man who baptized him was Crispin Curtis, the pastor of the church in Kingsbridge, who also served for about 50 years. One of the ways the Lord blessed both of these men’s long pastorates was in the raising up of other men. Gibbs and Curtis not only rightly handled the word of truth, but they also entrusted it to faithful men, as the apostle Paul prescribed. One of these faithful men of Pastor Gibbs, was named Isaiah Birt."