The Revd Martin Edward John Mitchell: 1941-2025 

Baptist minister who became a full-time radio broadcaster 'loved by interviewees and listeners alike for his lively, warm, intelligent and thoughtful style', before returning to pastoral ministry

 
Martin was born in Princetown, Dartmoor, in September 1941. His family were evacuated there from Plymouth after their neighbour’s house was bombed in one of the many German raids on the Plymouth Naval Base.
 
Moving back to the post-war ruins of Plymouth was not easy, but Martin had a lively intelligence and passed the 11+ exam with one of the highest marks in the region. The council estate boy was awarded a scholarship and sent to Plymouth College, something of an ordeal, but it enabled him to gain a position as a trainee quantity surveyor on leaving school aged 16.
 
As a younger boy, Martin had been sent to Sunday School on one of the new council estates to emerge from the ashes. The church was relocating many of Plymouth’s destroyed church buildings to these estates, to serve the traumatised and displaced families housed there. Morice Square Baptist Church, unhappily situated near the Naval Base, began a plant, eventually constructing a building with ‘war damage money’. Under the ministry of the Revd Gwnfryn Thomas, Martin gave his life to Jesus and was baptised, aged 15, as part of a thriving youth ministry.

In the years that followed, Martin began to explore and test a call to ministry, finally entering Bristol Baptist College in 1963. The next year he met his future wife Sheila Beeslee, one of the first women to be admitted to the college. She was studying for her BA in Theology, with a view to mission in India.
 
After graduating, Martin and Sheila married in Sheila’s home church, Zion Baptist Church, Tenterden, and accepted a joint pastorate in the South Wales valleys. They loved the five years of ministry in the tight-knit mining communities, even when the ice had to be broken (literally) on the outdoor baptistry!

However, after two of their three children were born, they answered the call to the pastorate of the United Baptist Church, Charles Street, Leicester. Sheila Mitchell was later to write the history of the church (Not Disobedient), from its roots in the Harvey Lane Chapel (William Carey’s church) up to the union with Victoria Road Baptist Church, then under the ministry of the Revd Gordon Hastings.
 
Martin and Gordon became colleagues and friends, overseeing the union of the two churches, the considerable redevelopment of the Charles Street site (funded by the sale of the Victoria Road building) and a period of considerable spiritual and numerical growth. The new Central Baptist Church was formally born in 1983, the fruit of Area Superintendent the Revd Arthur Bonser’s vision. The Revd Caroline Pullman later joined the team before going on to become the first woman chaplain to the Royal Navy.
 
Alongside church ministry, Martin was invited to be Free Church Chaplain at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) which eventually led to part time teaching on various BA, BSc and BEd courses dealing with the interface of science and faith and 20th century philosophy. He was also Chair of the Leicester Council of Churches and later held various positions in the East Midlands Baptist Association, before becoming its President in 1985.
 
In the mid to late 1980s, Martin began volunteering in local Christian broadcasting, under the mentorship of the Revd Ian Phelps, eventually leaving Central Baptist Church in 1991 to become a full-time broadcaster. He presented and produced Christian shows for commercial radio stations Leicester Sound and Nottingham’s GEM AM, and a new Cable TV station in Leicestershire, with the Leicester Diocese contributing to the funding of his post.
 


In 1995, having won a national award for Christian broadcasting, Martin was approached by Mark Seaman, manager of the newly formed Premier Christian Radio, to join the presenting team. Martin was the first presenter of the Late Show, then moving to the Morning Show, before taking on the fast-paced Drive Time show. Martin met and interviewed politicians, celebrities and other renowned public figures, including Terry Waite, Diane Modahl and Rosemary Conley, to name but a few. He received favourable reviews in the secular press and was loved by interviewees and listeners alike for his lively, warm, intelligent and thoughtful style.
 
After tiring of the commute to central London, Martin left Premier in 1999 to return to pastoral ministry in Leicester. He became Ecumenical City Centre Chaplain and part time Baptist minister of Christchurch, Clarendon Park – a joint Baptist/Methodist Church. He successfully helped to blend the two congregations together and developed the church’s outreach.
 
Martin brought his characteristic charisma and energy to Christchurch. He remained a compassionate pastor and gifted and powerful preacher. He was knowledgeable about Bible history, and was always able to relate Scripture to everyone in down to earth terms, whatever their background or belief. He also continued to lead worship on his guitar, the piano and organ, as he had through the years at Central Baptist.
 
During this time, Martin supported Sheila through her brave battle with cancer, until her death in 2003. He later married a longtime family friend, Eileen Barnes, and they had over a decade of happy retirement together, holidaying in many European destinations and enjoying time with their children and grandchildren. Eileen died of dementia in early 2023.
 
Martin had an active retirement, continuing to preach, play the organ, participate in the Probus Club, go hill walking and spend time with family and the many friends he made over his years in Leicester.
 
Martin died unexpectedly on 26 June of a cardiac arrest, having enjoyed extremely good health up to that point. Just the week before he had been on holiday, walking in the hills of north Norfolk and enjoying pub lunches. His children, David, Rebecca and Anna, thank God for His mercy in taking their beloved Dad without him suffering. Now changed from glory into glory, Martin is with his Lord, but he is achingly missed by the many who loved him.
 

Dr Rebecca Mitchell-Farmer