A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

ON SUNDAY 14TH FEBRUARY, just a week ago Pastor/Evangelist Stanley Hyde a close friend and brother in Christ passed away in Brixham, Devon, England.   He would have been 92 in April. I first met him in February 1968.   He was standing on the kerbside outside the then Brixham Assemblies of God Church which he had founded not long before.   He  could have been waiting for me. The church was then onlya medium sized wooden hut. I had been sent to him by another brother, Pastor W.H. Newton, retired, and I was to have a meeting in the Church that evening. living in with me. I was28, and still finding my way to obey the burden of God's Spirit to come to Kenya.   I had no backing, and not a very clear view of what I should be doing in Kenya - I had supposed I would be an evangelist.     Stan was 16 years older than I was.     He did not look like a pastor or an evangelist; more like a country bank manager.    He had a rather raspy, commanding, way of speaking which may have been a left over from the days when he was a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy.    He was married to Doreen his wife, and lived with her, their three children and his retired and ailing father in a small rented council house.    The Meeting in the Church that night was not outstanding in any way. I found space to stay with them for the night and the next day was sent on my way to another church where a meeting had been arranged for me.     I did not meet Stan again, or return to Brixham until December 1972

I arrived in Kenya in December in 1968, and in August 1969 we commenced Testimony Faith Homes, and God began to send the first orphaned children to be cared for.   I had no promised income at all, and every day was a miracle, even the provision for my daily life, and then also the children's as they arrived.    By June 1970 I had 28 kids. Only a very few gifts came from overseas, and one of the few was often from Stan Hyde and the Brixham Church.     Out of the blue a cheque would arrive for 5 pounds - always just when we needed it, but never predictably!   Brixham is still 'home' spiritually for us, and they have never forgotten us, in prayer and support into the present.
In 1971 I married my Esther, and in 1972 the Lord provided for us to return to England together.   Our firstborn son, Steven was born there,in June, and in December we went down into Devon and visited Brixham Church.    The Congregation duly gave us the 'Right Hand of Fellowship' and we became honorary members - and Steven was Dedicated there.    My adoptive mother was there that evening, and she gave her heart to Jesus;
she was just 63 years old and had recently remarried, her first husband having died.  It was a very special time for us, and confirmed a relationship that had begun in 1968.
Since then the ties between us deepened, although our visits to the U.K. were sparse indeed.   After that time in 1972 we went back in 1983, and again in 1994, 2003, and lastly in 2011.
BUT Stan and Doreen began to visit US in the late 80's spending weeks at a time with
us.     They would stay with us in what was then a little flat-let tacked on the end of our Mechanics School, where now Testimony Nursery School is.      In 1987 whilst also visiting the Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College Stan and Doreen bumped into Mike and Dani Potter, newly married and from South Australia.   They were coming to work in
Nairobi, and Stan suggested they wrote to us and paid us a visit.    Stan was always a man of great spiritual intuition, and for sure God was leading him in making this suggestion to the Potters, who have ever since grown into the Testimony Family and are the spear point of Tyndale School in Australia's loving interest in us all here.    They remain very dear and precious family members of us all here.

Stan and Doreen became greatly loved by the children.   Stan loved children and
young people, and he was to bring many to Jesus, and also baptised them in Hill School Pool.
His visits were greatly looked forward to.   In later years he would love to sit on one of our lawns, under a spreading tree, enthroned in an armchair, and holding his inevitable hat on against the strong breezes.     There children and youngsters came to him for a chat and counselling. This went on until one time in the late 90s when he had a minor stroke, and after a spell in hospital in Nairobi he had to be flown home to Brixham.  He and Doreen were never to come out to us again.    But our friendship and 'family' relationship was to continue unstopped and unstoppable.      
Even our three children, Steven, Michael and Elisabeth became very close to them both, and when they all three, after High School found themselves in England there were many occasions when they were able to meet together if only briefly.    For example when Elisabeth graduated from I.B.T.I. my old Bible College in Burgess Hill, Sussex, Stan was there for her.     A wonderful man, a wonderful friend and brother.   He and his dear wife are part of all that Testimony Faith Homes has been built upon.   They will always be remembered.      Thank you Father in Heaven for giving to me, to all of us, such staunch and unfailing encouragement and love for these Forty-eight years.

1983 - Stan, to centre, then Doreen to the left

Esther, Steven, Michael, John,

and in front Elizabeth

STAN was always Officer of the Watch.    He made sure he kept that Watch sharp and clear.     First off on the telephone he would say, NOW THEN, SOLDIER!   HOW ARE THINGS ON THE FRONT.    He always spoke like a Commissioned Officer, which he was of course.   But Doreen always referred to him as The Admiral.     He was my brother, and also elder friend.    I admired and respected him; his commitment to God, and to the commission he held from him.      I miss him already, but of course he has only gone a little further - he might even be closer in some ways.   Not gone far, and not for ever parted from us.    I know he will still keep a watch.

Stan leaves behind his dear and beloved little wife, Doreen, his son Robert, (Bob Hyde), and his three daughters, plus many grandchildren.   I hope I am right and if I have made any error I trust I may be forgiven in this.      Esther and I are regretfully unable to travel to be at the Funeral this coming Thursday, but we are hoping our three children, Steve, Mike and Elisabeth will be there.    Please remember the family left behind.

And so this week, I will say no more.   It is enough to remember so valued a friend.

With our Love in Jesus to you all

John, Esther, and Daryl.