All change for Baptist minister

Jan 31 2009 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

All change for Baptist minister

A MINISTER is leaving his village church for a very different assignment in the heart of Leeds.

Rev David Humphries, 45, has worked at Scapegoat Hill Baptist Church for the last 11 years.

But the father-of-two is taking up a new challenge at Blenheim Baptist Church which serves the two universities in Leeds.

He said: “I’ve had a really, really good time at Scape but I feel it’s time to move on to a new challenge.”

Rev Humphries decided to move after taking a three-month sabbatical last year.

He said: “I walked for seven weeks across Spain from the Pyrenees to Santiago. It’s been a pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages though it’s not well-known in Britain.

“It was absolutely brilliant. I walked for 500 miles and met people from all over the world. It was a time for thinking and reflection and when I came home, I felt new opportunities were opening up.”

Rev Humphries will leave Scapegoat Hill Baptist Church on February 1 and move to Leeds from his home on Woodroyd, with his wife Susan and their children Rachel, 18, and Chris, 16.

He said: “I will be sad to go because this was my first church and I’ve had a fulfilling time.’’