Hymns: 1998 Memories

Here are some popular hymns from 1998. The only one that I remember singing was Beautiful Saviour, and even then, we probably only discovered it 15 years later 😀.

In some ways, I found 1998 quite difficult. It started well. I remember giving the Christianity Explained course in the home of a local Limerick family, and I was hugely encouraged by the large attendance. A lady spoke about how her young teenaged brother had expressed some interest in the Christian faith. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I often think of the parable of the sower. You don’t always know what will emerge from the seed after it’s sown. I was quite impressed that he came to help when we needed to collect some Gideons New Testaments that had just arrived at a local warehouse. He was a quiet chap. Many years later, my teenaged kids mentioned his name as a guest speaker at their youth club. I wondered if he was the same guy. Yes he was! And now he leads a large church in Limerick. I know a few other kids that I met over the years who went on to be church leaders, and who were a lot more successful than I ever was 😀.

It was always our hope that church leadership in evangelical churches in Ireland would be more local, though we also appreciate help from other countries. After all, Irish people have been a huge influence on other nations, so why shouldn’t we welcome people from other nations. So nowadays, in evangelical churches, you might get local leaders, but you’ll also get leaders from the US and UK and Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, and elsewhere.

Anyway, my main difficulty in 1998 was knowing what to do next. Limerick Baptist Church had grown substantially in the previous decade. Perhaps it was time to move on. I saw how Cork Baptist Church, with Baptist Missions help, planted new churches in Carrigaline and Midleton. The towns around Limerick weren’t growing in the same way, and some already had churches. I was working with Tipperary Christian Fellowship to some degree, but I wasn’t sure by that stage whether it was feasible for that to become a Baptist church. The fellowship wasn’t all that enthusiastic about being “Baptist”, though they were baptistic in outlook. I could understand that, because in rural towns, there was a greater resistance to anything that sounded Protestant. And, I wasn’t sure if it merited a full-time worker. It wasn’t really a growing town, though that’s probably changing now, with so much immigration. I wondered if it might make more sense for me to go back into secular work and assist the fellowship on a voluntary basis. Either that, or move elsewhere to help with a small Baptist work.

I did explore the possibility of moving to other locations, but in the end, I decided to focus my efforts on Tipperary. So, in the autumn, I completed my time in Baptist Missions, went back to university and onto secular work and focused solely on Tipperary, though I continued to have contacts in Limerick churches, particularly Limerick Baptist Church and Mallow Street Christian Fellowship. I continued to live in Limerick. Tipperary was a short drive away. It was a delightful fellowship, and I spent the next 22 years there. I moved on in 2020 and now attend a Limerick church. Recently the fellowship has changed its name to Tipperary Bible Church.

My last tour of churches occurred in the Spring of 1998. I visited the following Baptist churches:

• Carryduff Baptist Church
• Portrush Baptist Church
• Larne Baptist Church
• East End Baptist Church
• Great Victoria Street Baptist Church
• Moira Baptist Church
• Haypark Avenue Baptist Church (Now closed but the building is used by Village Church)

I spoke at Cork Baptist Church for the last time in the summer of 98. In the autumn I spoke at Mallow Street Christian Fellowship. I gave a very bad sermon on the Prodigal son. Adrenaline can energize you or inhibit you. That night it inhibited me😤. I was utterly mystified because it wasn’t at all scary. But from that time on, I knew the meaning of stage fright. I did speak there again in 1999 and thankfully, returned to my normal form.

Two big events took place in Ireland in 1998. The Good Friday Agreement was signed on Good Friday, which meant the end to the Northern conflict. Sadly, it wasn’t the absolute end. Several murders took place later, the worst being the Omagh car bombing in August 98, which killed 31 people, including two unborn babies.

At the end of the year, the film Prince of Egypt was showing in the cinemas. I didn’t see it until many years later. My kids saw it in school a few times. Such films often get criticized by evangelicals because they inevitably don’t stick to what’s taught in Scripture. But I quite like the main song, which perhaps for some, might encourage them to pray.

Many nights we prayed
With no proof, anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood
Now, we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear, 
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could, 
There can be miracles when you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve?
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

Finally, here’s some music, events, and films/TV shows that would have formed the background to 1998. I don’t necessarily endorse all the songs or films😀, but thinking of them takes me back to 1998.

10 Songs

• I’ll Be There For You – The Rembrandts
• My Heart Will Go On​ – Celine Dion
• Say You Love Me​ – Simply Red
• Vindaloo – Fat Les
• No Matter What​ – Boyzone
• If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next​ – Manic Street Preachers
• Millennium – Robbie Williams
• Believe – Cher
• The Sweetest Thing – U2
• Goodbye – Spice Girls

10 Events

• Euro Currency Launch 
• Dermot Morgan (Fr. Ted) RIP​
• Good Friday Agreement
• World Cup France
• Omagh Bombing
• Google Launch
• Bill Clinton visit (We saw him going by near our home in Limerick)
• Hurricane Mitch Devastates Central America
• Nuclear Tests by India and Pakistan
• Bill Clinton Impeachment Proceedings Begin

10 Films or TV Shows

• Saving Private Ryan
• The Big Lebowski
• Animaniacs
• 2Phat (Zig and Zag)
• A Bug’s Life
• Babe: Pig in the City
• The Corrs: ‘Live at the Royal Albert Hall’
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
• The Royle Family
• The Man in the Iron Mask

10 Famous People Who Passed Away

• Dermot Morgan – Comedian and actor best known for playing Father Ted Crilly in the hit sitcom Father Ted
• Maureen O’Sullivan – Hollywood actress from County Roscommon, famed for her role as Jane in the Tarzan films
• Hugh Coveney – Fine Gael politician and former Minister for Finance, died tragically in a fall
• Frank Sinatra – Legendary singer and actor, one of the best-selling music artists of all time
• Linda McCartney – Photographer, musician, and animal rights activist; wife of Paul McCartney
• Sonny Bono – Musician (Sonny & Cher), actor, and U.S. congressman
• Tammy Wynette – Country music icon, known for “Stand by Your Man”
• Pol Pot – Former Cambodian dictator responsible for the Khmer Rouge genocide
• Jack Lord – Star of Hawaii Five-O
• Cozy Powell – Rock drummer who played with Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Black Sabbath

And I almost forgot. For my birthday, I got an N64 in Argos, Cruises Street with Supermario 😀. I remember being bewildered a couple of years earlier when I first saw a clip of the forthcoming game. Mario has been a major presence in our home ever since.