Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a great Christian who happens also to have been a Baptist.

He was converted in 1850 at the age of 16 and, within a few months, he was preaching in villages near his Essex home. His preaching gift developed rapidly and was soon recognised with a call to a local pastorate.

Wider recognition followed. In 1854, at the age of 19, Spurgeon was called to be the Pastor of a famous Baptist Church in London which then had 232 members. Within a few years he was holding services in the Surrey Gardens Music Hall where his congregations sometimes exceeded 10,000. On one occasion he preached to a congregation of 24,000 at the Crystal Palace.

Faced with such opportunity. his church naturally had its own building project, and the Metropolitan Tabernacle, with a capacity of 6000, was completed in 1861 with the debt paid off the month it was opened. The same year, 1861, Spurgeon celebrated his 27th birthday.

In the 37 years of his London ministry, nearly 15,000 people were baptised in his church and joined its membership - an average of more than one person a day.

Such a ministry would have been remarkable if Spurgeon had done nothing else. But he did much, much more.

Spurgeon was a Christian entrepreneur. For example, his sermons were printed and on sale within a few days of their original delivery. He organised people (through the Colportage Association) to go from house to house in London selling and giving away books, tracts and sermons. He once said "The printing-press is the mightiest agency on earth for good or evil". He was determined to use it for good.

Spurgeon used the money from his publishing enterprises, which included a monthly magazine - the Sword and Trowel - to support his pioneering efforts in many other missionary, evangelistic, and benevolent fields. He founded a college for the training of preachers and pastors which today we know as Spurgeon's College. He founded orphanages for boys and girls which today we know as Spurgeon's Child Care. He founded an almhouse for the elderly and "Ragged Schools" for poor children.

He helped set up the London Baptist Association with its focus on church planting which led to a hundred new Baptist churches across London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Teddington Baptist Church was founded in 1881 as part of this movement of the Spirit.

Spurgeon was a brilliant man who dedicated his life, including his supreme gift of oratory, to Christ. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers" was a great Christian.