He reflected on leading the Bible college in the West Country for almost 20 years: “It’s just been a wonderful long-term joy party – with a few blips here and there.

“The highlights of course are always the students…to see hundreds and hundreds of men and women of different ages and backgrounds going out to be passionate about Jesus, to share the gospel, to see the church increase and the kingdom come – that’s just an ongoing privilege.”

He said one of the highlights for the college during his time was the change of their courses into a recognised degree qualification.

“For that I think we need somebody coming in who’s certainly younger and with a decade to spend to make sure that we continue to aim to be a place of excellence…My own feeling was that regardless of the next stage it was probably time to pass the baton.”

“Somebody said, ‘Steve, for goodness sake, get out while you’re winning’,

“Somebody else mentioned to me, another college principal, ‘Steve,’ he said – he meant it as a compliment, ‘I’ve always thought of you as the Arsene Wenger of Bible college principals because you’ve lasted so long’.”

Steve responded: “As a football fan, let me tell you that isn’t, to me, a compliment – I think Arsene Wenger should have gone a while ago.”

He is moving to First Baptist Church in the Cayman Islands who first invited him to be their minister 20 years ago: “They’ve consistently said between different pastors ‘Steve, can you come over and help us?’ And what tipped things was the passing of my wife who was disabled and fought for 40 years against a wretched things called multiple sclorosis and she passed into the Lord’s presence last December,

“One of the things that kept me in the UK, rightly, was my care and concern to make sure she was fine and of course that’s not now a factor”.

It was at this point that the Baptist church in the West Indies asked him again to come over. He explained it wasn’t an easy decision, despite people around him pointing out the paradiscial nature of his potential new home.

He revealed the real reason he’s going: “People need Christ. So, I believe I’m answering a call for the Lord – I’m not going there for any of the other reasons that some folk think…that’s all fine but to me it doesn’t float my boat! What’s floating my boat is the opportunity to preach to a whole raft of different folk; there’s about 130 different nationalities on this small island.”

Go to website link below to listen to the full interview:

For more on this story go to: https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Steve-Brady-on-leaving-Moorlands-I-didn-t-want-to-be-the-Arsene-Wenger-of-Bible-Principals