John Burnett MP and Derek with the 1500 name petition

Support for Christian broadcasting grows

On Tuesday 27th March, Derek Perry travelled from Tavistock to the Houses of Parliament, to hand a 1500 signature petition to John Burnett MP.

The petition calls on the Government to change the law to allow religious groups to apply for licenses to broadcast on the FM radio band on a national basis.

Mr Perry, who attends Tavistock Community Church, volunteered to coordinate the petition for area of West Devon as part of an ongoing national campaign by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) to liberate this area of law.

Derek tells his own story of his trip below - read on if you dare...

Derek goes to London (part 2)

Derek writes: This was to be a big challenge for me, as I had never traveled to or across London alone before. I was full of fear and trepidation - in fact I had tried everything I could to get someone to come with me, but it was not to be. So I decided that if I stepped out in faith and faced my fear of London God would not let me down.

I was due to meet with representatives from United Christian Broadcasting (UCB) and the Christian Institute, outside Westminster Palace at 1:00 pm. So, first things first - check out the times of the trains. It couldn't have been better - I was informed that I would be able to catch the 8:30 a.m. from Plymouth, arriving at Paddington at 12:10 p.m.

So on a very cold and wet morning, a member of our church very kindly drove me to Plymouth station. Arriving with half an hour to spare, I was feeling very happy, only to be told by the ticket clerk that the train would now be departing not from Plymouth but from Tiverton! So I had to take a coach to Tiverton before I could start my train journey, and we wouldn't be arriving at Paddington now until 12:55 PM Well, there was nothing I could do but hand the situation over to the Lord and trust in Him to get me to my destination in time.

And of course He did just that. I arrived at Westminster three minutes past one, and was greeted warmly by Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute. After a wonderful lunch, we were given a guided tour of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Then it was on to the main reason for my trip, and that was the handing over of a petition containing over 1500 signatures, from people all over the constituency of West Devon to Mr John Burnett MP. This petition is asking the government for a change in the laws, to enable Christian broadcasting companies such as UCB to have the legal right to apply for a digital license, to broadcast nationally (for more information on this movement, please visit www.ucb.co.uk ).

Handshakes and good-byes over with, it was time for another mad dash back across London to Paddington. It was almost 7:00 p.m and my train was due to leave at 7:30. This time however I was faced with my biggest nightmare - THE TUBE!!

But God was not going to let me face this alone. Ian Homer, the photojournalist who had covered the story, had to go back to Paddington as well. Ian was indeed my guardian angel for this trip, and we arrived at the railway station with about 3 minutes to spare. Time for another quick good-bye and a promise to keep in touch and I boarded my train. I arrived back into Plymouth (no coaches this time) just after 11:00 p.m, where another good friend from church was waiting to give me a lift home.

It had been a very long and tiring day, but I feel good with myself for what has been done. Not only did God keep His promise to me to protect and provide for me, He also blessed me with several new friendships.

(29/03/01)