Most ministers spend Saturday evenings frantically crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s on their Sunday sermons. But not Pastor Marcus Thomas, the Welsh pastor of two Apostolic Churches in Northern Ireland. Instead, you’ll probably find him at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena cheering on his favourite ice hockey team, the Belfast Giants. Lynda Willis caught up with him before heading out for another match.

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“I’ve been a fan of the Belfast Giants now for the past three seasons and absolutely love going to see them with my 16 year old daughter Angharad. It’s quality family time for us and we try to get to see them at least twice a month. Then for away matches, I monitor progress via internet broadcasts,” smiles Marcus, a stocky Welshman who lives near Lurgan, about twenty miles west of Belfast.

“Seventeen years in Unemployment Benefits was enough for me. I was working on the team drawing up the new Job Seekers’ Allowance and the opportunity for voluntary redundancy came up. I jumped at it, even though I had no idea what I was going to do in the future. So, one day I was leading a team of productivity improvement specialists and the next, I was at home minding my three daughters. But I knew God had a plan for me and I simply had to wait on His plan being revealed to me.”

Thankfully for Marcus, he only had to wait four months.

“I had been to the Apostolic Bible College in my gap year after university and that’s where I met my wife Pat. I then joined the Civil Service and moved to Scotland before a transfer to the West Midlands. During this time, I was an elder in all the different churches where we were located. But then shortly after leaving work, I was asked to become pastor of the Apostolic Church in Tain, a small town 35 miles north of Inverness in Scotland.”

“As a family, we talked and prayed a lot before making the decision to move to the Highlands. But we all absolutely loved it and we spent four happy years there.”

But then out of the blue, Marcus was asked to go to Northern Ireland.

“We had never been to Northern Ireland before and initially we were quite upset at the thought of moving. But God had other plans for us and so we headed off to Lurgan in July 1999.”

Lurgan was a far cry from the tiny village of Melincourt in the valleys of South Wales where Marcus grew up but first impressions of County Armagh were good for the Thomas family and they quickly threw themselves into church life. Although Marcus was initially responsible for the Lurgan assembly, he soon became pastor of the Portadown assembly as well.

“God has really blessed us in our time here. Throughout the year, we have many special events. Local TV personality Paul Clarke spoke at last year’s harvest and just before Christmas, Paul Jones of Manfred Man fame sang and spoke with his wife Fiona Hendley.

“An Australian healing evangelist, John Mellor, visited the church in May and June of this year and many people were healed there and then. It was absolutely amazing. God really works through John Mellor. Some people came into the church using walking sticks and they walked out without the sticks! Others were healed of pain they had suffered from for over 20 years. Such is the power of God to heal and He’s still healing people today.”

But Marcus himself is a gifted preacher with his Civil Service background clearly having left its mark on his approach in the pulpit. With a lilting Welsh accent and exuberant singing (which is almost in tune!), Marcus preaches the gospel message, interspersed with lively worship and updates on the current performance of the Belfast Giants. But his personal experience of working life has made Marcus into a man with great compassion and insight into the lives of ordinary people.

“I try to make the Bible relevant to people. It’s not just about theology but explaining how people can apply the Bible to their own lives. Being a Christian is more than turning up at church on Sunday. We have to meet people where they are and try to show them God’s love in practical ways.”

So here’s a man who loves God and wants to serve Him in whatever way he can. It could be just a cup of coffee, a hospital visit or bringing someone to the Belfast Giants. You never know Marcus might even be asked to be their chaplain someday!

Lynda Willis Marketing and Media Services