ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The reprinting of this book by Charles H. Welch has been made possible by a gift from the Berean Bible

Fellowship of Phoenix, Arizona, in memory of Thomas H. Kent.

Tom fell asleep in Christ Jesus in March 1998. His widow Winona and daughter Eileen, along with Eileen's

husband Michael Thornton and their daughters Regina and Vanessa, live in Cortez, Colorado.

Tom's love for the Lord and the teaching of Right Division led him to be a founder of the Berean Bible

Fellowship of Phoenix, Arizona. Tom's construction background helped him to plan and build the church, fully

equipped with a tape recording studio. Pastor Arthur C. Lambourne spent many years there, preaching `The Word

Rightly Divided'.

Tom assumed the responsibility of the Berean Tape Recording Ministry from Lt-Col. Arthur von Deesten of Los

Angeles, California in February 1963. Under Tom's dedicated leadership and love of the Word, the BTRM

flourished, reaching proportions well beyond anyone's expectations. It now continues under the direction and with

the dedicated endeavours of William R. Frizzell of Tempe, Arizona.

When I was asked to write the Preface to my father's book, I thought at first that the more intimate family

viewpoint that I must inevitably have, would be focussed on too many small and homely details, which could have

no bearing on a book of this scope, and no value to future readers. As I read for myself, however, I realized that the

family background, far from detracting from the main theme, seemed to spotlight the essentials and provide the key

to the whole book.

As a child, I was of course unaware of the background of struggle and frustration that must have continually

occupied my parents' minds. I became conscious that my father was engaged in something vaguely referred to as

`The Work'. It was obviously no nine-till-five job, forgotten in hours of relaxation - it was something that spilled

over into every nook and cranny of our home. Startled plumbers or postmen, window cleaners or schoolfriends,

would suddenly meet an unconventionally garbed figure, and find themselves deep in a conversation concerning the

meaning of a Greek word, or the unwary would hear the words `As Paul says ...', and learn more about the structure

of an epistle in five minutes than they had ever known in a lifetime.

He was, and is, a man of many enthusiasms, individualistic, widely read and with wide interests, disconcertingly

ready to joke, to deflate the pompous, to pull the leg of the stiff and starchy - yet all these complex sides to his

character are ready to be subordinated to the one aim of his life - to preach the `unsearchable riches of Christ'. His

is no Sunday religion, but a way of living that absorbs the whole man.

The book you are about to read looks back to the humble beginnings in Bermondsey, and traces the way, step by

step through the years. The struggles are there, the many closed doors, the humour and the heartaches; but looking

back with him we can see how thorough was God's preparation for the task He had in mind, how unexpected, but

how certain.

For as long as I can remember, there has hung on the wall of my father's home a text from Philippians 3. It

hangs here now in Beckenham, and at this time of his eightieth birthday, when he has spent much time in looking

back and gathering together his memories of past years, it seems to me that it would be appropriate as a reminder

that this is a most forward-looking book:

`This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are

before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Phil. 3:13,14).

Ruth Baker Beckenham.

April 1960.