The Boy Preacher of London

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was nineteen years old when the deacons of New Park Street Chapel in London invited him to become their pastor in 1854. The historic church had once seated over a thousand worshippers, but attendance had dwindled to fewer than two hundred. When young Spurgeon arrived from the villages of Essex, some members openly questioned whether this teenager — with no university training and no seminary degree — could possibly lead them.…