It was an interesting trip for Phil Neighbors as the US Pastor uncovers local roots at Dunseverick in Co. Antrim.
Most people worry about leaving family behind when they travel overseas. Not so for American pastor, Phil Neighbors who uncovered a whole new side to his family tree when he visited Dunseverick Baptist Church, near Bushmills recently.
Pastor Phil is from Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, California. He was visiting the North Antrim fellowship along with 20 young people who were doing some outreach work in the UK.
Explaining more, Pastor Billy Jones from Dunseverick Baptist Church told us:
“The team had spent a week in Motherwell, Scotland doing outreach. They then came to Dunseverick at the weekend, taking part in our Sunday service. Pastor Phil mentioned to me that his family ancestors were originally from the North coast area and were called McCurdy. I was able to find his family as Dunseverick Baptist is full of McCurdys! We even found his ancestral home from the 18th century in a townland of Dunseverick called Craigalappin.”
To his delight, US Pastor uncovers local roots at Dunseverick.
As you can imagine, Phil and his friends were delighted to touch base with his newfound family in Northern Ireland. He remarked that his 89-year-old mother was also delighted by the discovery and would have been ‘in her element’ on the trip.
Importantly, both pastors were equally delighted by the impact of the trip for young people on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pastor Billy remarked: “It enriched all our fellowship and encouraged young and old alike to see how enthusiastic for Jesus the team was.”
You can find Dunseverick Baptist Church on Facebook here.
